May Henwood had just sat down to a church service with her family when, on September 3, 1939, a German torpedo struck the ocean liner that had been transporting them to a new life in America.

They were thrown violently to the floor and later endured 24 hours struggling to survive in a lifeboat as the 13,580-ton SS Athenia sank into the Atlantic, taking all their worldly possessions down with her.

Believed to be one of the last remaining survivors of the disaster, Mrs Henwood (nee Loudon), who had lived in Wrose before emigrating, died in California last month.

The 97-year-old left behind a detailed account of her experiences, providing a very personal insight into what was one of the most controversial events of the Second World War.

The ship, bound for Montreal, was carrying more than 1,100 passengers, many women and children, and 315 crew members, when she was spotted by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland.

The submarine’s commander, Lieutenant Fritz-Julius Lemp, reportedly mistook the ocean liner for an armed merchant cruiser and fired three torpedoes, one of which ripped open the bulkhead between the ship’s engine room and boiler room.

The attack, which occurred on the day Britain declared war on Nazi Germany, sparked an international outcry.

It violated the London Naval Treaty of 1930, which allowed warships including submarines to stop and search merchant vessels, provided passengers and crew were transferred to a safe place if the ship was to be sunk.

Although Germany had not signed the treaty, naval commanders had received strict orders from Hitler to act within the Prize Regulations, which forbade attacks on passenger liners.

Lemp soon realised his mistake when the Athenia’s operator radioed a distress call, providing the ship’s identity. Fearing reprisals, he sailed away, offering no assistance to the passengers on board, and did not make contact with Germany for several days.

Of the 1,418 people aboard the ship, 98 passengers and 19 crew died.

The sinking caused consternation across the world, with Germany appearing to have broken all the rules on the first day of the war.

The US Department of Information was quick to declare the actions as “direct contravention of the rules regarding submarine warfare by which Germany is bound”, but Hitler denied causing the disaster, instead blaming it on Britain, claiming the sinking was part of a plot to discredit Germany.

In her account of the attack, May, who was 27 at the time, described the moment the torpedo struck “as though some terrific force violently picked the ship up, shook it, and then dropped it back with reckless abandon”.

She said: “Every light in the ship went out, the floors and ceilings gave way with the explosion, wood work and plaster fell all around and we were thrown violently to the floor, tables and chairs piling on top of us. The ship rocked, shuddered, and immediately listed.”

According to her daughter Molly Thorpe, 65, who lives in Los Angeles, the family were lucky to survive the attack. The floor at the back of the lounge where the church service was taking place was completely destroyed when the torpedo struck. May, her mother and brother had been sat at the front. They had also left the ship’s dining room early before finishing their evening meal due to sea-sickness. Had they stayed until the completion of the meal, they could have become trapped.

Describing the minutes after the attack, May said: “Just after I had mother on her feet she remarked, ‘Well, May, this is the end, but we are together’ and I replied ‘Yes, I guess it is,’ and the thought flashed through my mind that it wasn’t the most pleasant way to go. We stood there holding each other for a minute or so and, as I felt the ship list, I fully expected it to continue right down.”

Despite being in shock, passengers aboard the Athenia were comparatively calm as they made their way into lifeboats lowered from the ship.

May was in a lifeboat containing 40 people including her mother, brother, sister-in-law and nephew Kenneth, who spent his third birthday on board. Physically fit, she ended up doing a considerable amount of the rowing.

Her daughter remarked: “She was physically strong because she loved exercise; she was a real ‘can do’ kind of person. I am sure she was a lot stronger than some of the other people there. She kept her wits about her. They were very fortunate to have all five members of the family in the same lifeboat, as so many families got separated, including parents and children.”

The passengers on board struggled to keep the lifeboat upright due to the heavy swell of the waves, and at one point feared they would be capsized by what appeared to be a whale, but turned out to be a porpoise.

At around 4am the following morning, a submarine bearing German markings shone its spotlight on to the boat before disappearing under the water.

In her account of the experience, May recalled: “Most of the passengers were very sick and so deathly ill they didn’t care whether the boat went down or stayed afloat, probably hoping it would go down and end their misery. There was much moaning and groaning, but very little sign of panic.”

The family were eventually picked up by a Swiss yacht, the Southern Cross, before being taken to a cargo ship heading to America, where they settled initially in Detroit.

The experience stayed with May for the rest of life, and was a subject she spoke of often.

Her daughter Molly added: “People were shocked and afraid. There was a lot of distress afterwards and a lot of thankfulness that they had escaped, because some people didn’t survive.

“It was a matter of life or death. Everyone was struggling to stay afloat and alive. There wasn’t a lot of panic – most people pulled together.

“When the ship sank it took everything they owned, which included all their clothing and all of their household belongings. They had lived through the ordeal, but they were left with absolutely nothing. When they arrived in America, they didn’t even have their own clothes on their backs. My mother had been given a beautiful ruby ring from a friend and it went to the bottom of the ocean.”