Mendi Talk

This Saturday, 18 October 2014 at 11 o’clock, Coastal & Marine’s Graham Scott will be telling the story of the Liverpool steamship Mendi  at the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum in Bournemouth as part of Black History Month. The Mendi sank during WW1, the victim of a collision at sea in heavy fog south of the Isle of Wight. Over 600 men of the South African Native Labour Corps, who were being transported to France to help the war effort, were lost with the vessel. Quickly forgotten in Britain as just one of many tragic events during the war and suppressed in South Africa during white rule, the sacrifice made by the men onboard has now become a national icon of hope and reconciliation. Graham will talk about the history and archaeology of the wreck and about how a group of volunteers from the UK and South Africa are now helping the South African National War Memorial to commemorate and celebrate the men of the Mendi and their place in modern South Africa.

 

Tickets to Graham’s talk cost £3.50 and are available from the Museum box office

 

 

To read more about the Mendi follow this link