Voyage Preparations
On November 9, 1946, using the Potomac Shipwrecking Co. of Washington, D.C. as its agent, the Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah bought President Warfield from the WSA and transferred control of it to Hamossad Le'aliyah Bet, the branch of the Haganah that organized Aliyah Bet activities.
The British had recently announced that they would begin deporting illegal immigrants to Cyprus rather than Atlit, whereupon Aliyah Bet organizers decided immigrants should begin resisting capture. The President Warfield was well-suited for that, because it was fast, sturdy enough to not easily overturn, made of steel which would help it withstand ramming, and was taller than the British destroyers which would be trying to board it.
The ship was also chosen because of its derelict condition. It was risky to put passengers on it and it was felt this would compel the British to let it pass blockade because of this danger or put the British in a bad light internationally.
All "illegal immigration" ships were renamed with Hebrew names designed to inspire and rally the Jews of Palestine and Hamossad Le'aliyah Bet renamed President Warfield to Exodus 1947 (and, in Hebrew, Yetz'iat (sic) Tasbaz, or Yetzi'at Eiropa Tashaz, "Flight from Europe 5707") after the biblical Jewish exodus from Egypt to Canaan. The name was proposed by Israeli politician and military figure Moshe Sneh, who at the time headed illegal immigration for the Jewish Agency, and was later described by Israel's second Prime Minister Moshe Sharett (then Shertok) as "a stroke of genius, a name which by itself, says more than anything which has ever been written about it."
For months, teams of Palestinians and Americans worked on the Exodus 1947 with the goal of making it harder for the British to take over the ship. Metal pipes, designed to spray out steam and boiling oil, were installed around the ship's perimeter. Lower decks were covered in nets and barbed wire. The machine room, steam room, wheel house and radio room were covered in wire and reinforced to prevent entry by British soldiers.
The President Warfield left Baltimore February 25, 1947 and headed for the Mediterranean.
Read more about this topic: SS Exodus
Famous quotes containing the words voyage and/or preparations:
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)