Lifeboat

Based on an extraordinary true story of courage and survival.

On Friday 13 September 1940 the City of Benares set sail from Liverpool bound for Canada. On board were ninety young evacuees escaping the bombing of war-torn Britain. Four days into the crossing The Ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sank. Only eleven of the children survived.

Two fifteen year old girls, Bess Walder and Beth Cumming, spent 19 hours in the water on an upturned lifeboat. They willed each other to survive. Now, over sixty years later, they remain firm friends. This is the remarkable story of their enduring friendship which, forged in those first few days on the ship, has lasted a lifetime.

For everyone aged 8+