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The captain had the wrench in his hands, and was struggling to get the bomb off its clamp on the wall ‘Get out!’ he shouted at thethe penultiazine ‘Get the hose! Flood the compartment! Flood it now!’ He had removed his mask to be better heard, and his voice was hoarse as he tried to speak and breathe

‘Captain!’ yelled Green, though hisup Got to be safe’

‘You can’t get them all off, sir You don’t have tihfield ht not have heard him He did not want to leave his skipper there, but he knew there was only so much a man could do before the need to keep the other hfield was shouting ‘Just go’

He turned, and as he did so, he heard so fall He threw his s it would reach hih the s his h the surface, her reat O, her hair plastered over her face She could hear voices, feel hands pulling at her, trying to heave her out of water so cold it had knocked the breath hard from her chest At first the sea had not wanted to relinquish her: she felt its icy grasp on her clothes And then she was flopping, gasping, on the floor of the little boat like a landed fish, retching as voices tried to reassure her, and a blanket swiftly wrapped round her shoulders

Avice, shein her eyes eased, she saw her being hauled like a catch over the other end of the cutter, her beauty-pageant dress slick with oil, her eyes closed tight against her future

Is she all right? she wanted to ask But an arhtly It did not release her, as she expected, but held on, so that she felt the closeness of this solid body, the intensity of its protection, and suddenly she had no words Frances, a voice said, close by her ear, and it was dark with relief

Captain Highfield was laid out on the flight deck by the two stokers who had carried him there Thesweat or soot fro noisily behind them In the distance, under the dark skies, there were shouts of confirmation as different parts of the ship were dee

It’s out, Captain, they told him It’s under control We did it They half whispered these words as if unsure whether he could still hear them There would be other conversations later, about how ill-judged it was for a e, to throw hi efforts in such a reckless manner There would be nodded observations of how bad he was at delegating, how another captain er picture But many of his men would approve They would think of Hart, and their lost mates, and wonder whether they wouldn’t have done the sahfield lay there, oblivious to their words and reassurances There was silence for a whole ood dress uniform, wet and smoke-stained, eyes still fixed on some distant drama

The men looked at him, and then, surreptitiously at each other One wondered whether to su the occupants of the lifeboats below Then Highfield raised hihed once, twice m on the deck Hefor?’ he asked, voice gravelly, eyes full of fury ‘Check every last bloody coet the bloody women out of the bloody boats and back on bloody board’

It took two hours tovessels that passed by shortly before dawn, checking that those still waiting on the water did not need rescuing, would speak for years after of the lifeboats, full of woed chaotically, singing ‘The Wild Rover No More’ They were linked, like soether in lengths

There were two ainst the side of the cutters, buoying the discarded or torn hosiery, which floated like brown seaweed on the surface of the water The women’s voices were loith relief and exhaustion as word spread that they would not have to spend ings, were safe

He stared at her, and now, as Avice’s sleeping body rested liainst her own, still wrapped in the blanket, she stared back, past the stooped bodies of the other wo, as if their eyes were connected by an invisible thread

The captain was alive The fires were out

They were to re-embark

22

Remember, the army will not send you to a destination unless it has been verified that ‘thatIn short, consider yourself parcel-post delivery

Advice contained in a booklet given to war brides

travelling aboard the Argentina, Imperial War Museum