Atrocity on the Atlantic
Attack on a Hospital Ship During the Great War
Published on 25. April 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-4597-5134-7 (ISBN)
Description
Finalist, 2025 Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book - Honourable Mention, Keith Matthews Best Book Award presented by Canadian Nautical Research Society
How a German submarine sank a Canadian military hospital ship during the First World War and sparked outrage.
On the evening of June 27, 1918, the Llandovery Castle -- an unarmed, clearly marked hospital ship used by the Canadian military -- was torpedoed off the Irish Coast by U-Boat 86, a German submarine.
Sinking a hospital ship violated international law. To conceal his actions, the U-86 commander had a submarine deck gun fire on survivors. One lifeboat escaped with witnesses to the atrocity. Global outrage over the attack ensued.
The incident became a pivotal case at the Leipzig War Crimes Trials, an attempt to establish justice after the Great War ended. The Llandovery Castle trial resulted in a historic legal precedent that guided subsequent war crimes prosecutions at Nuremberg and elsewhere.
Atrocity on the Atlantic explores the ship's sinking, the people impacted by the attack, and the reasons why this wartime atrocity was largely forgotten.
How a German submarine sank a Canadian military hospital ship during the First World War and sparked outrage.
On the evening of June 27, 1918, the Llandovery Castle -- an unarmed, clearly marked hospital ship used by the Canadian military -- was torpedoed off the Irish Coast by U-Boat 86, a German submarine.
Sinking a hospital ship violated international law. To conceal his actions, the U-86 commander had a submarine deck gun fire on survivors. One lifeboat escaped with witnesses to the atrocity. Global outrage over the attack ensued.
The incident became a pivotal case at the Leipzig War Crimes Trials, an attempt to establish justice after the Great War ended. The Llandovery Castle trial resulted in a historic legal precedent that guided subsequent war crimes prosecutions at Nuremberg and elsewhere.
Atrocity on the Atlantic explores the ship's sinking, the people impacted by the attack, and the reasons why this wartime atrocity was largely forgotten.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Toronto
Canada
Publishing group
The Dundurn Group
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
386 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4597-5134-7 (9781459751347)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2024
Dundurn Press
€10.49
Available for download
Person
Nate Hendley is a journalist and author of several books, primarily on crime-related subjects. His book The Beatle Bandit (about a murderous 1964 bank heist) won the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence for Non-Fiction in 2022. He lives in Toronto.