Dunkirk Spirit by Alan Pearce

Author:Alan Pearce
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: alanpearce.com
Published: 2010-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

‘Hello, sir,’ said Lieutenant Langley, the chartroom duty officer. He had a concerned and puzzled look on his face. ‘It’s Commander Bishop, isn’t it?’ He held his hand out to the Skipper. ‘It’s very nice to see you again, sir. But, to be honest, we didn’t expect you back. Coffee?’

The Skipper nodded acceptance and followed the young officer over to the urn. He had just returned from an abortive and tough trip, but not from the grave. He wore his own puzzled expression as he accepted the tepid mug.

‘To be frank, sir, when we got your signal we thought you’d had it.’

‘Had it?’

The lieutenant excused himself and stepped over to the nearest desk to consult the message spike. He returned after a moment. ‘Here it is, sir. Received eleven-thirty this morning.’ He handed the signal form over.

‘No, this isn’t right,’ said the Skipper. ‘We signalled “we are under fire”. It says here “on fire”.’

‘And that’s what we thought, sir.’ Langley gave a nervous laugh. ‘The shore batteries are now in German hands but, obviously, you know that.’ He laughed again. ‘In fact, we’ve just had a report in that a French torpedo boat, the Bourrasque, has coped one off Nieuport.’

‘I’m sorry to hear it,’ huffed the Skipper. ‘But I’ve barely seen any French boats. I’m surprised the batteries could even find one!’

‘Well, sir. I agree their contribution has so far been negligible but you will be pleased to hear that fifteen French vessels are now involved, including two destroyers and several torpedo boats and trawlers. Which is just as well given the new deadline.’

‘The big pickup is tomorrow night, I understand.’

‘Yes, sir. And it’s keeping us very busy. In fact, we’ve not had a bad day so far. Not so many losses and quiet a few troops lifted off the Mole. The beaches have been a bit of a damp squib but that’s fog for you, swings and roundabouts. You will be going back, of course, sir?’

‘We are under repair now.’ The Skipper sipped his coffee. ‘Tomorrow night.’

‘Well, as long as you get there by midnight. We’re hoping to lift off the rearguard before oh-three-hundred on Saturday.’

‘How many do they estimate?’

‘Four thousand, sir.’

‘That doesn’t sound very much.’

‘That’s the plan, sir. Plus the RN beach parties, if not a bit sooner. We shall have to see how it goes.’

‘Then, in that case, you had better resurrect Cameron from her premature grave.’ The Skipper raised an eyebrow.

‘Yes, of course, sir.’ The lieutenant bent down and picked up the graveyard bin. ‘Perhaps you would like to do the honours, sir.’ He passed the bin forward.

The Skipper scooped up a handful of paper flags and began casting them back into the depths. Finally one flag lay in the palm of his hand. He straightened out the edges and then stepped across to the chart. A pretty Wren moved aside as Commander Bishop lent forward and stabbed the pin firmly into Dover harbour.

‘Never cast aspersions upon the waters,’ said the Skipper. But, somehow, just as he was about to wink at the Wren, something in her expression told him he had got it slightly wrong.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.