Bright sky, Dark waters

John was on watch on the weather deck of the top bridge, a little over two weeks had passed since the ship had left port on this their longest patrol yet, but they were on their way home. They had sailed north and west, past the Shetlands and Faeroe islands and on towards Iceland, patrolling for U-Boats or any other German ships. They had not spotted anything other than a few North Atlantic trawlers from Norway. The Skipper seemed to have known all of them but they had stopped and checked each one of them anyways before letting them go. The only excitement had been the weather, a few gales had tossed them about as a reminder that the ocean had dangers other than U-Boats. Tonight however was clear, the ship was dark but the sky was brilliant, with the ghostly ripples of green and blue of the northern lights to port and a glittering wash of stars to starboard. "Dick would have loved to see this" John quietly said to himself as he brought his glasses back up and continued scanning the ocean for anything out of place. A voice from the speaking tube from below broke the silence. " Sir, Sparks just received an S.O.S from a freighter, she sends her position, says she's been torpedoed and is taking on water."

"Thanks Leslie, better wake the Skipper and make for that position, full ahead."

"Aye, full ahead making for their last known position, and wake the Skipper". Shortly after that the Skipper, wearing his life vest and tin hat, joined John on the upper bridge. He said "Well seems like life's gotten interesting for some poor sods", bending to the speaking tube he shouted down "Sound general quarters."

"Aye Sir, sound general quarters". The klaxon sounded and the peaceful ship quickly turned into a hullabaloo of activity, and just as quickly settled into a tense watch-fullness. "Sir all stations report maned and ready"

"Very good," using the ship's loud hailer the Skipper said, "all hands on deck keep close watch. That U-boat might be lurking about waiting for ships responding to that S.O.S. and we don't want to miss anything."

Just then John saw a red flare cut the night on the horizon. "Sir, surface contact bearing thirty degrees off the starboard bow."

The Skipper turned his glasses towards that direction. "Helm make for that position, forward gun, load a star shell. When we get a bit closer I'm going to want a good look." A chorus of "Aye Sirs" echoed back and the Skipper turned to John. "When that star shell goes off I want you to be looking anywhere but it's location, I want one of us to keep his night vision so we wont be blind sided if that U-boat isn't caught in it's light."

"Aye, Aye Sir" said John and, overcoming his desire to see where they were heading, he turned to look aft into the darkness. It was an interminable twenty minutes before they closed the distance and the Skipper shouted down, "Slow to half forward and lets have that star shell". The sharp report of the four inch gun was quickly followed by the burst of the parachute flare with it's brilliant light casting flickering patches of shadow suggesting how bright it would be if John turned forward. With an effort of will he did not turn to look, instead John focused his attention on scanning the dark sea for any hint of a lurking U-boat, but the view in his glasses revealed nothing but the vast expanse of the Atlantic. Just as the flare extinguished the speaking tube blurted "Skipper lookout says there's a lifeboat in the water, and a bunch of debris"

"Very well, circle that location and have Subs make an ASDIC sweep to be sure". Turning from the speaking tube he said "John I want you to go down and relieve the Coxswain at the helm. His eyes are sure to have been dazzled by the flare and I want a good set of night eyes on the wheel. Tell him I want him to get a rescue net over the side and prepare to bring the blokes in that boat aboard."

"Aye, Aye Sir" said John as he turned to drop down the ladder to the conning bridge. They made a couple circles of the location where the freighter had been and Subs reported no ASDIC contact so the Skipper ordered John to slowly bring the ship alongside the lifeboat so they could rescue the men huddled in her.

Meanwhile on deck Tom had been helping man the four inch gun but Leslie pulled him off to help with the rescue since, because his father was a Doctor and the reputation he'd earned tending to Sub's foot, the Cox'un's cold, and several other minor insults to the flesh of the crew, he ended up being the member of the crew with the most medical knowledge, even better than the officers steward who's job technically included first aid. Together with Leslie, Hookie, and Sidney, Tom helped pull seventeen survivors out of the lifeboat and brought them to the crew's mess where the cook and the officer's steward passed out mugs of hot chocolate and blankets before going back to the galley to make corned beef sandwiches for everyone, the rescued and the crew. Of the seventeen wet, cold, and frightened people the Ransom's crew had pulled out of the North Atlantic eleven were crew and six were passengers of which two were women. Leslie made the rounds asking their names and doling out a tot of rum to all of them while Tom checked them out for any injuries. Luckily no one was seriously injured just a few sprains and abrasions and one laceration that needed a few stitches before Tom painted it with iodine and bound it up tightly. His biggest worry was shock and exposure, the blankets and chocolate helped with that but he thought they really needed to be put to bed as soon as possible so leaving them in the care of Hookie and Sidney, Tom went to talk to Leslie. He found Leslie up on the top bridge with the Skipper and as soon as he cleared the ladder the Skipper asked, "so Tom how are our guests faring?"

"Reasonably well considering, I don't think the reality of what's happened has really registered with them yet and I think they could all use a bit of a lie down Sir."

"Agreed, I was just telling Leslie to get all the blokes into berths, any officers can be put in the wardroom and the Ladies can both have my cabin if they don't want to be alone, there's space there, or you can put one of them in the Lieutenant's birth if they'd prefer."

"Aye Sir" said Leslie, "but I'm sorry to say there weren't any officers brought aboard from that boat Skipper."

"More's the pity, I'd say that means they've lost about half their crew, well we'll stay about till morning and see if any more souls appear. That U-boat might still be lurking around and I don't want to make ourselves an easy target for it. You two go make our guests as comfortable as possible now."

Tom and Leslie both said "Aye Sir" and went down to see to the needs of the nights victims.

Morning did not bring them any more survivors so the Skipper ordered half the crew to secure from general quarters and told John, "Lieutenant, make a course for home at your best speed. We need to see these people safely ashore as soon as we can and I think we could all use some rest soon."

"Aye, Aye Skipper" John replied from his place at the wheel, and then to himself he added "as much as Jerry will let us get."