"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
It was 1974 before merchant seamen were recognised as having been on active service and those who could prove war-disablement were given pensions. That was too late for the many who had already died in poverty.
We had to laugh even if it was pretty black humour, because we were 'essential' to the war effort. Thus we were unable to leave a service that was not recognised as such. Truly a 'Catch 22' before Joseph Heller coined the phrase. The Merchant Navy is the 'Forgotten Navy'.
'I've had one ambition since this war began: to find a German soldier, surrender to him, and spend the rest of this war in a POW camp'
I said this to Joe Beck on the deck of the SS Ashby, outward bound for West Africa to pick up iron ore. The sun was shining, the sea blue and apparently benevolent. 'That's a worthy want,' he agreed, 'I might join you. They're out there under the water looking for us. When they find us they'll blow us up and if we're lucky we'll be able to swim like the clappers and surrender.'
He was absolutely right. They were out there in their little subs and within the next hour they torpedoed our ship. They didn't wait for me to surrender; they buggered off. Joe couldn't have joined me: he was dead.
The twenty-eight of us who survived in the lifeboat saw torsos, limbs and heads floating in the water. The sharks came soon but the Germans had long gone.
The bodies disappeared quickly too
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Philip Zec (illustrator). The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR001481172
Book Description Condition: very good. Dust Jacket Condition: no dustjacket. Philip Zec (illustrator). 8vo pp.240. book. Seller Inventory # 261165
Book Description Condition: Very Good. Philip Zec (illustrator). Book is in very nice condition, text is unmarked and pages are tight. Seller Inventory # 37208
Book Description Condition: Very Good. Philip Zec (illustrator). Book is in Used-VeryGood condition. Pages and cover are clean and intact. Used items may not include supplementary materials such as CDs or access codes. May show signs of minor shelf wear and contain very limited notes and highlighting. Seller Inventory # 0953728501-2-3