During the early part of World War II many merchant ships still travelled alone. Escorts were in short supply and air cover was restricted, so several U-boats took the time to question the survivors in an attempt to confirm the identity of the sunken ship, knowing that the chance of the enemy appearing was slight. Here, a Type VIIA has just sunk a merchantman and the crew watch as survivors are beckoned over by the captain. Space on a Type VII U-boat was extremely restricted, so the taking on board of survivors was a rarity. In several recorded cases. U-boat captains would check to ascertain if any of the survivors were wounded or needed medical attention, and were known to provide the survivors with the odd bottle of brandy and a course for the nearest safe landfall before disappearing under the surface again. As the war progressed and anti-submarine measures grew in their effectiveness, few opportunities for such niceties would occur; as any boat coming to the surface put itself in the greatest danger After the Laconia incident, when U-506 was bombed despite clearly having a number of survivors, including women and children, on her decks and towing several lifeboats, Grossadmiral Donitz as Commander-in-Chief U-Boats ordered that no U-boat commander should put his boat and its crew at risk by attempting to rescue survivors. This order however was occasionally disobeyed. Artwork by Ian Palmer
