Black Valour. The South African Native Labour Contingent, 1916-1918, and the sinking of the Mendi by Clothier, Norman

(Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 1987) 0869805649. 210 x 145 mm; laminated pictoral wrappers; pp. xvi + 204, incl. index; photographs. Trace of browning to edges; occasional fox spot. Very good condition. "In the misty morning of 17 February 1917 a crowded troopship was making its cautious way to France. Suddenly, another vessel loomed up out of the fog, and rammed the troopship which quickly sank into the icy waters of the English Channel. The stricken ship was the Mendi and the troops were black South Africans. Over 600 men lost their lives making this one of South Africa's greatest military disasters. This is the first detailed historical account of the tragedy. The author has made extensive use of personal records and other sources to reconstruct the last voyage of the Mendi, to describe the sinking and to examine the many puzzling questions associated with the incident. Why, for example, was the Darro steaming so fast? Why did her captain take no steps to rescue survivors? Is there any truth in the legend that the men trapped on the deck of the Mendi performed a death-defying dance as the ship went down?" .