Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

The designation HMT (His/Her Majesty's Troopship) replaced the RMS (Royal Mail Steamship) or SS (Steamship) designations on ships converted to troopship duty with the Royal Navy of Great Britain.

HMT Empire Rival was a 7,045 GRT cargo ship, was built by William Gray & Co Ltd, West Hartlepool.
Launched: June 19, 1943
Completed: September, 1943

On March 15, 1946, HMT Empire Rival transported 544 men and 153 women to Cyprus.

On August 14, 1946, the British anchored HMT Empire Rival and HMS Empire Heywood in Famagusta Gazimağusa harbor, marking the beginning of the Jewish refugee camps in Cyprus Kıbrıs.
On August 22, 1946 a limpet mine was attached to her hull at Haifa חיפה, blowing a large hole in her side and beaching her.
Between August, 1946, and October, 1947, the first deportation period, the British created 12 camps.
The first was Camp 55, in Karaolos, and a few days later the British opened Camp 60, nearby.
Altogether, there were five camps: 55, 60, 61, 62 and Camp 63, in Karaolos, all built near the beach area during August and September, and designed to contain 2000 people each.
Between September, 1946, and March, 1947, the next group of camps 64, 65, 66, 67 and 68, was built, between Dhekelia Δεκέλειας and Xylotimbou., also designed for 2000 people each.
In March, 1947, two more camps were built in the Dhekelia Δεκέλειας, numbered 69 and 70.
Camp veterans cite the camps' layout as "surrounded by a double electric wire fence with spotlights and an observation point every 100 meters. British soldiers kept watch with Tommy guns with orders to shoot anyone who tried to escape."

On August 11, 1946, a British reconnaissance airplane sent a dipatch to HMS Brissenden to intercept Sagol Yagur, which was flying both Turkish and Zionist flags.
HMS Brissenden, with help from the Palestine Police, arrested Sagol Yagur.
Sagol Yagur was escorted to Haifa חיפה.
Yisrael Auerbach cites two British destroyers came along side to escort Sagol Yagur to Haifa חיפה.
The Master and crew were deported by the British.
The passengers were the first group of Maapilim sent by the British to Cyprus.
They were transported on HMT Empire Rival.

The Maapilim on Katriel Yaffe כתריאל יפה and Kaf Gimel Yordei haSira were kept on the ships in Haifa for two weeks.
They had to wait until the British completed the deportation of the passengers on Yagur and Henrietta Szold,.
Rozea Varda Wechtel cites: "The passengers aboard the ships started to rebel. The British, in return, tried to calm them down by spraying them with strong streams of water. The British feared that the water might be too heavy for the ships and decided to transfer the passengers to British boats. They constructed a bridge."
The Maapilim were transferred to HMT Empire Rival.

On August 14, 1946, Kaf Gimel (23) Yordei haSira כ"ג יורדי הסירה was boarded by British troops from HMS Brissenden.
Shaul Oren cites: "We received instructions to offer passive resistance to their boarding the ship."
On August 16, the passengers went on a hunger strike.
On August 17, Kaf Gimel (23) Yordei haSira was taken into tow to Haifa חיפה.
Kaf Gimel (23) Yordei haSira and Katriel Yoffe had to wait until the British completed the deportation of the passengers on Yagur and Henrietta Szold, after which the passengers were transferred to HMT Empire Rival.

On August 22, 1946, HMT Empire Rival was sabotaged in Haifa port.
A limpet mine was attached to her hull, which blew large hole in her side, and she was beached.
Temporary repairs were made, and she was towed to Alexandria, for repairs.

On November 1, 1946, Latrun לטרון San Demetrio was intercepted by HMS Providence, off Palestine, boarded with no resistance, and escorted to Haifa חיפה.
Able Seaman Alan Green cites: "Providence closed and rammed her, the grappling irons were thrown and the boarding party armed with pick-axe handles and led by a Sub-Lieutenant with a revolver leapt aboard."
The passengers put up resistance before being captured, a fight ensued. and several of passengers and British Marines were hurt.
Stoker Don Allum cites: "I was one of the engine-room men who went down below, and I remember the San Dimitrio listing to one side, and then she went straight over to the other side, which was very scary for us down below."
Latrun לטרון San Demetrio had been damaged, and listed to one side.
Latrun לטרון San Demetrio, damaged and listing to one side, was towed to Haifa חיפה.
Passengers and crew were transferred to a deportation ship, and transported to Famasgusta Αμμόχωστος Gazimağusa. aboard HMT Empire Heywood and HMT Ocean Vigour.

On February 17, 1947, haMaapil haAlmoni המעפיל האלמוני was towed in to port by HMS Welfare.
The passengers were transferred to HMT Empire Rival for transport to Famagusta.

On April 3, 1947, HMT Empire Rival was sabotaged.
A demolition charge exploded while she was sailing to Port Said.

Operation Oasis, implemented by the British, involved converting three freighters into caged prison ships.
* 1,464 people were transported on HMT Ocean Vigour
* around 1,409 were transported on HMT Runnymede Park
* 1,526 were transported on HMT Empire Rival
The three ships were cited in press reports as “a floating Auschwitz” and “cages for wild beasts.”
Wikipedia, from article SS Exodus, cited: The British had identified one of the ships, the Runnymede Park, as the vessel most likely to cause them trouble. A confidential report of the time cited: "It was known that the Jews on the Runnymede Park were under the leadership of a young, capable and energetic fanatic, Morenci Miry Rosman, and throughout the operation it had been realised that this ship might give trouble."
HMS Cardigan Bay was assigned to escort the three British mercantiles, joined by with HMS Tremadoc Bay and HMS Burghead Bay.
Able Seaman Alan Green cites: the three transports were escorted from Marseille to the British internment camp in Germany by "the destroyer Troubridge and the Algerines Welfare, Skipjack and Espiegle."
The passengers assumed they would be interned in camps on Cyprus Kibris, but instead, the convoy sailed to Port-de-Bouc.
The British had concluded, although they knew that sending Jews back to Germany and into camps, would set off world-wide protests, that the only place they could send the Maapilim was to the British-controlled zone in Germany, where they would be placed in DP camps, and screened for extremists.

Yaakov Dori told Yosef Lazarovsky to resist British attempts to transport the Maapilim, and gave him cans of milk for the children being transferred aboard HMS Empire Rival, and one of these cans was filled with explosives to blow up the ship by going onto it first.
When the children were brought aboard HMS Empire Rival first, so it was decided to cancel the operation.

On August 22, 1947, HMT Empire Rival sailed for Hamburg.

On September 6, 1947, the attempt to sabotage HMT Empire Rival in Hamburg, failed.

On September 8, 1947, HMT Empire Rival was evacuated.
Her passengers were mainly women and children, as well as 126 sick people.
Following the search of the ship, a self built time bomb was discovered that had been smuggled on board in Port-de-Bouc.
The bomb had been timed to go oft 10 hours after the ship had been vacated.
The cannister bomb was found by British navy personnel in a search of the ship around noon, about six hours after evacuation began and four and a half hours after the ship was cleared of its 1,420 passengers.
The British rushed the bomb to a field where it exploded about 10 hours after the Jews began leaving the ship.

On January 31, 1948, 10:00 AM, Lamed-Hay Heroes of Gush Etzion was spotted by a British reconnaissance plane.
At 1200, a second reconnaissance plane spotted her.
At 13:00PM, she was intercepted by HMS Childers, about 70 miles north-north-west of Haifa Bay, off the coast of Palestine.

On February 28, 1948, Bonim ve Lochamim בנים ולוחמים arrived opposite Nitzanim ניצנים shore.
She was spotted by a British reconnaissance aircraft, and was later approached by British destroyer. Then she was surrounded by five British destroyers that escorted her to Haifa חיפה.
The passengers were loaded without resistance onto the transport ships HMS Mauritius and HMS Empire Rival, which took them to Cyprus Κύπρος.
The ship commander hid in a slik' and was rescued, while the two other escorts mixed with the passengers and went to Cyprus Κύπρος with them.

On March 29, 1948, Yechiam arrived at Haifa Port.
Her passengers were transferred to HMT Empire Rival. bound for internment camps on Cyprus.

On April 24, 1948, as she sailed towards Haifa, Mishmar haEmek משמר העמק San Michele, was captured by HMS Chevron.
Paul H. Silverstone's Aliyah Bet Project cites: Mishmar haEmek משמר העמק San Michele was "Captured by the destroyer Chevron off Haifa."
The crew cut Mishmar haEmek משמר העמק San Michele's engines, and she was towed into Haifa.
Ninian Stewart cites: "HMS Chevron returned on 22 April in time to see boats streaming up the coast filled with escaping Arabs. Two days later she arrested the San Michele, a modern Italian motor ship, at the three-mile limit and towed her to Cyprus."
David Eisen cites three British destroyers escorted Mishmar haEmek משמר העמק San Michele to Haifa, where passengers and crew were transferred to shore and sprayed with DDT and then sent on HMT Empire Rival to Cyprus.

On April 27, 1948, HMS Pelican towed Nachshon haKastel נחשון הקסטל into Haifa חיפה.
HMS Newcastle arrived to conduct transshipment, and Nachshon haKastel נחשון הקסטלl was put alongside HMS Newcastle, and transports, SS Empire Comfort and HMT Empire Rival followed.

In 1948, HMT Empire Rival was acquired by R Chapman & Son, Newcastle upon Tyne, and renamed Amberton.

In 1957, Amberton HMT Empire Rival was acquired by Compagnia de Vapores Marina Ltda, Costa Rica, and renamed Parmarina.

In 1963, Parmarina HMT Empire Rival was acquired by Oceania Armadora SA, and reflagged to Lebanon.

On January 10, 1967, Parmarina HMT Empire Rival was wrecked off Keelung 雞籠, Taiwan (25°10′N 121°43′E), after anchor chain broke in heavy weather.