Lucky !

Crew of U 805

Schiff 16 Atlantis, known to the Royal Navy as Raider C. 

Photo taken by Life photographer David Scherman from a lifeboat shortly after the attack on passenger ship Zamzam. The Egyptian Zamzam was mistaken for a British liner being used as a troop carrier or Q-ship. In United States (many passengers were US citizens) attack was described a ‘brutal’ attack on an unarmed ‘neutral’ vessel and Kapitän zur See Bernhard Rogge was labelled ‘a butcher’. All tough the ship was carrying a several passengers, it was also carrying a mixed cargo of 10,000 barrels of lubricating oil, tin plate, ambulances, trucks, steel bars, radios, typewriters, batteries, girdles, cosmetics and Coca-Cola. The military equipment made the ship a legitimate target.

Unfortunately for Atlantis, the American had already taken a full-length photograph of the raider from one of ZamZam’s lifeboats and managed to hide a photograph which would ultimately play a significant role in her destruction.