On November 4, 1940, ten survivors from the Swedish cargo ship "Meggie", which had been sunk on October 27 by the Italian submarine Nani, came ashore in the parish of Porto Formoso, on the north coast of São Miguel Island, Azores.

In the following days, the Portuguese destroyer "Lima", on mission in the Azores, carried out searches to locate a second lifeboat from the Belgian ship, without success.

On November 9, around 7 a.m., the missing lifeboat reached Laje Beach, in Nazaré, continental Portugal, carrying the remaining ten crew members of the vessel. News reports from the time highlighted that the men were exhausted, had been without water for several days, and were surviving on a single biscuit per day. Only a few managed to walk to the town and ask for help, while the others could barely drag themselves ashore.

Despite their weakened condition, they eventually recovered after receiving assistance from the local population. The same afternoon, they took a bus to Lisbon, where they were received by an employee of the Swedish consulate, who arranged accommodation for them in a downtown guesthouse. One of the crew members was hospitalized at the Hospital da Ordem Terceira.

At 8 a.m. on November 10, the portuguese merchant "Carvalho Araújo" arrived in the Tagus River from the Azores, carrying 49 shipwreck survivors on board — among them, the ten men from the "Meggie" who had landed on São Miguel. The other 39 were from the Belgian cargo ship "Kabalo".

The "Meggie" had been intercepted by the Italian submarine "Nani" on October 27. The Italians forced the crew to abandon ship and then sank it with cannon fire.

Carlos Guerreiro