Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

On June 19, 1946, Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד sailed from Vado, near Savonna, carrying approximately 1,250 Eastern European passengers, half of whom were Polish, most of the remainder were Greek, with a few Italians and a few Russian partisans.
She sailed south along the coast of Italy and through the Strait of Messina.
Yehuda Silverman Sela cites: "on the ‟Wedgwood‟ there were 30 crew members; five of them were Israelis, three of them specialists including the Captain and the First Mate. The other twenty-two were all members of youth movements who intended to remain in Palestine."
Benyamin Strasberg Native cites: Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד sailed northwest from Savona "to a place where there is now a power station and a pier for loading bulk products, we anchored and waited for the Ma’apilim."
"They waited for passengers, who were coming from several distant places in Italy. In the morning, Italian police appeared, and took up positions around Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood, the maapilim boarded. When they were all on board, lines to the shore were cut and the ship moved out and sailed to the south leaving the police helpless. Eliezer Tal and and Yisrael Rotem left in a lifeboat, and returned to shore."
David Gottlieb cites: As the Maapilim boarded Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד, the Carbonari were sent to stop the loading, and encountered Yehuda Arazi and American journalist, Izzie F. Stone. “When Stone saw the Carbonari, he took out his press credential, which had been issued by the U.S. State Department, and said he would report them to Washington for preventing Holocaust survivors from going to their homeland. The Italian police captain wanted Izzie to come to the police station and asked him to get the ship to promise we wouldn’t leave. However, we were given permission to finish loading, and once we did, we cut our lines and headed out to sea, leaving Stone behind.”
Dov Magen served as Commander aboard Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד when she sailed from Vado.
In his report, Dov Magen cites: "the crew was of low standard, technically."
Israel Auerbach served aboard aboard Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד when she sailed from Vado.
Israel Auerbach cites: “The crew was not bad. The men were disciplined and ready to do whatever had to be done. Most of the trouble was with the Captain and the First Mate (who were usually uncontrollably drunk). The relations between the officers and the Palyamnikim and sailors were warm and good. My conclusion is that it is always better to work with our own people than with foreigners. We can get along with our own people better.”

On June 19, 1946, David Gottlieb served in the engine room aboard Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד from Vado, for Palestine.
David Gottlieb cites: He was given additional duties once they were underway. “There was a lot of seasickness, and people were really crowded together. Some got sick, so there was clean up to be done. That’s when I noticed many passengers had numbers that had been tattooed on their arms.”
He helped with feeding, serving the passengers their meals and cleaning up afterwards. “Believe it or not, with all those people on board, we managed to keep kosher. The food was cooked in big pots and the people had canteens, which we would fill, mainly with soup, tuna fish or rice. I noticed most people weren’t that hungry, maybe because they were uncertain or maybe because conditions were so crowded. Or, maybe it was because it was difficult for them, having gone through so much, to adjust to yet another strange environment."
“Because I could speak Yiddish, and because most passengers could speak Polish, I was often called upon to be a translator. I also got to know some of the younger people on the ship, and we gave chocolate bars to the kids, only to discover several days later, they had carefully rationed themselves to only a bite or two each day. This was because they weren’t sure when they would eat again, something the camps had taught them.”

On June 19, 1946, Ajzyk Asatanowicz sailed on Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד from Vado, for Palestine.

On June 19, 1946, Eliezer Eisenshmidt and his wife, Yehudit Dafner, sailed on Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד from Vado, for Palestine.