Arthur Bennett

Arthur Shepherd Bennett MBE, (14 September 1921 - 17 March 1980) was an engineer officer in the British Merchant Navy.
Early life and career
Arthur Bennett was the last in the line of a family of merchant seamen. He
was educated at Wirral Grammar School for Boys. He did not intend to become an engineer
but was forced to do so when it was found that he was colour blind. He served his
apprenticeship at Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead.
Wartime experiences
During the course of his wartime career Bennett was torpedoed three times. On the first occasion was when Nourse Line's SS Saugor was sunk by the German submarine U-557 off the coast of Ireland in the early hours of 27 August 1941. Of the crew of 82 only 23 were rescued from the water.
The second sinking was of the Nourse Line's MV Bhima, when torpedoed by a Japanese submarine on 20 February 1942 300 miles SW of Cape Comorin. There was no loss of life on that occasion.
Bennett's award for gallantry arose following his being torpedoed for the third time and sinking of MV Sutlej (Nourse Line) in the Indian Ocean (08.00S 70.00E) on 25 February 1944 as a result of being torpedoed by a Japanese submarine (I-37). The ship was sailing alone and, on being torpedoed, sank in about four minutes. The survivors took to boats and rafts. Those in the boats were rescued after 42 days and those in the rafts after 49 days. Bennett was on one of the rafts. For his subsequent actions he is described in The London Gazette as displaying "gallantry and determination of a high order". After the rafts had been adrift for 47 days they were sighted by a Catalina flying boat that dropped supplies a distance from the rafts. Although suffering from long exposure and weakness,
Bennett dived into the shark-infested water and attempted to swim for the food parcel. Owing to weakness, he failed and nearly lost his life in this attempt to help his comrades. He was rescued from the water and his life was saved by his equally brave shipmate Fazle Huq X Mangloo who was awarded the British Empire Medal and the Lloyd's War Medal for Bravery at Sea. The survivors were later rescued by HMS Flamingo.
Later life and death
In his last years, Bennett lived in Chepstow, South Wales, and died of lung cancer in Bristol at the age of 59.

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