The Northern Blockade by Smith M. C

Author:Smith, M. C.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lume Books
Published: 2017-01-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Disappointments

‘Well, Jock,’ said Doyle, who had by chance found Bonner crouched over the urinal in the CPO’s heads up forrard. ‘Aren’t you a bit old to be doing this sort of punishment? When are you going to start growing up?’

Bonner did not even grace him with the pleasure of a glance as he scrubbed. He just said, ‘Ah, get lost.’

‘I’m pretty well at the point when I’m not going to take that from you anymore,’ said Doyle. ‘For old times’ sake, I’ve been trying to understand you. Why can’t you get it together? You know that everything’s changed now. We’re at war.’

Bonner then looked up. There was a look in his eyes that was somewhere between hate and sadness but there were things that he was not going to give this man the satisfaction of knowing. Moving over to the sink in order to give that a scrub, he said, ‘You’re gettin’ right above yer station, you are, so like I said, get lost.’

‘After I’ve taken a piss.’ Doyle immediately moved into the space just vacated by Bonner and started to pee onto the spotless enamel. ‘I could quite easily give you the chop if I wanted, but then I know you’re a first class seaman. That’s the only thing that’s saving you. You know that, don’t you?’

It was hard to imagine that fifteen years ago he had thought Bonner to be one of the cleverest men he knew. But now there was the distinct possibility that the Scotsman was going to be a liability when the time came for action. One of the key elements of any ship at war was that every man should be as useful and important as the others. By all reports, he and the other men from his anti-aircraft team had acquitted themselves well aboard the Signhild II. That had been a job of supreme importance requiring certain diplomatic responsibility from all concerned so a last benefit of the doubt for this man surely should be extended. Doyle walked away thinking it through.

*

The impounding of that Danish merchant ship was another high profile achievement for the Burscombe, made even better for the fact that, upon closer examination, it was found that she was carrying iron ore as well as the copper and foodstuffs. What with the secrecy and the behaviour of the crew, it was pretty clear that the cargo’s final destination was Germany. It had thus been decided that if that greasy little ill-tempered captain wanted to continue to work then he was going to have do something a little more honest with his time.

Achievement though it was, the British officers involved still felt that they could be doing more with their time. Not only had the news come through that the fighting in Poland was over, that half of that country had been occupied by the Nazis – the other half by that treacherous Stalin and his Communists – but a couple of weeks ago an old aircraft carrier, HMS Courageous, had become the first British warship to be sunk.

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