The Mendi sinking
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The Mendi sinking occurred on 21 February 1917 during World War I and is considered one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the South African military.
On this date the troopship Mendi was transporting 607 members of the 802nd South African Native Labour Corps from Britain to France. At 5am the Mendi was struck and cut almost in half by another ship, the SS Darro.
Oral history records that the men met their fate with great dignity.
Their chaplain, Reverend Isaac Dyobha, is reported to have calmed the panicked men by raising his arms aloft and crying out in a loud voice: "Be quiet and calm, my countrymen. What is happening now is what you came to do ... you are going to die, but that is what you came to do. Brothers, we are drilling the death drill. I, a Xhosa, say you are my brothers ... Swazis, Pondos, Basotho ... so let us die like brothers. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war-cries, brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais in the kraal, our voices are left with our bodies."
(Note: an assegai is a type of spear.)
This event is remembered by a number of memorials in South Africa, Britain and France as well as in the names of two South African Navy ships:
- The SAS Isaac Dyobha, a Warrior class fast attack craft. (Probably one of the few naval warships in the world named after a cleric.)
- The SAS Mendi, a Valour class patrol corvette.