South African Maritime Museum

This guide to the South African Maritime Museum in Simon's Town opens with a twisted fragment of hull recovered from the wreck of the SS Mendi, a troopship carrying members of the South African Native Labour Contingent toward the First World War. You'll hear about the fog-bound collision with another liner before dawn on 21 February 1917, and how the museum weighs a widely repeated story about the men's final minutes against what actually got recorded. Look closely at that piece of hull in the case in front of you as you begin.