Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

SS Patria was a French-built ocean liner - passenger ship.
Launched: November 11, 1913, for the Compagnie Française de Navigation à Vapeur Cyprien Fabre & Compagnie Fabre Line.
SS Patria was the sister ship of SS Providence.
Length: 156.1 meters
Beam: 17.98 meters
Capacity: 11,885 tons
Displacement: 14,358 tons
Passengers: 150 first class, 300 second class, 76 third class, 2350
Engine: two engines engines alternatives à triple expansion, heated by 9 carbon furnaces, 3 chimneys

Captain F. C. Halliday served as commander of SS Patria, under British control.

On November 10, 1940, the health commission came aboard SS Patria, and the Maapilim were vaccinated against typhoid.
The following day, the Maapilim were individually interviewed by German-speaking CID officers.
The leaders applied to the High Commissioner, for asylum for the Maapilim, and newspapers were smuggled aboard, from which the Maapilim learned that the efforts were not getting anywhere.

On November 12, 1940, British warships forced SS Pacific to sail towards Cyprus Κύπρος.
Some of the passengers were transferred to SS Patria,for transfer to Mauritius.
On November 20, 1940, an explosion on SS Patria during the transfer, later disclosed as sabotage carried out by Haganah הגנה, took the lives of 267 passengers.
Sirens went off in Haifa harbor, Jewish rescue forces came to help. and all kinds of boats came to save the Maapilim.
Dan Shefy cites: "We descended in boats to a storehouse in the port. Families reunited and many waited long hours until information came in about the fatalities,"
"Only at night we learned who wasn't rescued. The scenes were heartbreaking."

His Majesty’s Government granted an amnesty to the SS Patria survivors, and they were allowed to stay in Palestine.
Buses drove them to the Atlit internment camp.
Judith Caro cites: On their arrival in Haifa, the survivors sang this song:
"Oh Patria, we cannot forget you Because you are our fate. Those who don’t know you can’t judge How wonderful freedom is. Oh Patria, we aren't moaning and complaining. We’re still all for voyages at sea, For after the quarantine we are free!"