DESTROYER, part 3

       "What are you on about," asked Seaman Whatts.
   "I was First Mate on a Whaler for 7 years.'
   "So?"
   'So, I need 3 men- Jones, Whatts and Harris- to put out that fire. The rest of you need to clean the decks. I'll be on Watch, you too Steel. Then the dead need laying to rest."
   And they obeyed him. Perhaps because on that lonely sea, in that bloody chaos, no one else wanted the responsibility.
   With the radio down, and the rest of the convoy sunk, Jonahson could do as he wished.
   He wished to hunt Nazis.

   The next morning, after breakfast and rum, he addressed his men.
   "Lads, we are 17 men down. Number 2 gun is down, and the wheel house needs rebuilding. We've taken on a bit of water. But we have Number 1 and 3 guns, the machine guns and depth charges, and the engines are alright. We've got a lot of work to do.' 
   The first task was the sea burial of the dead. All available hands gathered on deck. The bodies of the war dead were wrapped in sheets made of mast.
   Jonahson's deep voice chanted the Naval Hymn as tradition demanded, all the time his face a rock of dignified misery;

  "Eternal Father, strong to save, whose arm doth bind the restless wave,
Who bidd'st the mighty ocean deep its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, for those in peril on the sea!

O Saviour, whose almighty word, the winds and waves submissive heard,
Who walked'st on the foaming deep, and calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, For those in peril on the sea!

O sacred Spirit, who didst brood, upon the chaos dark and rude,
Who bade its angry tumult cease, and gavest light and life and peace:
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, for those in peril on the sea!

O Trinity of love and power, our brethren shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe, protect them wheresoe'er they go;
And ever let there rise to Thee , glad hymns of praise from land and sea."

Then the buglers played the Last Post as the corpses were lowered into the icy waves.

   'If I die out here,' Jonahson grunted to his mate Harris afterwards, 'just throw me in the damn sea.'