Twelve Ships Acquired in North America

Although the full-scale oppression of European Jews was known and understood prior to and during World War II, few countries were willing to admit significant number of Jews attempting to escape the impending Holocaust. England essentially closed the gates to Palestine, in the face of Arab objections, admitting only a small quota of Jewish immigrants each year.

Palestinian Jews organized Aliyah Bet, the clandestine immigration activity, in an attempt to rescue European Jews. Some 66 ships made 88 voyages up until December 1944, but few evaded the British naval blockade of Palestine. The small ships carried a total of 40,355 persons (an average of only 450 persons per ship), not all of whom made it to Palestinian waters.

Following World War II, several hundred thousand surviving Jews huddled in Displaced Persons Camps throughout Europe. Their former neighbors did not want them back. Nations outside Europe would admit only limited quotas. The British continued their naval blockade of Palestine.

David Ben-Gurion realized that the small ships that Aliyah Bet could acquire in Europe would not be able to bring significant numbers of Jews to Palestine. He came to America and appealed to philanthropists to purchase large ships for this purpose. In the face of U.S. State Department opposition, they did just that, at considerable risk to their own finances and reputations. One company, F. & B. Shipping Company, purchased five of the ships. (It was later learned that “F. & B.” stood for “F_ _ _ the British”.) Young Jews, some with U.S. Navy or Merchant Marine experience, were recruited to crew the ships, along with some professional non-Jewish seamen.

This accompanying graphic shows silhouettes of the 12 American-owned ships to give a better understanding of their relative size. All the ships were partially re-fitted in the U.S to make them seaworthy. Most were then re-fitted again in European ports to accommodate huge numbers of passengers.

There were 66 Aliyah Bet ships attempting to rescue Holocaust survivors between 1945 and May 15,1948. The 10 American "big ships" that ran the British blockade rescued 43% of them.

*Both the Altalena and the Mala arrived in Israel after the declaration of statehood on May 15, 1948, so did not face the Royal Navy blockade.