SS Exodus - Voyage To Palestine

Voyage To Palestine

According to Israeli historian Aviva Halamish, the Exodus 1947 was never meant to "sneak out toward the shores of Palestine," but rather "to burst openly through the blockade, by dodging and swiftly nipping through, beaching herself on a sand bank and letting off her cargo of immigrants at the beach." The ship was too large and unusual to go unnoticed.

Indeed, even as people began boarding the ship at the port of Sète near Marseilles, a British RAF plane was circling overhead and a British Royal Navy warship was waiting a short distance out at sea.

The Exodus 1947 left Sète sometime between two and four in the morning of July 11, flying a Honduran flag and claiming to be headed for Istanbul. It was carrying 4,515 passengers including 1,600 men, 1,282 women, and 1,672 children and teenagers. Palmach (Haganah's military wing) skipper Ike Aronowicz was its captain and Haganah commissioner Yossi Harel was commander.

As it left the port, the Exodus was shadowed by the sloop HMS Mermaid and by RAF aircraft. Later, the Mermaid was relieved by the destroyer HMS Cheviot.

On the first evening of its voyage, the Exodus reported that a destroyer had tried to communicate with it but that it had not replied. Through its journey, the ship was followed by between one and five British destroyers as well as an airplane and a cruiser.

During the journey, the people on the Exodus 1947 prepared to be intercepted. The ship was divided into sections staffed by different groups and each went through practice resistance sessions.

The ship was loaded with enough supplies to last two weeks. Passengers were given cooked meals, hot drinks, soup, and one liter of drinking water daily. They did their washing in salt water. The ship had only 13 lavatories. A British military doctor, inspecting the ship after the battle, said that it was badly over-crowded, but that hygiene was satisfactory and the ship appeared well prepared to cope with casualties. Several babies were born during the week-long journey. One woman, Paula Abramowitz, died in childbirth. Her infant son died a few weeks later, in Haifa.

The British finally boarded the ship on July 18, some 20 nautical miles (40 km) from the Palestinian shore. Boarding it was difficult, and was challenged by the passengers and Haganah members on board. One crew member and two passengers died of gunshot wounds. Two British sailors were treated afterwards for fractured scapula, and one for a head injury and lacerated ear. About ten Exodus passengers and crew were treated for mild injuries resulting from the boarding, and about 200 were treated for illnesses and maladies unrelated to it.

Due to the high profile of the Exodus 1947 emigration ship it was decided by the British government that the emigrants were to be deported back to France. Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin suggested this and the request was relayed to General Sir Alan Cunningham, High Commissioner for Palestine, who agreed with the plan after consulting the Navy. Before then, intercepted would-be immigrants were placed in internment camps on Cyprus, which was at the time a British colony. This new policy was meant to be a signal to both the Jewish community and the European countries which assisted immigration that whatever they sent to Palestine would be sent back to them.

Not only should it clearly establish the principle of as applies to a complete shipload of immigrants, but it will be most discouraging to the organisers of this traffic if the immigrants... end up by returning whence they came.