Survivors of the RMS Laconia Sinking (Sept 12, 1942)

The British liner RMS Laconia was torpedoed by U-156 off West Africa. Hundreds survived; notable individuals included:

British

• Captain Rudolph Sharp (Master)
• Commodore Arthur Worth, RN
• Major Norman Grattidge (6 days on a raft)
• Commander Charles Linley Blissett, RN

Italian POWs (Senior Officers)

• General Ettore Baldassarre
• General Giuseppe Mancinelli
• Admiral Luigi Mascherpa
• Brig. Gen. Aldo Pellegrini
• Admiral Raffaele de Courten
• Col. Angelo Todaro

Polish Refugees

• Jan Karski – later Holocaust witness and courier for the Polish Underground

Civilians

• Margaret Hartley-Milne & daughter Diana (mother perished)
• Barbara Wild – future wife of author C.P. Snow

Many hundreds more survived; this partial list highlights notable figures due to space constraints.