Evening star., 1941-07-18

Henry McLemor.. review.
On the bridge was skipper who
had fought the sea even longer than
| the old tub he commanded. Re-
! tired from the merchant marine
just after the last war, he had come
down from his home in the hills
of Halifax and volunteered to run
| the gantlet of the North Atlantic.
He gave his age as II and stormed
at those who said he could not
be a minute this side of 80. He
stormed at officials who said he
would have TO lie in the harbor
until a convoy slow enough for
him to keep pace with was formed.
TO hell with the Germans" the
old boy said. "We1l get across some
how So it was outward bound
all alone. No destroyer joined him
in his rendezvous with the waves.
No bombers wheeled ahead. With
only a tommy-gun TO protect her
.against StuksS, armed raiders and
submarines, the freighter cravled
beyond the horizon. headed for
England. The old boy and his
tub made it.
Hundreds of old boys are making
1t. or trying to make 1t these DAYS.
They have whacked off their boards
and 20 years of their ages, petted
their great grandchildren on the
head. tidied up their gardens. and
put out to sea as vital threads in
Britains life line.
/ A walk along the Halifax vater
! front on visits to the seamen's
hotels brings to light innumersbe
stories of the courage of these old
shippers. There was one in here
the other day who had been picked
up after his freighter had been sho'
out from under him. He admitted
to rs, and after three days of float
ing on a half-submerged raft. toved
by a line from his chief officers
jolly-boat, his only complaint wa7
that the first shell had gone through
his cabin and destroyed possession.
he had carefully collected in half
century of roaming the world.
His feet and legs were bi'
damaged by two days and night c.
standing on a raft that threatene5
to sink at any moment but, after
holiday of two weeks, he put ou'
for England TO get another ship
Even in this port, where fsntaSti
tales Of the sea have been spun TO-
many years, one still hears amaze
ment expressed at the experience
Of the 70-year-old skipper who wen
down with the ship but lived to tell
the tale.
Torpedoed, his late cargo-carric.
plunged to the bottom and, caueh'
in the vortex, he went along too
man is not supposed to surviv,
that but, for a reason that onl'
Davey Jones could explain. the skip
per, after a trip almost to the bot
tom of the Atlantic. was Violent,
/ expelled from the whirlpool and sho
into the air to land near the life
boat of his chief engineer. He stayec
in port only long enough TO get
new outfit of clothing before leav-
ing for the other side and another
command. 1t is thankless task
this wartime skippering of merchant
I SHIPS. The boat and the men src
Just shooting targets if their escort
prove insufficient
Even the pilots of the r. AZ
are given no higher courage ratinc
than the Shippers and crew of the
merchant marine. They are in the
real front line ano they don't even
! have the satisfaction of taking a
shot at their tormentors. One har
only to see tanker, loaded with
high-teSt gasoline. laboriously put
out to sea to know that the men
who Will eventually use that fuel in
nights high above the crowds de-
serve no more credit than the erimv
unsung men who rode with it across
the battle-ground of the Atlantic
Perhaps the highest tribute ever
PAID to the men of the merchant
marine was paid here in Halifax bv
the late Sir Bertram Fox Hayes dur
Ing the last war. Sir Bertram vss
captain of the Olympic then and
when he had safely carried 20OO00
soldiers to the other side. the CITY Of
Halifax honored him with a BANQUET
ana a massive silver service. In his
speech of acceptance of the plate
Sir Bertram said he did not deserve
1t. My ship is the biggest and fast
est on the Atlantic" he said! lit
would take six well-placed torpedoes
to sink her.
In the harbor is a small freiphter
capable of no more than seven or
elght knots. She Is loaded with
munitions. One shell of any kind
would obliterate her. Yet she is put
tlng out to sea. Her skipper is the
one Who really deserves the plate"
I 80 -