Colin Ryder Richardson was 11 years old, and his mother secretly sewed a small scarlet (red) life jacket into the lining of his coat before he sailed. The red, which made it easy to see in darkness, had sleeves and also a stuffing of kapok, which made it both more buoyant and warmer than regulation lifejackets or lifebelts. She made him promise never to take the coat off until he reached Canada. That little hidden life jacket almost certainly saved his life. Today, both the coat and the life jacket are preserved by the Egham Museum.
After Colin’s lifeboat was rescued, the survivors could be heard singing “Rule, Britannia!” as they came alongside HMS Hurricane. Imagine being one of the sailors on Hurricane hearing those exhausted survivors singing after everything they had endured. Colin was also given the King’s Commendation for brave conduct in the Merchant Navy. At 11 years old, he was the youngest person to earn that award.
Laszlo Raskai was a young Hungarian journalist working for the BBC. He wasn’t part of CORB, and he wasn’t one of the official children’s escorts. Colin Richardson’s mother knew him and asked him one simple favor before the ship sailed:“Keep an eye on Colin.” He made sure Colin was safely into a lifeboat before going back to save other children. He fulfilled the promise he had made, and then gave his life trying to save others. Colin Richardson remembered him and said “He kept diving again and again and bringing back children. And then he dived and we didn’t see him again.”
Michael Rennie was only 23 years old and the youngest of the volunteer escorts. Survivors recalled him repeatedly diving back into the freezing sea to rescue children until he finally disappeared from exhaustion. Rennie was officially recognized as a Civilian War Dead by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and memorialized at St. Jude’s Church in Hampstead, London.
Mary Cornish was a London schoolteacher and accomplished pianist who volunteered as one of the Children’s Overseas Reception Board (CORB) escorts. She wasn’t a sailor, a soldier, or a survival expert. She was simply a teacher who cared about children. When the City of Benares was torpedoed on September 17, 1940, she immediately began helping the children in her care. Witnesses recalled that she returned below decks to search for more frightened youngsters before finally being ordered into a lifeboat herself. Adrift for eight days in the North Atlantic, she did what came naturally to her. She comforted the children, kept them moving to fight the cold, organized simple games, and tried to give them hope when there was very little to be found. After the rescue, she never sought fame for what she had done, but her quiet courage became one of the enduring stories of the City of Benares. Author Elspeth Huxley later told her story in Atlantic Ordeal: The Story of Mary Cornish. Mary was born in 1899 and passed in 1986.
She was given the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for keeping those children alive for 8 days on the lifeboat.
Mary Cornish after the rescue
