The Laconia Incident by Gene Masters

Author:Gene Masters [Masters, Gene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Escarpment Press
Published: 2020-03-29T22:00:00+00:00

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Part II

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

1

South Atlantic, 12 September, 1942

“He knew me dad,” Jim McLoughlin had said earlier, prior to leaving Robby Cotton in their quarters, belowdecks in Laconia’s stern, on his way to meet the ship’s chief steward, who had promised him a gourmet meal.

Off duty, Robby was relaxing in his bunk, his rolled-up hammock serving as a pillow, and was looking forward to his own dinner in the crew’s mess. Nearby, his mates, Ralph Tinsdale, Charles Martin, and some of the other off-duty sailors were also relaxing. James Fellows was in the head.

The food aboard Laconia is really pretty good,” Robby mused silently. Can’t see what Jim is so excited about…

His reverie was rudely interrupted by the explosion forward. Robby had heard that sound before, and another picture of the Barham flashed in his brain. “Torpedo!” he shouted aloud, “We’ve been hit!”

The other men in the compartment, fear and surprise registering on their faces, reacted quickly to Robby’s shout, and swung out of their bunks. A dazed James Fellows emerged from the head, hastily pulling up his trousers.

“Let’s get topside and man the gun,” someone shouted, just as the deck was rolling away beneath them, knocking Fellows off his feet and the others back into their bunks, or sprawling on the deck.

“Grab your life jackets!” someone else thought to shout, as the men picked themselves up, only to be knocked over again as the ship rolled back in the other direction, this time to starboard.

Robby was scrambling to hold his footing and pull on his life jacket, when the second torpedo hit. This time, the ship lurched in the other direction, settling at a port list far more severe than the first. He followed the others up the ladder, just forward of their compartment, as the sailors slowly made their way up and then back to the fantail.

When they reached the gun, they found Lieutenant Tillie already there, and the disgusted look on his face as he surveyed the scene said it all. The ship was now pitched over about twenty degrees to port, and since the gun was manually trained, there was no way it could now be trained around to aim it. That was, of course, assuming if they could find a target to begin with, and that the sub that had torpedoed them was kind enough to be on the surface somewhere within the scope and range of the gun. Nonetheless, Ralph and James had opened the ready locker and were doing their best—given the canted deck—to carry two shells over to load into the gun.

“Don’t waste your time, men,” Tillie called to them. “You’re on a bloody fool’s errand. If we do manage to load the bugger, how in blazes will we aim it? And at what?”

Just then, they heard the word passed, “Abandon Ship! Abandon Ship! All passengers will proceed in good order to their assigned lifeboat stations. Abandon Ship!”

The Laconia then lurched suddenly again to port, throwing Ralph and James off their feet, each man dropping the shell he was carrying.

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