# WW11 Swedish yacht "Southern Cross" (stood by Athenia)



## nigelcollett (Oct 26, 2005)

Hi all

Can anybody help me with ANY info about the Swedish yacht "Southern Cross" which took part in the rescue of survivors from the Athenia.

I have very little info except that it was owned by the Swedish Industrialist (an alledged German sympathiser during the war) who had purchased it from Howard Hughes in the 1930's

Any titbit of info would be appreciated

Regards

NigelC


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

*Southern Cross - Axel Wenner*

Nigel C,

By good luck I have found a lot of info on the Southern Cross. I will not try and repeat it all. A very interesting story about the owner Axel Wenner and his clandestine dealings, which were linked with the Duke of Windsor and many others. Also a report of the sinking of the Athenia. There are quite a few web pages about it so if my link does not work then just Google the following and all will be revealed. Yacht southern cross Howard Hughes. The sites should then come up OK. First try the following link which I have tried and it did work - www.time.com/magazine/article/0,9171,711741,00.html 
There is a picture of the Southern Cross on one of the sites but you cannot download it. Not looked for the Athenia yet so dont know if there are any pictures of her.
Regards
Hawkey01(==D) 

PS The attached is a little fun and is her modern day counterpart.!!


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Nigel C,

Pages of info on the Athenia. Attached photo from an excellent site www.mikekemble.com 
Regards
Hawkey01


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## nigelcollett (Oct 26, 2005)

Hi Hawkeye

Many thanks for the link for the SC, I was begining to give up hope on this one. It was the SC that I was interested in, not really the Athenia as its not too difficult to find info on her. Thanks anyway.

Regards

NigelC


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## Hugh MacLean (Nov 18, 2005)

*Yacht - SOUTHERN CROSS*

Nigel,

In case you never found Hawkeye's link to the photo, It's here: http://www.nordicway.com/Downloads/SweDish-PreSS%202006-01/Pag17-Feature1.pdf

Regards


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## nigelcollett (Oct 26, 2005)

Hi Hugh

ths for the address, but it doesn't seem to bring anything up

Regards

NigelC


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## Hugh MacLean (Nov 18, 2005)

Nigel,

It takes a little time to load. You should be able to see it as long as you have a PDF viewer like Adobe Acrobat installed.

Regards


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## nigelcollett (Oct 26, 2005)

Hi Hugh

Okay will wait a bit longer as I only have the old fashioned steam powered connection although I do keep adobe acrobat up to date

thanks again

NigelC


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

NigelC,

If you still having trouble loading from that web address try the following.
www.nordicway.com this will bring up the home page. Use search and type in Axel Wenner. You will find two articles, click on the first one titled "Axel Wenner - Gren. The true of" and it will load using Adobe. Thats were the picture of the Southern Cross is. I have tried all sorts of ways of copying but it has failed me. Obviously I am not enough of a wiz kid!!

Regards
Hawkey01


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## Hugh MacLean (Nov 18, 2005)

*Southern Cross*

Have managed to extract the ship from the PDF file.

Courtesy of http://www.nordicway.com/Downloads/SweDish-PreSS 2006-01/Pag17-Feature1.pdf 

Regards


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## hawkey01 (Mar 15, 2006)

Hugh,

you are the wiz kid on the block. How did you do that? If its complicated could you drop me PM.
Regards
Hawkey01


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## nigelcollett (Oct 26, 2005)

Hi Hugh/Hawkeye

Many thanks for your help! Yes Hugh, how do you do that?

Regards

NigelC


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## Hugh MacLean (Nov 18, 2005)

Hello Guys

Not complicated at all. Will let you know shortly

Regards


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## Hugh MacLean (Nov 18, 2005)

*PDF Files*

Here it is, I hope this is easy to understand but try it out on the Southern Cross PDF file or any other for that matter.

If it dosent work for you let me know and will try and help.

Open a PDF file and go to the area you want to copy.
Zoom in on the area to be copied until it's the desired size. Images can only be copied at screen resolution (72-96 ppi). 
In *Acrobat Reader version 4*: Click and hold down on the Text Select Tool button. A toolbar flyout will appear with three additional buttons. Choose the Graphic Select Tool from the flyout (third button).
In *Acrobat Reader version 5*: Click the Graphics Select Tool on the toolbar or use the keyboard shortcut *G*. 
In the do***ent area, drag a selection marquee around area you wish to copy.
Right click and choose copy, or go to Edit -> Copy, or press Ctrl-C on your keyboard. (Command-C on Macintosh)
The selected area is placed onto the clipboard as a bitmap.
Paste the image into another do***ent, or paste it to an image editor and save it to your hard drive. 
If you hover your mouse over the various toolbar icons there will be a description of what it does. The text select tool is *T *


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## nigelcollett (Oct 26, 2005)

Hi Hugh

Many thanks for the instructions, I'll give it a try a bit later after my chilli. Food comes first, mind you, you should never eat on an empty stomach!

Regards

NigelC


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## Mr.Alin (Nov 9, 2012)

*check it out*

this won't be very helpful but you might find it interesting. my grandfather may he rest in peace was on that ship, he recieved a small 1ft x.5ft plaque that hangs in my grandma's house. This wool sweater is all i have of him.

i was watching "antiques roadshow" one night and a man came on with two telegrams from that day. both from the Southern Cross. one was from land to ships, saying that wwii had officially started. the other was from the athenia to any ships around, asking for SOS. they had been hit by a german torpedo.

thats all i know, really. i wish i could have talked more to my grandfather about it..


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## A.D.FROST (Sep 1, 2008)

Mr.Alin said:


> this won't be very helpful but you might find it interesting. my grandfather may he rest in peace was on that ship, he recieved a small 1ft x.5ft plaque that hangs in my grandma's house. This wool sweater is all i have of him.
> 
> i was watching "antiques roadshow" one night and a man came on with two telegrams from that day. both from the Southern Cross. one was from land to ships, saying that wwii had officially started. the other was from the athenia to any ships around, asking for SOS. they had been hit by a german torpedo.
> 
> thats all i know, really. i wish i could have talked more to my grandfather about it..


ATHENIA (Anchor Line) The first British Merchant Ship to be sunk in WWII 3.9.1939.


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