An effort will be made by a Dutch ship salvage firm to dig up the SS Patria, a vessel sunk in the Port of Haifa, eight years before Israel was established with the loss of 202 Jewish immigrants and 50 other persons, according to an announcement here today by the Wijsmuller Towing Company. The firm announced it is sending a salvage vessel for a two-year project which will attempt to clear the Port of Halfa of six wrecks, including the sunken Patria.
In 1940. the British mandatory power in Palestine rounded up 1,771 “illegal” Jewish immigrants and placed them aboard a French vessel, the Patria, planning to deport them to Mauritius. On November 25, 1941 an explosion took place on the ship, which sank in the harbor. The death tell included 282 of the Jewish immigrants, members of the crew and some policemen aboard. Blame for the explosion was attributed to the Jewish underground, which had hoped to delay the wholesale deportation.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
