Mary Cornish

Mary Cornish was the escort who saved six boys from the torpedoed SS City of Benares in September 1940. The ship, carrying 90 child evacuees to Canada, was sunk by U-48 in the Atlantic. Cornish, a music teacher with no seafaring experience, kept six boys alive for eight days in a waterlogged lifeboat.She rationed food and water, kept spirits up with songs and stories, and used her own body to shield the boys from spray and wind. All six survived. The sinking of the City of Benares ended the government evacuation programme. Her Liverpool connections come through the ship's departure port.