The U-boat approached.
The sun dipped into the Atlantic as the SS City of Benares steamed toward North America carrying 90 children, many of whom had just gone below deck to sleep.
The U-boat fired at about 9:45 p.m. on Sept. 17, 1940.
The passenger liner sunk in 30 minutes.
While he lived through the war as a boy in Liverpool, Lower Lonsdale resident and author James Heneghan was unaware of the attack and the 81 children who lost their lives.
It wasn’t until half a century later that he stumbled on a reference to the tragedy and was seized by the question that propels all speculative pursuits: What if?
The question induced him to write Wish Me Luck, a young adult novel chronicling Liverpudlian Jamie Monaghan’s life on land and aboard the doomed ship.
The similarity to Heneghan’s own name is no accident, the writer confides.
The house Monaghan lived in, the parents he lived with, his neighbours and friends and even his address were all cobbled from Heneghan’s own memories of childhood in the 1930s and early ’40s.
The autobiographical portion sets the stage for the drama aboard the Benares, Heneghan explains.
“Once I got the kids on the ship it was away to the races.”
For the section set on the ship, Heneghan mined the history provided by writer Ralph Barker.
He read and re-read, he reports, never quite able to get over the irony of children being attacked in their pursuit of safe passage.
The book was published in 1997, earning a Governor General’s Award for Canadian literature.
But the big prize came on June 24, 2017.
That’s when Heneghan was presented with the Phoenix Award from the Children’s Literature Association at a ceremony in Tampa, Fla.
Named after the mythical bird, the award recognizes books that “rise from the ashes of neglect and obscurity and once again touch the imagination,” according to a release from the Children’s Literature Association.
“It was really great,” Heneghan says of getting the award, which he describes as a small bit of brass “affixed to a chunk of wood.”
“It would do for a door knocker, and it would make other people who went by think, ‘That looks like a middle-class house, such a grand door knocker that they have,’” Heneghan jokes of the award.
While he hails from England, Heneghan is quick to define his nationality.
“I was born in the capital of Ireland, which is Liverpool, England,” he says.
His wife of 25 years, Lucy Scott, notes their Irish lineage.
He was in his late 20s when he sailed through the Panama Canal and found a home in British Columbia.
“Looking for adventure and getting bored with the job I was in,” he explains.
But after a dozen years squinting at smudges as a fingerprint expert for the police, Heneghan opted for a change and kicked off a 20-year teaching career in Burnaby.
It was during those years that Heneghan embarked on a partnership with fellow teacher Bruce McBay, writing books “for fun and companionship.”
“Lo and behold, we started getting published.”
He’d read omnivorously as a child, displaying a particular appetite for science fiction.
“I’ve read so much junk and I’ve read so much good stuff – not enough of the good stuff.”
But as he branched out on his own writing career Heneghan found himself gravitating towards historical incidents.
Even when a high concept like time travel is involved, such as in The Grave, the book ultimately sets down its roots in the potato famine.
He often seizes on an event of importance, creates characters “and have him or her move through it,” he says.
With Wish Me Luck Heneghan delves into air raids and food rationing seen through the eyes of a child who’s breathless with the excitement promised by approaching war.
The approach continues to garner interest from young readers. His granddaughters, 12 and 10, accompanied him on the trip.
And although it was written 20 years ago about an event that took place 77 years ago, they “loved the book,” Scott reports.
While the heat was stifling, attending the literary conference was wonderful, according to Heneghan, who notes the attendees were predominantly women.
“Women are so interesting to talk to. If it was men they’d be talking about Donald Trump or who knows what,” he chuckles.
