[Note: In the Arrangement section, the notation “folder 2-5" means “Box 2, Folder 5"]

The material in this collections consists of various documents relating the sinking of the Zamzam which were either donated to the BGC Archives or were collected by the Archives staff. Their organization was supplied by the staff. The main subjects covered by this collection include the sinking of the Zamzam; the experiences of the passengers afterwards and their reflection on the experiences; the German warships Atlantis and Dresden; the reunions of Zamzam survivors and their families.

Series: Paper Records

Arrangement: Alphabetical by folder title

Date Range: 1941-2006

Volume: 4.6cubic foot

Boxes: 1-10

Geographic coverage: United States, France, Spain

Type of documents: Letters, magazines, books, newspaper and magazine clippings, Zamzam reunion materials, notes Notes: All materials donated by one person are described together.

Exceptional items: Folder 2-3 contains an annotated bibliography by Wilifred Danielson (who was one of the children on the ship) of books, articles, websites and much else that related to the sinking of the Zamzam. The annotations are filled with useful information and the bibliography is probably the best single resource on all things relating to the incident. The copy in the archives is dated November 2006. Mr. Danielson frequently updated the bibliography. Mr. Danielson frequently updated the bibliography and the folder also contains a 2016 update and the 2022 published bibliography.

Folders 1-1 and 2-5 contain the memoirs of the captain of the Atlantis, Bernhard Rogge and his adjutant Ulrich Mohr. Both books include chapters on the Zamzam and tells the story of the sinking from the German point of view. There two slightly different versions of the Mohr book in the folder, one of which was given to Florence McCallister by Arthur and Peggy Barnett, all survivors of the Zamzam.

Folder 1-2 contains Eleanor (Danielson) Anderson’s account, written many years later, of her family’s experiences during the sinking and afterwards and how the experience strengthened their faith in Jesus Christ.

Folders 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-14, 2-1, 2-4, 3-3, 3-4, 3-5, 3-7, 10-19, 10-21, 11-1, 11-2, 11-3 all contain book length accounts written by survivors, most within a few years of the sinking. All were passengers. The books by Guernsey (folder 1-14), Olga Guttoemson (folder 2-1) and Peter Levitt (11-3) also contain accounts of their experiences in German internment camps. Folder 10-9 contains an account in German by Carol Gossage of the experiences of the seven Canadian women, including Guernsey and Guttoemson, during their internment. This 2009 book by Gossage includes two pages of bibliography about the Zamzam incident. The book in folder 1-4, edited by S. Hjalmar Swanson, emphasizes the experience of the Lutheran-Augustana Synod missionary families among the passengers. It contains brief accounts written by several of the missionaries about various aspects of the experience, as well as a list of the missionaries on the ship and their mission agencies. Guernsey’s book also has photos, although only from the internee’s time in Germany. Folder 2-4 contains the memoirs, in French, of Father Eugene Nadeau, one of the several Canadian members of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Bonds of Wire in folder 9-3 contains a brief account of the priest Phillipe Gaud reault, whoalso was a passenger. The book describes the voyage of the Zamzam and the experiences of Father Nadeau and his fellow priests in internment camps in Germany. James Stewart’s experiences, as recorded in his diary from January to August 1941, a unpublished manuscript he wrote in 1941 after returning to America and other documents was published by his family in 2012 and this book is in folder 10-21. The experiences of the Hult family as they waited to learn the fate of their father on the ZamZam, are told in On Our Way Rejoicing in folder 3-3.

Folder 3-4 contains photocopies of the preface and a chapter from T.O. Dosumu-Johnson's 1980 memoir, Reflections of an African Nationalist. The preface refers to his experiences on the Zamzam and the chapter also has a brief section on the sinking and his internment by the Germans (followed by internment by the British when he returned to Sierra Leone.) Folder 3-7 contains a 1945 book in Arabic about the Zamzam in Arabic, Zamzam Al-ghariqah by Muhammad Kazim. The same folder contains an English translation of the book, done by Wheaton College Graduate School student Lucy Shafik in 2020. A first-hand accunt of the Zamzam story written for children is in folder 11-2.

Folders 1-3, 1-4, 1-14, 2-1, 2-4, and 2-7 contain accounts written within a few years of the sinking. Authors include Sylvia Oiness (folder 1-3), Isabel Russel Guernsey (folder 1-14), Olga Guttoemson (folder 2-1), and Eugene Nadeau (folder 2-4). All were passengers. The books by Guernsey, and Olga Guttoemson also describe in detail their experiences at Liebenau internment camp and in Berlin before they were able to sail home. Folder 10-9 contains another account in German by Carol Gossage of the experiences of the seven Canadian women, including Guernsey and Guttoemson, during their internment. This 2009 book by Gossage includes two pages of bibliography about the Zamzam incident. The book in folder 1-4, edited by S. Hjalmar Swanson, emphasizes the experience of the Lutheran-Augustana Synod missionary families among the passengers. It contains brief accounts written by several of the missionaries about various aspects of the experience, as well as a list of the missionaries on the ship and their mission agencies. Guernsey’s book also has photos, although only from the internee’s time in Germany. Folder 2-4 contains the memoirs, in French, of Father Eugene Nadeau, one of the several Canadian members of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. The book describes the voyage of the Zamzam and the experiences of Father Nadeau and his fellow priests in internment camps in Germany. James Stewart’s experiences, as recorded in his diary from January to August 1941, a unpublished manuscript he wrote in 1941 after returning to America and other documents was published by his family in 2012 and this book is in folder 10-21. The experiences of the Hult family as they waited to learn the fate of their father on the Zamzam, are told in On Our Way Rejoicing in folder 3-3.

Folder 3-4 contains photocopies of the preface and a chapter from T. O. Dosumu-Johnson's 1980 memoir, Reflections of an African Nationalist. The preface refers to his experiences on the Zamzam and the chapter also has a brief section on the sinking and his internment by the Germans (followed by internment by the British when he returned to Sierra Leone.) Folder 3-7 contains a 1945 book in Arabic about the Zamzam in Arabic, Zamzam Al-ghariqah by Muhammad Kazim with an Englisih translation by Lucy Shafik..

Several folders contain non-book passengers accounts of the experiences. There is, for example, the material in folder 2-7, which was compiled and donated by David A. Stewart and consisted of his father James W. Stewart's unfinished account from 1941 of his experiences on the Zamzam and afterwards; his diary of the events covering January 1 to September 19, 1941; and photocopies of many relevant documents, mainly from the offices of the British American Ambulance Corps. These materials were first published privately and then in a second edition as a mass market book. A copy of the second edition of this book is in folder 10-21. Folder 10-20 contains a transcription by Lynette Mathewson of the diary kept by her grandmother, Mabel Hall, from March to June 1941, including her accounts (sometimes written a few days after the event) the sinking of the Zamzam, the internment on the Dresden, and the journey of the American passengers through occupied Europe into Spain and back to the United States.

David Scherman, the photographer from Life magazine, was one of the major actors in the Zamzam story. His unpublished manuscript telling the story of the entire incident and what happened to the participants in later years is in folder 3-5.

Folder 10-1 contains a transcript of an interview with Florence McCallister about her and her husband Irl’s experiences. This interview was apparently made not long after their return to the United States in June 1941. The same folder has a much longer manuscript about their experiences. This may have been the basis for the account the McCallister had printed in their home town newspaper Daily Journal [Wheaton, Illinois]. Copies of these editions of the paper are described on the Location Record for oversize materials. The same folder has notes for other talks she gave, as well as a speech by her granddaughter on her grandmother’s experiences.

There are many, many newspaper and magazine clippings. Some of these cover the Zamzam story itself in 1941 (folders 2-2 and 10-3 through 10-8) and other later ones are retelling of the story after several years, usually by one of the passengers.

Folder 10-7 contains a brief report for the in-house journal of the U.S. Foreign Service of the work of the U.S. consuls in assisting the passengers in Occupied France.

Folder 10-4 contains copies of French and English newspapers available in Biarritz or perhaps St. Jean-de-Luz at the time of the passenger’s arrival. Folder 1-12 contains the three issues of Life magazine from 1941 with stories about the Zamzam.

Folder 2-6 contains two issues of Collier’s magazine from 1944, with the beginning and end of an account by British-American Ambulance Corps commander Frank Vicovari’s account of the sinking of the Zamzam and his captivity aboard various German vessels.

Folders 1-5 through 1-10 contain materials donated to the Archives. These include many newspaper clippings, most from 1941, about the sinking and the return of the American passengers to the United States; text of a talk by Lemuel Blades about his grandfather, Ned Laughinghouse (the passenger who died from wounds received during the shelling), and a poem Laughinghouse wrote about the voyage just days before the attack; a transcript of a diary of the incident kept by passenger Irl McCallister and edited by Leonard Buck (the Archives does not have the diary and received only the transcript from Rev. Buck); a transcribed copy of a letter written June 30, 1941 by Alice Landis describing her experiences (the Archives does not have a copy of the original letter; the transcript appears to have been made much later); a brief sheet prepared by Eleanor Anderson on the experiences of James W. Stewart of the Ambulance Corp before and after the sinking (folder 1-10). Other materials about Stewart’s adventures on the Zamzam and after are in folder 2-7 and on microfilm reel 1.

Folder 10-1 includes documents on the compensation that the McCallisters (and the other passengers) were required to repay to the U.S. State Department for assistance they received from the United States government when they were in occupied France.

Folder 9-5 contains photocopies made by Wilfred Danielson of a wide variety of documents from the National Archives of the United States relating to the Zamzam incident. There are, for example, reports from the American consuls in France who assisted the passengers when they arrived and statements that they took from various people about the sinking. There are lists of the ship’s passengers and cargo; correspondence between the State Department and people asking about the fate of the ship and lists of documents relating to the case in various archival files.

Folder 1-11 contains printouts of material found on the Internet about the Zamzam and the Atlantis and passenger James de Graaff-Hunter

Folder 1-12 contains the three issues of Life magazine from 1941 with stories about the Zamzam.

Folder 2-2 contains copies of newspaper and magazine clippings gathered by the Archives staff about the Zamzam.

Folders 3-1 and 3-2 contain the newsletters of the informal Zamzam survivor group, started and largely maintained by Eleanor Anderson. These reports are a treasure trove of information on various aspects of the Zamzam story. There are 32 of them all together, and they often contain reports of presentations made at reunions are notes and greetings from various Zamzamers, or copies of relevant documents, etc. Boxes 5 to 8 contain Anderson’s correspondence with many survivors of the Zamzam and their families. These folders contain a great deal about the 1941 incident and also the story of the later lives of the people involved, in some ways a very typical and in some ways a very unusual group. Many, of course, were missionaries and the folders allow the tracing of American missionaries’ lives in many parts of the world. But there are also many folders of correspondence with non-missionaries such as Peter Levitt (folder 7-3), photographer David Scherman (folder 8-3) and several members of the British American Ambulance Corps. There are also two interesting letters from the wife of an Egyptian crew member of the Zamzam in folder 6-7. The correspondence in these files is interesting for its tracing of the lives of a group of people for several decades from the 1940s on, as well as for what it tells about the Zamzam story.

Zamzam survivors and their families began holding reunions in 1991. Folder 10-18 contains some programs and other materials that Florence McCallister saved from several reunions. Folder 1-13 contains some of the materials, including attendance list and photocopies of newspaper clippings, from the 2006 reunion.

*****

Series: Audio-visual materials

Arrangement: Chronological by date

Date Range: 1972, 2006

Volume: .02 cubic feet

Geographic coverage: United States

Type of documents: recording of a lecture, oral history interview, a video documentary

Exceptional items:

T1 - (Side 1, 50 minutes) A lecture given by Mabel Hall, accompanied by slides or a filmstrip of photographs taken by David Scherman (the Archives does not have the photographs), with a very brief question time at the end. She describes the experiences of the Zamzam passengers from March to June 1941, with most of the emphasis on the sinking of the Zamzam, the time on the Dresden, and her reflections on the spiritual meaning of the experience. Side 2 of the reel is a recording of the exact same lecture, of much poorer audio quality.

T2 - (60 minutes) Oral history interview of Arthur Barnett by Bob Shuster. Introduction; son of Albert and Elma Barnett; father’s Australian background; immigration to the United States; father’s call to missions; joining AIM in 1905; how his mother came to the United States, became a missionary, became engaged to Albert Barnett; Arthur’s birth in 1910; call to be a doctor; family’s return to the United States in 1925; contacts with the Westervelts; formation of the Westervelt Missionary Home; Arthur’s education in the United States and medical training; attempt to go to Africa as a missionary in 1940; meeting his future wife Margaret Stevenson; getting an exemption from his draft board and being ordained as a Baptist missionary; importance of being married before going to Africa; marriage; Arthur Glasser; selecting the Zamzam to sail to Africa; description of the ship; meaning of the name Zamzam; the crew of the ship; decrepit condition of the ship; delay in sailing from Hoboken, New Jersey; the Barnett’s tiny cabin on deck; memories of the voyages; comments on the later Zamzam reunions; controversy of observing blackout regulations on the ship and zigzagging; description of the Easter service on board; the shelling of the ship by the Atlantis on April 17; their lifeboat smashed; destruction of their cabin; reaction of Zamzam crew; abandoning ship; passengers being picked up by the Atlantis motorboats; more on the shelling of the ship; miraculous escape of almost all of the passengers and crew; witnessing to a German crew member; Captain Rogge’s Lutheranism; the Lord’s protection during the sinking

T3- (97 minutes) Oral History interview with Alice (Landis) Schellenberg by Bob Shuster. Family background; growing up on a farm; conversion and call to be a missionary while attending a Keswick Conference in New Jersey; grandmother’s desire to be a missionary; siblings who became missionaries; attending Moody Bible Institute 1937-1939 and 1942; Will Houghton; Wilbur Smith; street preaching and visits to Cook County Hospital; attending Moody Church; decide to join AIM; father’s expulsion from the Mennonite ministry and Alice’s attendance at Calvary Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; healing of a lesion on her lungs; attending the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Siloam Springs, Arkansas; Kenneth Pike and Eugene Nida; first impression of the Zamzam; her cabin and roommates; preparations to go to Africa; importance of prayer backing for missionaries; encouragement to her from the ladies missionary society at the church, including a poem she read after the sinking; leaving New York City harbor; relations between missionaries and other passengers; the crew of the Zamzam, memories of the voyage; evening devotions by Roy Brill the night before the shelling; the importance of her umbrella; the shelling of the ship on the morning of April 17; instructions from the captain the day before the attack; finding a lifeboat; leaving the lifeboat for the raft; the appearance of a rainbow; reaction of passengers and crew to the sinking; being picked up by the Atlantis; treatment of the Zamzam passengers and crew by the Atlantis crew; Captain Rugge of the Atlantis; accommodations on the Atlantis; transfer to the Dresden; treatment of the prisoners on the Dresden; crew of the Dresden; activities of the prisoners on the Dresden, including sewing and carving; importance of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John to her; lack of hysterics or depression among the prisoners; morning devotions; poor condition of the food; voyage of the Dresden through northern waters through the British blockade to occupied Europe; reports to the world of the sinking of the Zamzam; her father’s reaction to the news; landing in France; visit of the American consul; wandering around the town of Biarritz unguarded; train trip to Portugal; sightseeing in Portugal; saying good-bye to British prisoners on the Dresden and their internment; Mr. Walter Guilding learning Greek while in interment camp; sailing back to the United States with Jewish refugee children; pretending she was at Horn and Hardart’s Automat while a prisoner; arriving back in New York harbor and meeting her family and friends from Calvary Church; speaking about her Zamzam experiences around the country; meeting her future husband; sailing to Africa again after encouragement from the Bible; difficulties before sailing; Deuteronomy 11:26-28; “we saw the hand of the Lord in little things.”

V1 - (300 minutes) The Rainbow Odyssey. Homemade documentary by James. J. Murray. It consists of four parts. The first part is video of various documents relating to the Zamzam, including the passenger list, letters from passengers in German interment camps. The second part consists of scenes shot during the 1991 Zamzam reunion. The third part consists of segments from the 1953 NBC television program about the sinking of the Atlantis. The fourth part is audio only (approximately 80 minutes, recorded November 27, 1983) of Mrs. Doris Young describing her experience on the Zamzam, the Atlantis, and the Dresden.