Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

In 1931, Avraham Rickman attended the Palmach squad leaders' course at Juara, after which, he served under platoon commander, Chaim Zinger Ronen.

Avraham Rickman Karni cites: "When I heard of the formation of the Naval Company of the Palmach, which was to become active in “illegal immigration”, this intrigued me and I wanted to take part in this work."

The Palyam פלי"ם‎ No. 2 Small Boat Commanders' course was held during the winter months at Caesarea קיסריה.
Course Commander: Yaakov Salomon
Instructors:
* Shmuel Tankus
* Dov 'Berchik' Magen
* Moka Limon
Attendees:
* Avraham Rickman Karni

The Palyam פלי"ם‎ No. 2 Naval Officer's course:
The course prepared Palyam members as Naval Commanders.
Platoon leader:
Instructors:
* Avraham Rickman Karni
Attendees:
* Shaul 'Shuli' Oren
Avraham Rickman Karni cites: "it was decided to give a number of those who had taken part in the small boat commanders course, the opportunity to participate in a naval officer’s course as well. I took part in this course which was held in the School for Naval Officers, next to the Haifa Technion."

Avraham Rickman Karni cites: "The Jewish-English shipping company, Atid, agreed to hire a number of Palmachniks as seamen on its vessel, “Amos”, to give them practical experience. A number of Palmachniks went to work for the company and did the work of ordinary seamen. Practical experience was important and I also got to work on that ship for several months."

On September 12, 1945, Peter 'פטר א Pietro 1 sailed from Taranto, carrying 168 passengers.
Paul H. Silverstone cites Peter 'פטר א Pietro 1 sailed from Metaponto., carrying 171 passengers.
Palmach Information Center cites: Pietro A carried 171 passengers.
Achille Rastelli cites: "Pietro, con due viaggi da Taranto nel settembre e nell’ottobre 1945 con 168 e 174 persone."
Tzvi Katznelson cites: "a convoy of 171 immigrants arrived at Santa Margharita (did Zvi Katznelson mean Santa Margherita Ligure?) , and were brought to the ship by Italian fishing boats."
The Captain Padrone, and an Italain crew served aboard Peter 'פטר א Pietro 1.
Avraham Raiss seved as Gidoni aboard Peter 'פטר א Pietro 1.
Tzvi Katznelson and Eliezer Versh served as Palyam Escorts aboard Peter 'פטר א Pietro 1.

Tzvi Katznelson cites during the voyage of Peter A ‘פטר א Pietro 1, "The only thing that did go wrong is that somewhere on our journey we lost the anchor. When, during a storm, we stopped at the island of Cos(su) unknown assailants opened fire on us. We left the anchor where it was and took off in a hurry."
Tzvi Ben-Tzur cites "She took shelter in the island of Cos, Greece, because of stormy weather, but the local police thought the vessel was engaged in smuggling and fired upon her. She was forced to raise anchor and flee.'

Avraham Rickman Karni made the voyage on Albertina אלברטינה three times, so that it could return the Italian crews home.
Avraham Rickman Karni cites: "we had trouble getting the Italian crews back to Italy. One way of getting around this problem which we used often, was to send two ships, one large and one small. They would meet at an appointed spot not far from Cyprus and the passengers of the small vessel would transfer to the large one, and the crew of the large vessel would transfer to the small one, which would then head back to its point of origin."

On September 17, 1945, Peter 'פטר א Pietro 1 arrived off the coast of Palestine.
On the night of September 19, 1945, Peter 'פטר א Pietro 1 was off the shore of Rishpon רשפון Shefayim שפיים.
Tzvi Ben-Tzur cites: "The vessel arrived off the coast of Shfayim on September 19th, unknown to the British. The Ma’apilim were swiftly brought to shore by launch."

Avraham Rickman Karni made the voyage on Albertina אלברטינה three times, so that it could return the Italian crews home.
Avraham Rickman Karni cites: "we had trouble getting the Italian crews back to Italy. One way of getting around this problem which we used often, was to send two ships, one large and one small. They would meet at an appointed spot not far from Cyprus and the passengers of the small vessel would transfer to the large one, and the crew of the large vessel would transfer to the small one, which would then head back to its point of origin."

On March 4, 1947, Shabtai Lozinsk yשבתאי לוז'ינסקי sailed from Metaponto, carrying 700 passengers.
Palyam.org cites Shabtai Lozinsky שבתאי לוז'ינסקי carried 650 passengers.
Palmach Information Center cites: "Shabtay Luzinsky sailed from Metaponto port in Italy on March 4th 1947, with 650 immigrants on board."
Achille Rastelli cites: "Il 4 marzo 1947 da Metaponto si dirigeva verso la Terra Promessa il Susanna (poi Shabtai Lozinsky) con 823 passeggeri."

Aryeh Chaikind served as Gidoni גדעוני, wireless radio operator aboard Shabtai Lozinsky שבתאי לוז'ינסקי.

Bezalel Drori and Yehosha 'Ossi' Ravid served as Palyam Escorts aboard Shabtai Lozinski שבתאי לוז'ינסקי.

Avraham Rickman Karni served aboard aboard Shabtai Lozinsky שבתאי לוז'ינסקי.
Avraham Rickman Karni cites: "I was chosen to sail all the way to Israel with the Olim on the ship “Susanna”, which we called the “Shoshana”.
"After we had begun the voyage there were a number of mishaps, but we finally reached Metaponto. There, with the help of fishermen and Palmachniks, we loaded 650 Olim onto the ship during the night and at daybreak were ready to sail."

David Maimon served as Palyam Commander aboard Shabtai Lozinsky שבתאי לוז'ינסקי.

Having helped the Palyamniks prepare the boat in Portovenere, Avrum Shavit sailed aboard Shabtai Lozinsky, to Metaponte, to take on the 700 Maaplim.

On March 4, 1947, Yehiel and Esther Hershkowitz sailed on Shabtai Lozinsky שבתאי לוז'ינסקי from Metaponto to Nitzanim ניצנים.

On March 4, 1947, Abraham and Baruch Kasher sailed on Shabtai Lozinsky שבתאי לוז'ינסקי, from Metaponto to Nitzanim ניצנים.

Shabtai Lozinsky שבתאי לוז'ינסקי put into the Bay of Taranto, to wait out a terrific storm.
While sheltering from the storm, a serious leak was discovered, so she returned to Metaponto, where the passengers disembarked, and the boat was brought to Porto Venere for repairs.
Avrum Shavit cites: "A terrific storm arose and we had to put into the bay of Taranto and wait out the storm. While waiting, we discovered that the ship was leaking water seriously. We could not repair the leak so it was decided to return to Metaponte. The olim left the ship which moved to Portovenera for repairs."
Avraham Rickman Karni cites: "we were in the area of Crete. A storm broke out and we were forced to seek shelter in a small bay. A day went by, and the following day we again set sail in a northerly direction. As we approached the island of Rhodes we met the “Albertina”. She transferred her 160 Olim to our ship and the Italian crew went over to her; that is, all but the captain who refused to leave the ship, with so many people aboard. The ship headed south, as if to Egypt, trying to mislead the British Navy."
After ten days, Haim Arlosoroff חיים ארלוזורוב arrived from Sweden, and all of the passengers from Shabtai Lozinsky שבתאי לוז'ינסקי werei transferred to Haim Arlosoroff חיים ארלוזורוב to continue their journey to Palestine.
Sztetl.org.pl cites: Shabtai Lozinsky שבתאי לוז'ינסקי "sailed from Matapunto to the Turkish coast through the North of Rhodes to Port Said in Egypt and from there north along the coast at Gaza and Ashkelon in order to avoid the British that guarded more strictly near Jafa, Tel Aviv and Haifa ports."

On March 13, 1947, Shabtai Lozinsky שבתאי לוז'ינסקי went aground in the sand about 120 meters from the shore near Nitzanim ניצנים.
Sztetl.org.pl cites: "After 8 days of sailing, in the dawn of March 12, 1947 the ship dropped anchor 200 meters before Nizanim beach. But the sea was very stormy and it tried to come closer to the beach but it touched the ground and the Ma`apilim were told to jump to the sea and swim to the beach. Abraham and Baruch jumped and started swimming."
"The Palmach organized people from the nearest settlements like Kibbutz Nizanim and Gedera to come and mix with the Ma`apilim so the British couldn’t find them."
USHMM cites: Shabtai Lozinsky שבתאי לוז'ינסקי landed in Ashdod אשדוד, on March 12, 1947.
Avraham Rickman Karni cites: "At night she veered sharply north and made for the shore near Nitzanim. It was early in the morning of the 12th of March, 1947. The waves were so high that the boats on shore could not get to us. It was decided to raise anchor and come into shore and beach the vessel. The Italian captain did not like this decision because of damage that the vessel might suffer, but he accepted it. The ship went in and was stranded about 50 meters offshore. We strung a cable from ship to shore to facilitate unloading the Olim. There were Palmachniks on shore and others in the area, to help as well."
Palyam פלי”ם members waded out to the ship and stretched a rope from ship to shore.
They filled rubber boats with Maapilim and pull the boats to shore.
Some Maapilim jumped into the water and they brought them to the ropes so that they could pull themselves along to the shore.
Local residents from nearby settlements were recruiteed pick up the Maapilim and take them to their settlements and to places inland.
The Maapilim came ashore and mingled with hundreds of local residents who came to their rescue so that the authorities could not distinguish between them.
British destroyers appeared and sent launches with sailors to round up the Maapilim, but the launches flipped over and several of the sailors drowned, while some swam to shore.
Avraham Rickman Karni cites: "A ship of the British Navy discovered us but could not approach us. It came as close as it could, and contacted British ground forces which sealed off the area. Most of the new Olim were successfully moved from the area to surrounding
kibbutzim. A fire was lit on the shore and everyone there threw his ID card into it so that the British found it difficult to identify Israelis from Olim."
Most of the Maapilim and members of settlements were taken by the British Army to its camp at Ashdod אשדוד; the Maapilim were taken by truck to Haifa חיפה, and loaded onto the deportation ships, but most refused to go and offered passive resistance, so each one had to be carried unto the deportation ship.