The British authorities put 200 Italian prisoners of war, 251 German prisoners of war, 55 British Nazi sympathizers, and 2,036 civilians from Germany (mostly Jewish refugees), collectively categorized as "enemy aliens", on the British troop ship Dunera whose intended passenger capacity was only 1,600. Over the next 57 days, while en route to Australia, these people would be robbed, beaten, and in one case bayoneted by the British guards while many of them suffered from dysentery. Several of the guards were later court-martialed, including Lieutenant Colonel William Scott.
