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6 May 2008  What really happened to Hassan Farid Didi? This is a question that has intrigued Maldivians since early in 1944. A number of conspiracy theories have been put forward by many people over the years but no one has been able to produce a definitive answer.
The Prince Hassan Farid Didi was the Minister of the Interior and de facto head of the Government of the Sultan of the Maldives in the 1930s and early 1940s. Educated in Colombo, London and Paris, he was largely instrumental in ushering in constitutional government in 1932. As World War II became intense, he stationed himself in Colombo, shuttling between there, Malé and the Allied naval facilities in Addu Atoll Gan and Thiladummathi Atoll Kelai. On 27 March 1944 he was on board HMS Maaløy
as a civilian passenger en route from Gan to Colombo when the ship
came under attack from the German U-boat the U-510. For his gallantry, Kapitänleutnant Eick was decorated with the Knights' Cross, four days later.
Kapitänleutnant Eick continued to cruise
the Indian Ocean and on the way back to occupied France, he sunk
a Canadian merchant ship in February 1945. On 8 May 1945, the U-510
was captured by the French navy and four days later Kapitänleutnant
Alfred Eick formally surrendered the U-boat to France at the port
of St Nazaire.
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The
Maaløy was commanded by T/Lt. Frederick James Perkins, RNVR.
The U-510 was commanded by Kapitänleutnant Alfred Eick (German
Cross in Gold). The Maaløy was torpedoed and sunk due south
of Cape Comerin in position 05º25'N 77º32'E. The commander
of the Maaløy, 16 crew members and at least two passengers
including Hassan Farid Didi were lost, presumed dead. 
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