SPIRIT OF THE MERCHANT NAVY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23601, 9 March 1940, Page 13 (Supplement)

SPIRIT OF THE MERCHANT NAVY

<;c>TiHE young merchant officer I whom I was examining had been 'torpedoed, and was ruefully amused about his underpants, which reached almost to his neck," says a writer in The Lancet. ''Ho explained - that he had been fitted out on his return to port from the stores of some charitable organisation. and that lie had lost everything except the scarf which he was wearing. "'Yes.' he' said, 'everything, in- ' eluding a typewriter that I'd just bought.' Worse, however, than the loss of the typewriter was the leaving behind of two 'forty-quid accordions' which belonged to members of the crew. "They ""ere /torpedoed ' early one nioruing. their' wireless smashed and useless, and inside a quarter of an hour they were in their boats, in freezing weather and heavy seas. Their hhip did not'sink, however, for though the bow went under, the bulkheads held, and the stern stayed tilted above the. surface. "They rowed about keeping themselves warm, but in the afternoon they decided that rather than freeze they would chance going back to the ship, for thev could find a fire in the galley and food. "They made their lifeboats fast to the ship and' clambered aboard, and

almost immediately the small boats were smashed to matchwood against the sides of the ship; so there they were, aboard a crippled ship, which they could not leave, waiting to be

seen and rescued. They made themselves a hot meal, and felt better. "A foreign vessel came in sight; it could not get near them because of the big seas, but it wirelessed their posi-

tion and asked for help. It proposed to stand by until help came, but something went wrong, and it drifted out of sight. Their own ship was groaning and creaking, as they kept its stern to the wind. "At night they had another good hot meal, and then most of the little cojnpanv gathered in the stern, below deck, and had a 'grand concert.' The two forty-quid accordions were brought out, they sang choruses and everybody did something—singing, reciting or telling a story. Then they took it in turns to" keep" the watch and to get some sleep. "The next day, in the late afternoon. a destroyer came up and stood by till morning. The sea was too heavy for close work, so raits were floated from the destroyer, and one by one the men jumped into the sea in their lifebelts, struggled to the rafts, and wore hauled aboard. "The officer was suffering severely from exposure, and 1 laid down the length and details of his convalescent leave. 'An old chap in our village,' lie remarked, 'was torpedoed four times in the last war, and before I went off this time he bet me that 1 wouldn't beat his record. He can win his bet, as rar as I am concerned —once is quite enough for me. But I shall go back, of course. In these days you ve E°t to be a hero, whether you like it or not .