Marcelo Arenaza: activity during Spanish war (translation)
C01-0041-001 MARCELO ARENAZA 33 years of age, native of Mundaca. Activity during Spanish War. On 18th July, 1936, I was officer on the " Astoi Mendi " at Almeria. During the first days of the rising, I was standing by to take the boat to close the port of Ferrol, an operation wh...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
10 July 1940
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/6615FC89-C8BE-4F45-AFAF-6FB3E62101E5 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/6E818F07-3977-40D2-BD95-923FFDAE6744 |
| Summary: | C01-0041-001
MARCELO ARENAZA 33 years of age, native of Mundaca. Activity during Spanish War. On 18th July, 1936, I was officer on the " Astoi Mendi " at Almeria. During the first days of the rising, I was standing by to take the boat to close the port of Ferrol, an operation which was not carried out owing to a countermanding order being received from the Government of the Republic. On 11th August, 1936, the boat was requisitioned by the Government and was converted into a prison-ship. Four hundred and seventy prisoners were taken on board. On 31st August, 1936, the captain disappeared, and on the petition of the crew the Republican authorities appointed me captain of the " Astoi Mendi ". It would be superfluous to explain to you the facts of what ocurred there, for which the Fascists have condemned me to death several times over. At the end of November, 1936, once the prisoners had been taken off, we put to sea for London. We went through Gibraltar without incident. We arrived at London, where the company Naviera Sota y Azhar, with the aid of the Basque Government, reduced me from my office to that of officer, in contrast to the confidence reposed in me by the authorities of the Republic and by the crew. The new captain turned out in a short time to be a Fascist. On 14th June, 1937, I received orders from the Consul in Cardiff to take charge of the " Arraiz " which was lying in Port Talbot, although to carry out this order I had to use [force] violence, since all the deck and engineroom officers had declared themselves in the service of Franco. With the aid of several members of the crew who were loyal to the legitimate Government, we were able to take the boat by assault and to pitch all the enemy on to the wharf. Some days later, the boat was put undertarrest by the British authorities. In September, 1937, I reported to the Embassy in London the plot organised to take off to Franco territory the entire Spanish mercantile fleet in the ports of England and Ireland. I have no doubt that Sr. Azcarate will recall the matter.
292C/946/1/41 |
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |