International Brigade Memorial Trust
Pedro Olivares Martínez, who served on Alicante’s Civic Commission for the Recovery of Historical Memory, writes about Archibald Dickson, the Welshman who captained the last ship taking Spanish Republican refugees to safety as fascist troops entered the city…
By the end of March 1939, the Spanish Civil War was about to end after three years of bloody combat and a huge working-class resistance to stop fascism. The Mediterranean ports, in particular the city of Alicante, became the last hope for thousands of retreating Spanish Republicans fleeing the fascist brutality and hoping to board a ship towards exile.
The roads to Alicante were crammed with all kinds of vehicles, and men, women and children poured into the port trying desperately to get out of Spain before Franco captured the town. More than 15,000 refugees were trapped around the harbour.
Meanwhile, the port was blockaded from the sea by the Spanish rebel navy with air support provided by German Nazis, thus preventing ships from entering and leaving the area and carrying out any kind of rescue operation.
Cardiff-born Capt Archibald Dickson.
During these days, the British cargo ship Stanbrook, skippered by Cardiff-born Capt Archibald Dickson, was waiting in Alicante to load tobacco, oranges and saffron. Considering the seriousness of the refugees’ plight, he decided to take on board as many Republicans as he could carry.
This is part of the letter he sent to the Sunday Dispatch newspaper in London, published on 4 April 1939,
explaining the reason why he had taken that decision:
'I was in a quandary as my instructions were not to take refugees unless they were in real need. However, after seeing the conditions of the refugees I decided from a humanitarian point of view to take them aboard… The number of refugees coming aboard made it almost impossible for anyone to move on the vessel…'
Refugees on board the Stanbrook at Alicante.
The Stanbrook set sail on the evening of 28 March with 2,643 men, women and children, sailing below the waterline. It was the last mass exile of the Spanish Civil War. The ship was dreadfully overcrowded, with a shortage of food and water.
Those who had been unable to embark were gathered at the port, while Mussolini’s Italian troops were
approaching. A few committed suicide. Spain became a vast prison; there were concentration camps, torture, executions, mass graves and despair.
Twenty-two hours after leaving Alicante, the Stanbrook arrived in Oran, Algeria. But the French colonial authorities did not allow the refugees to disembark, and Capt Dickson went ashore to negotiate. As a result,
women and children were permitted to land. The other Republicans remained on board for more than a month.
Sadly, six months later, in November, at the start of the Second World War, the Stanbrook was torpedoed by a German submarine and broke in two. All the crew died. When the news reached the camps in Oran, the Spanish Republicans held a minute’s silence in memory of Capt Dickson and his crew.
In 2015, Alicante’s Civic Commission for the Recovery of Historical Memory unveiled a
plaque in the harbour to express our gratitude to Capt Dickson and his fellow seafarers for their extraordinary act of bravery and humanity.
Bust of Archibald Dickson in Alicante harbour.
In 2018, the annual ceremony was held on 8 April, and in addition, a sculpture of Dickson’s head, made by Luis Gámez, was erected next to the memorial plaque. The unveiling ceremony was attended by local authority representatives and a member of the Valencia regional government.
Many people gathered on Alicante’s harbour to pay tribute to this legendary sea captain. The act concluded with an emotive reading by Vicente Carrasco, a member of the civic commission. The homage was a deeply emotional experience for all of us, and mainly for those who embarked on the Stanbrook in March 1939 and are still alive.
It was a day to be remembered as a turning point in our history. We shall not forget.
