A Ship's Tale (36 page)

Boris's pipe shrilled fit to wake the dead. From the amount of work they'd been doing the last twelve hours, the boys off watch must have been sleeping very much like that. Out they came tumbling, pulling on clothes and boots as they lined up in the well. Boris made a quick check to be sure everyone was wearing his harness and then detailed them aloft and on the deck as needed. Those sent aloft were to release the gaskets and overhaul the bunt and clewlines, while those below got ready at the braces and buntlines to keep the sails full-bellied. I had to marvel at these boys. Here we were in the night with a strong wind still blowing, with the sea sending us up and down an endless switchback, and they act like old hands. They'd become sure-footed on the rigging, needing only to know their assigned sails to get on with the job. I remember my own training, where I always found it hard to remember the name of every buntline or jackstay, and its place on the pin rail.

Boris now blew on his pipe again and they moved into action. Within minutes the
Bonnie
had a different feel as the wind took the extra canvas and Boris adjusted the wheel to meet each new pull. Once all the sails had been set, he swung the wheel to starboard and the head started to turn. I played my part on the capstan as usual. Bracing against the pull of the wind with the help of the sails is a lot easier thing than going round on a new tack. As each yard reached its new position, the ship seemed to jump forward until the final one was secured. Then we surged ahead as the sails, helm, and wind acted in complete unison. This is why men had gone to sea all through the ages. This was feeling the power of the elements and man's own strength to endure as one with it—a unified thing of rarely glimpsed beauty.

With the dying of the storm and the ship on her new course, the pursuit came to the forefront of our thoughts again. We were certain once the MTB captain felt he was not endangering his boat, he'd be out looking for us. A more dismal thought was a small spotter plane might be brought into play if their previous actions were any indication.

Talking about it only kept us going over the same points, and Bowman was thoroughly annoyed by this. He pounded his fist on the table, “We could talk till Doomsday but we'll nae get anywhere. We can't know what action anybody might take. I'd suspect very little, apart from us ignoring them. So, for those off watch, let's everyone get a little shut-eye, shall we? Tomorrow can bring us what it may, and that should be not worrying about an MTB, but about the weather.” He got up from his chair slowly, straightening himself like a man with a kink in his back, before walking heavily off to his cabin.

Once he'd gone, there was a general feeling of concern among us at the strain this was putting on Bowman. His expertise was certainly undiminished, but he wasn't as active, he tired easily, and he lacked his normal bounce. I mentioned what I'd seen when we were still tied up at shore; how he'd had some sort of attack. We found that each of us had witnessed similar incidents.

There was no question of Bowman's ability to command. He was the captain and this was his project from the first. We decided that we must each make sure that he had the least strenuous of tasks, and that he'd give the orders. We would try to keep him from taking the wheel or staying too long on deck. I think we all knew there was no stopping him if he had his own ideas about what he wanted to do, but we all thought it was worth a go.

We then broke up, some on duty and some to take a rest. I had other plans and I dared hope that Katherine had a similar idea. It was late but she was still in the galley. I thought of going below to tell her of the dying status of the storm and that we were changing course. She had started to get a fire going and was glad to be advised of our course change in advance, so that not everything in the galley would take a tumble while she tried to make some hot drinks.

“You see,” I said, “I knew what a treasure I'd found as soon as I saw you in your apron at Mrs. B.'s. Always ready to serve your fellow man, and I decided that the one most in need of serving was me!” She threw a tea towel at me but gave in and let me catch her after a brief chase to the end of the galley.

“Oh, Flynn, if you only knew how much I want to be taking care of just you. What I mean is you and me alone in our own home. All my life I seem to have been at someone's beck and call, but that's all about to change.”

We sat there quietly talking for some time, about our hopes and how it would be in Scotland. It got late and we were thinking of going off to bed when Bowman came in looking for a mug of tea.

“I'm going up on deck to have a look after a moment,” he said, “but there's nothing like a good cup of tea to keep out the cold, unless you come over to Harris's way of thinking.”

Katherine was looking at him with some concern, “You don't seem so well to my eye, you look pale.” She fixed him with a stern motherly gaze. “Maybe you should get a good night's rest and leave the worrying to Harris for now. You don't look as though a walk on the deck will do you much good.”

“It's just my ticker. Every once in a while it puts me off a bit. It'll be right as rain soon,” Bowman added, taking a drink. “Ah, rain. With every good wind comes a bit of change. Ye'd best prepare yourself for a wild ride up and coming.”

“Yes, I've heard that, but weren't the last few hours considered wild?” she asked.

“Well, we'll just have to see how we fare when the storm gets here,” he replied, sitting down at the table with his mug. He sat for quite some time, abstractedly drinking his tea, until he suddenly came to himself. Noticing us still there, he said, “Come on, ye youngsters, time for sleep. Be off wi' ye now, I'll be going myself by and by.”

So we said our good nights and went off to our cabins, leaving him looking rather sad and alone, but knowing that he wouldn't take kindly to our staying and fussing over him.

Chapter 22

ANOTHER MESSAGE FROM BELOW

I was awakened by banging on my door that seemed to reverberate inside my head. I made a mental note to knock more softly on Bowman's door in the future. No wonder he got so crotchety about the noise.

“All right, all right,” I shouted, “I'm awake, shut your noise.”

“Mr. Flynn, sir,” Larry's voice came through the door, “Mr. Harris says come quickly to the chart room. We're getting a call from the submarine.”

“I'm on my way,” I said as I scrambled off my bunk and got into my heavy outer clothes. It must be pretty important for them to break radio silence. Even though he was only on a training exercise, the captain said he would keep us advised of any new developments. I threw on my coat, grabbed my cap, and ran up to the chart room.

When I got there, Harris was calling, “
Shark's
Tooth
,
Shark's
Tooth
, I've lost you again, come in,” but the radio only replied with squawking whines and those eerie silences when you expect a voice and get some low muttering noise instead. Harris was obviously frustrated and turned as I came in, “Here, you'd better take this and I'll listen in.” I saw Todd passing the room and called him over. The lad set right to work at the radio as we watched.

After more static and squawking, Captain Johnson was on and started reporting about ship movements. He then faded, and came back strong for two words before dying again, and I found myself waving at the noise coming from the speaker. As I clicked the handset, the radio made a sound like a mechanical throat clearing and Johnson's voice at last came over loud and clear: “
Hello, Harris, hello. Can you read me? I'm using an old emergency set here to keep us off the main airwaves and I've just changed course slightly, a little like moving my aerial. Is that any better, over
.”

I clicked the handset again and answered, “Loud and clear, Captain. This is Flynn but Harris is here. I'm glad to hear you're using an unknown wavelength, so no one picks up this transmission. I don't know how much was lost just now so maybe you'd better start again.”

Johnson's voice continued clear, “
Roger that, Flynn. Reporting late for duty? I take it that you were up having a high time last night, eh? Excuses on my desk by 0800, in triplicate! Joking aside, I know you've been through a storm, so I wanted to check up on you. These sorts of training exercises get pretty damned boring and we're always picking up messages, plus we have our radar, which has become reasonably accurate since our last meeting. I still don't know why it didn't pick up your ship on our first meeting, though. Using this old radio set I can add a bit of excitement to my crew's day, not to mention my own. By the way, your Admiralty has been broadcasting a whole slew of messages telling—not even asking—anyone to report if you're sighted. Are you sure you haven't kidnapped the Prime Minister or something? Over
.”

“It's just as we told you, but you know civil servants, always needing someone to blame when things go wrong,” I replied. “This time they dug their own grave when they wouldn't listen to our offer. They now realise that a lot of people are going to consider them right twits for that,” I laughed. “But now they're being discussed and further exposed at everyone's breakfast table and can't hide any more!” I quickly explained about the newspaper story being read all over the country. “We were hoping that public opinion will be on our side. Regardless of that, the men in Whitehall are going to get nasty, over.”

Johnson was laughing as he came back on: “
Roger that. I can see their faces as they read about it on the train to work. By tomorrow I think one of those faces will be in the newspaper too. Still, as you say, they'll probably get nasty. The most important thing I wanted to tell you is that an MTB based at Dover left this morning and is now on the first leg of her search pattern, somewhere near Dieppe. She's complaining of high seas and we have her on our radar at position
,” and he read out a list of numbers in a crisp staccato which Edward had no difficulty taking down. He went on, “
Your boys are using a spotter plane again, but the nearest suitable one is from an RAF base near Swindon in Wiltshire. His range isn't going to be too far, but his horizon is a lot bigger
.”

“That is bad news,” I exclaimed. “It's bad enough not knowing when we might see the MTB over the horizon, but to worry about the plane as well…”

“
Oh hell, I don't think you have to worry all that much about the plane. I think this one's a single-seater, so the pilot is also the lookout. He can reduce his horizon by coming down low to see if he can spot you, or opt for a broader one by staying higher. Either way, it's my guess that he'll have a hard time seeing you, especially when his training is to look for smoke to lead him in. You have a dark hull and the sails at a distance could easily be mistaken for whitecaps. Believe me, I've got a bit of Navy flying experience myself
.” He stopped for a moment, then came back with a proposal.

“
I'm sure there's something in the books about divulging information in the line of duty, but what the hell
,” he said. “
What if I give you an up-to-date report every twelve hours of all the ships in our range, with course and current position
?”

Harris cut in quickly, grabbing the handset, “I'd say that would be as fine an offer as I've ever had, but I'd hate to be the one responsible for you violating your regulations. You know the men at the top, only too glad to blight a career for breaking some rule that's only really meant to be enforced during certain circumstances in time of War. We could put your information to good use. Plotting those positions against our own could help us steer away from a possible sighting, over.”

Johnson laughed at the idea of such a problem. “
I'll be handling it at this end. I have the emergency radio in my cabin and will take the positions off the charts as my navigator makes them. Later today we'll have to surface to recharge our batteries, so just before we submerge again I thought a little message to the MTB would keep her off your back for a bit longer
.”

Harris protested that the risks to him were too high, and I must say I agreed. From what I'd seen of the military bureaucracy in action, I assumed that any wrongdoing would receive punishment all out of proportion to the crime.

On an inspiration, I butted in. “Are you a career officer?”

“
No, I'm not, but that's not the only reason I'm willing to help
,” Johnson replied. “
As you remember I said I had a liking for sailing ships. To think that there are people willing to scuttle one, well…I'd do just about anything to stop it
,” he said. “
And then there's the sheer stupidity and injustice of their attitude! All in all, I'm with you boys the whole way, over
.”

Bowman had now joined us and asked for the handset. “Captain, this is Bowman and I have to say I'm very grateful for all yer help.”

“
Roger that, Captain Bowman. Pleased to be of assistance
,” Johnson replied. “
At the moment I'm keeping our patrol very close to the mouth of the Channel, roughly a line from Boulogne to Hastings, to make it more realistic. I'm pretty sure that you're farther into the Channel, but with that MTB doing ten to twenty knots, when they can, I estimate they'll be on their third leg by now. The commander keeps sending out messages calling for your surrender. You'd need a radio like my main one to pick him up. So my message will be a reply to him on our main radio on his frequency—and then we'll submerge
.”

I was ahead of him. “Yes, and then he'll have a message, but no sign of you on the radar. He'll have to investigate no matter what else he believes, once he's got the message and his radioman's confirmation of the position of the ship that sent it. Very clever! I hope you can hear the applause.” I held the handset out to pick up the clapping of the others in the chart room.

“
I just hope it helps you get farther out of sight. He'll eventually come back here, but after finding nothing, his nearest fuel is back at his home base in Dover, over
.”

Harris chimed in, “This is going to give us the advantage we need.”

“
No doubt about it
,” Johnson replied. “
Here's a list of positions we have on our radar and their courses
.” He read them out in the rapid clipped tones he'd acquired during the War, when clarity of vocal transmission was vital. Edward took them down without hesitation and got busy with his charts. I thanked Todd for his help as he returned to the deck and joined the crew.

“We've left the bo'sun to steer and run. Now we need to relieve him and get properly cleared up after yesterday's storm. Thank you again for what you're doing and the decoy idea. It's the sort of thing I'd love to have brewed up myself.” We called our goodbyes and signed off.

Bowman spoke for all of us. “It really is a wonder tae find such good men nowadays, even though he's a Yank.” After briefly watching over Edward's shoulder, he walked off slowly to his cabin.