Andrew Wareham: End to Illusion

Eldridge considered that possibility, decided it was not a game he would wish to play. Simon chose not to wait to discover what was happening.

“Mr Parrett! Boarders to the bows, with rifles. Ready to take whatever the small craft may be. Full speed. Bring us onto her, coxswain.”

Sheldrake surged forward, overtook the small boat in seconds.

They heard Parrett yelling ‘boarders away’ as they came alongside.

“Theatrical, sir?”

“Touch of the Long John Silvers, Number One!”

“He does like his adventure stories, sir. Mr Midshipman Easy and such, you know.”

“Seems to have done him little harm…”

Simon was interrupted by a strangled squawk from the boat.

“Sounds as if they have taken a prisoner, sir.”

They heard Parrett’s voice.

“Coming aboard, sir!”

Four of the boarders appeared over the bow, turned to heave up a faintly visible figure.

Parrett climbed aboard and ran to the bridge.

“Small motorboat, sir. Two men, not uniformed. Boat is armed, sir. Some sort of foreign light machine gun on a tripod, sir. Both taken captive, sir, though the man on the gun was well thumped with a rifle butt.”

“Can’t play with machine guns, Mr Parrett. Well done. Let’s see what we’ve got.”

Neither prisoner appeared to be conscious.

“Take them below where we can shine a light on them.”

The pair were bounced quickly down the companionway and dropped on the deck outside Simon’s cabin.

“Check the blackout then give us a light.”

A minute and a torch flicked on.

The one face was covered in blood from a cut opened up on the top of the head. The other looked familiar.

“Take his hat off.”

Simon stared at the Provost Commander, Samways.

“Mr Parrett, were there any pigeons in the boat?”

“Not that I saw, sir.”

“Perhaps we interrupted him before he made the pick up. Sit this officer in my chair, if you please. Do what you can for his man.”

Simon returned to the bridge without further explanation.

“Number One, see if you can bring the boat aboard. Might as well salvage something from this mess.”

Eldridge ran to obey, knowing only that something was badly wrong.

Parrett came up a few minutes later.

“The one bashed on the head has died, sir. The other man, sir, has the papers of a British naval officer tucked away in his wallet.”

“Commander Samways. Naval Intelligence, I must imagine. I met him in Dunkerque before we sailed. Rather unfortunate, the whole business.”

Simon signalled Blackbird at first light, as soon as it could be seen that there were no submarines in the area.

“Sheldrake intercepted small boat in darkness. Two occupants, one killed in capture. Need preserve secrecy.”

He received the reply to close Blackbird and send a boat, himself in it.

“What happened, Sturton?”

A quick and simple explanation.

“Annoying! No fault of yours. Intelligence won’t love you, even so. Make full speed to Dunkerque, report to Senior Naval Officer at earliest – get your story in quick! You will have my full support.”

The SNO listened and was inclined to be amused.

“Bloody Intelligence playing cops and robbers in the darkness, Sturton! Pity about the man who died. Has Samways said who it was?”

“No, sir. Mr Samways has yet to regain consciousness. My boarding party was very efficient in the dark, sir.”

“Can’t play games in a small boat at night, Sturton! Have you had him taken to hospital?”

“Yes, sir. Thought that was best. Spoke to the matron, sir – she’s from a naval family and is on our side. Has Samways tucked away in a single room, with a guard on the door, out of sight.”

“Well done, young man! Good thinking that! Keep everything quiet. I shall speak to him myself as soon as he is fit to have visitors. What’s this about a ‘foreign machine gun’ on his boat?”

“My Gunner says it’s a Madsen Gun, sir. Light machine gun used by the German Army but made in Denmark. He tells me there’s an English factory as well but it only sells overseas as the Army didn’t want them.”

The SNO made a note that the small boat was armed with a weapon not used by British forces and hence evidence that it was probably enemy.

“Very good, Sturton. I shall send my report upstairs, of course. It will say that you acted perfectly correctly and will demand to know why Intelligence chose not to inform me of an operation taking place in my patch. What does the bloody man expect, sailing in the dark in an unmarked boat in an area where my destroyers are ever active? Damned fool deserves to get a headache! Lost one of his men, too, through his slackness.”

Simon was much heartened by that reaction. He presumed that Samways had in some way offended the SNO on a previous occasion. The SNO now had the chance to do Samways down and would take it happily. Another naval feud! He returned to Sheldrake and called Parrett to the cabin.

“SNO says you acted properly and offers his commendation, Polly. He is sending a report to the Admiralty that will demand action against Samways for launching a private operation in our waters without first informing us to look out for him. He hinted that he might be held responsible for the death of one of his men. Not your responsibility in any way, Polly! You saw a machine gun and its crew and took proper action to secure the weapon. Well done. Perfectly correct behaviour on your part.”

“Still, sir… It’s one of our men dead at my hands.”

“No it ain’t, Polly! Not at all! The man died due to the unacceptable slackness of his commanding officer. You cannot be responsible for Samways’ incompetence. Don’t worry yourself about that – it ain’t your fault that another officer is a fool.”

Matthews brought Blackbird in and listened to all that had happened and agreed.

“Your youngster did the right thing, Sturton. I’ll keep you posted on all that happens.”

Simon and Polly were called across to Blackbird next day, found Matthews in a particularly good mood.

“Signal from the Admiralty, through the SNO, gentlemen. Sublieutenant Parrett to Lieutenant with immediate effect. Congratulations, Polly! Actions in waters off Zeebrugge in best traditions of the service. All the normal verbiage besides, blah, blah, blah… You are to remain in Sheldrake. Well done. Three months or so and we shall see about putting you up in the world, Polly. You need some experience in the rank first. Samways, you will be interested to know, has been discharged from hospital and posted to Scapa Flow where he will play his part in maintaining security for the Grand Fleet. He’s welcome to that! It’s not a demotion – the opposite on paper – but it’s a backwater in terms of his trade. A new man came in this morning and has taken up every identified member of the spy ring without waiting to arrest the pigeons as well. All very tidy.”

Useful to Matthews as well, Simon appreciated. One of his boats had been part of a highly successful operation against an espionage network – obviously with his knowledge and approval. It would look well on his record of service.

“Right, gentlemen. We are to continue operations against submarines off the Belgian coast. It is clear that they are operating out of Zeebrugge and Ostend and likely that they are active in lesser harbours along the coast towards Holland. It is now suspected that they may be putting to sea with an escort of some sort to protect them until they reach a point where it is practical to submerge – reasonably distant from shoal water and away from the more vigorous currents. We are to take appropriate action.”

A vague order and one that meant something must be done but the senior officer did not know what.