Evening star., 1941-04-07
BY GAULT MACGOWAN.

BY GAULT MACGOWAN.
SOMEWHERE IN THE ALLAN
TIC, April The mer-
chant ships are assembled at secret
rendezvous in the Atlantic wastes
There are enough of them, were
they to fall into Hitler's hands, to
transport a model invasion army
Actually, they are returned emp
ties"-Ships which came over with
American munitions and are on the
way back for more.
Rushing around, like sheep dog
getting the flock together, is a war
destroyer No. rs, but now H. M. S.
-, on active duty in the battle
Of the Atlantic.
Through mechanical megaphone
its commander is rounding up the
strays. He is tall, freSh-faced and
good looking, the type of English
sailorman who, with seemingly ef-
fortress efficiency, commands the
seas. The thick bands of gold braid
round his cuffs, the string of medals
on his chest and his crisp, wavy, iron
gray hair endow with distinction.
The British Admiralty is reticent
about the names of the men who
are pitting their nautical knowledge
against the U-boat commanders
But the shippers of the merchant
ships know him and recognize the
voice of this commanding officer of
eX-destroyer rs, United States Navy.
BY Night They're Ready.
Come up into line, please" He
speaks into the microphone as the
destroyer races alongside a tramp
standing high in the water Her
decks seem as devoid of life as her
holds of cargo. Aboard the DESTROYER
every man is at his station, messen-
gers and Signalman at the COM
mander's elbow.
Gradually order emerges out of
chaos. BY nightfall the CONVOY is
formed into line with its commodore
In charge He is retired admiral
who has come back for the dura-
ton" as a commodore of the Royal
Naval Reserve. From a post in one
of the merchant ships he sets the
conveys pace and direction
While We-and another eX-Ameri-
can destroyer that now joins us
act as Watchdogs to close up the
stragglerS, he leads his motley fleet
on its long, slow journey across the
AtIantlc, obliged to make his pace
that of the slowest ships in the
convoy. If his escort is called away
TO chase submarines or surface
raiders, he will be responsible for
the actions of his fleet, making flag
signals to close up or scatter. as
necessity demands.
The CommodOres.
They are gallant old sea dogs. these
commodores. Living for the most
part in peacetime in comfortable
retirement in some sheltered sea-
side bungalow or cor
enjoying a Well-earned pension, they
have responded to the. -,----
need and volunteered for the most
thankleSS of old jobs af1oat and the
least spectacular.
With shipping losses that have
been over 100000 tons in bad weeks.
the risks they run of being killed
by an enemy marauder are high.
But they accept the job cheerfully.
Merchant ships are not used to
steaming in close formation and
being drilled by flag signal. But as
the days go on, and experience in
creases, the Station-keeping of their
shippers would not discredit a
squadron of warships. Amid the
gales of the North Atlantic, the
patches of heavy mist and the clouds
that make sight of the sun and stars
often unattainable, the muff1ed, OIL
skinned merchant shippers hold
their bridges, straining every nerve
to keep their position.
Rare is the British merchant
skipper today who has not his ex-
perience of Nazi mine, submarine or
loW-diving hostile aircraft The
combination has made them less
fortunate than their predecessors in
the convoy system of the last war.
Then, 9908 per cent we're safely
escorted