Jewish Memories at Metaponto beach.

There are two different memories från Metaponto bay. 

On January 24th, 1947, the ship S/S Ulua left Trelleborg port in Sweden with 644 Maapilim, mostly women. Writing Maapilim as the name of passengers I mean that the final country for its travel was Eretz

Israel. However, when at Mediteranian the Hagana crew got a message to pick up additional 684 immigrants (75% men) at the bay, not port in the Italian city Metaponto. The Ulua ship left the bay of Metaponto early on February 21st. There were a total of 1 328 Holocaust survivors. Maapilim onboard. Too many. To diminish the cargo, all the language and the not necessary staff were immediate to be thrown into the water. 

This action was remembered by Chana Bressler when we talked about her memories from her time in Sweden. She remembered the White boat that brought her from L¨beck to Malmö in Sweden and that she was transferred for a 2-week isolation in the city of Lanskrona. Thereafter she remembered the school in Voxna. As I have seen some photos taken at this school I asked her if she had some of her own photos from that time. At this point, she told me that she had to discharge all her belongings at the Bay of Metaponto.

The days before the ship was spotted were spent in preparation for confronting the British. Due to the strength and relatively fast speed of the ship, the escort team planned to try and break through to the shore while risking a collision with the destroyers that would try to block its way, and send immigrants swimming towards the shore. A great deal of effort was invested in preparing the immigrants for the collision: The ship was divided into areas that were manned, and "arms" such as clubs, cans, screws, and stones were prepared. A British reconnaissance aircraft spotted the ship on February 27th, about 60 km from Port Said, Egypt. Five destroyers joined it, and the "Chaim Arlosoroff" continued sailing towards the Gulf of Haifa.