These collection items relate to Margaret Ingham (nee Gordon). During World War II she survived 52 days in a lifeboat after the ship on which she was a passenger was torpedoed. Her story is one of dignity, kindness and courage.
On 6 November 1942, in the mid-South Atlantic, a German U-boat sank the SS City of Cairo, the ship on which Margaret and her husband Crawford were aboard. He was killed, as were many other passengers, but Margaret managed to scramble to a lifeboat along with 16 other people.
For 52 days the lifeboat sailed 3200 kilometres, and Margaret watched as all but one other on board grew weaker and died. She recorded the names of each person and the date on which they died over two sides of a single page from an old diary. Margaret and the only other survivor, James Whyte (the ship’s Third Officer), were eventually rescued by a Brazilian minesweeper. Tragically, Whyte was killed when the ship on which he was returning to England was torpedoed.
After her rescue, Margaret wrote to the families of those who died on board the lifeboat. In 1943 she received the British Empire Medal for bravery and heroism.
As well as Ingham's record of those who died in the lifeboat, Travelling Treasures visitors can see a photograph of Margaret receiving her British Empire Medal in 1943. Her papers are held in the Library's Australian Manuscripts Collection.
Margaret Ingham established the Children’s Literature Collection at the State Library of Victoria.
Illustration
A detail of Margaret Ingham's handwritten record of the deaths of her fellow lifeboat occupants, State Library of Victoria Manuscripts Collection | 
