Morning Departure Page #5

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Coxswain.

The first four to go

will be the sub-lieutenant...

Bullfinch has searched

the whole of this area, sir.

Yes.

Trojan must've sunk before she reached it.

Yes.

- It's ten past four, sir.

- I know that, Gates.

I'm sorry, sir, but I'm not very good

at just waiting about.

I know that, too.

Look sir, couldn't I go out

with the salvage ship?

I'd be much more use there than here.

Yes, I've no doubt you would.

So would James, or any of the others.

Point is, you're pretty important here, too.

But James could take over my job

for a day or two, sir, he knows all about it.

Perhaps.

Tell the chief yeoman

to come here, will you?

Very good, sir.

Put me through to CinC's

chief of staff, please.

Matthews. Tell the chief yeoman

to report to the captain.

MATTHEWS:
Aye, aye, sir.

Trojan's surfacing signal

is now two hours overdue.

Yes. I'll go ahead and make the signal.

Right.

Have you given the chief yeoman

Subsmash Two signals?

Yes, sir.

Chief yeoman, make Subsmash Two.

- Submarine Trojan two hours overdue.

- Aye, aye, sir.

The salvage ship will get

underway at once, sir.

All right, Gates.

You can go, make a good job of it.

Thank you, sir.

I'll ask for a boat right away.

SAILOR. :
Echo bearing three-five-zero, sir.

Appears to be stationary.

Have you got any wrecks there

on your chart, pilot?

No wreck in that position, sir.

I think it may be the Trojan, Number One.

- Starboard fifteen.

- SAILOR. :
Starboard fifteen, sir.

- One hundred revolutions.

- SAILOR. :
One hundred revolutions, sir.

Extent of target, six degrees.

Extent of target, six degrees.

Shall I tell them to switch on

the loudspeakers, sir?

Please.

- Loudspeaker, please.

- SAILOR. :
Aye, aye, sir.

(BEEPS ECHOING)

You look lovely.

Nice day for a swim.

BROUGH:
You and me, Andy, eh?

What's the use of my winning

these blooming ballet tickets

if you're going to be there to cut me out?

- Here you are.

- BARLOW:
All set, my lucky lads?

Aye, aye, Coxswain.

One little whiff of oxygen and back

you go to civilization and watered beer.

Blimey, I reckon we're

better off down here!

- All ready, sir.

- Thank you, Barlow.

Now you all know exactly what to do.

Breathe quite naturally while going up.

Don't try and hold your breath.

And when you get to the top,

just lie back for a minute or two.

Remember your surfacing drill,

don't start swimming straight away.

Now in each of these is a detailed report

of exactly what's happened.

Give them to the first officer

you see on being picked up.

Tie them round your waists.

- Any questions?

- Yes, sir.

Do we get survivor's leave afterwards?

Oh, yes, always, if you get wet.

(MEN CHUCKLING)

- All set?

- Yes, I think so, sir.

- Nervous?

- A bit.

I don't blame you. There's no need to be.

Once you're inside there, there's nothing

more to worry about. You'll enjoy it.

I expect so, sir.

Don't forget the others are probably

feeling much worse than you are.

You'll have to look after them.

That won't give you much time

for worrying about yourself, will it?

No. No, of course not, sir.

(MEN LAUGHING)

(ENGINE WHIRRING SOFTLY)

Listen.

You know why you're all

being sent up, don't you?

Because you're no use down here.

Now me, what with

serving food and blowing oil,

- I'll probably be here till Christmas.

- Quiet, everybody!

There's a ship somewhere above us.

- My God. They've found us!

- Wait a minute.

They haven't dropped any charges yet.

(CHARGES EXPLODING)

Lovely!

(ALL CHATTERING HAPPILY)

All right. All right.

First four to escape

muster under the gun hatch.

All right, look sharp, now.

You're first, Brough. Put your face piece on

as soon as you are inside the chamber.

- Good luck.

- Thank you, sir.

- Andrews. Good luck.

- Thank you, sir.

- Good luck, Kelly.

- Good luck to you, too, sir.

All right. Start breathing on your sets.

Don't forget your exhaust valves,

and don't open the upper hatch

until the water is up to your neck.

I'm relying on you to make a good job

of this. I know you will.

Good luck, Sub.

- Good luck, laddie.

- Good luck, Sub.

Thanks, everyone. See you all soon.

Mind you score a century

against Portland!

All set?

Shut the hatch.

Takes about two minutes to flood up,

doesn't it, Chief?

Yes, sir.

There's the first of them, sir.

You're right. Stop both together!

Slip the sea boat. Drop the marker buoy!

Aye, aye, sir.

Slip the sea boat. Drop the marker buoy!

SAILOR:
Drop the marker buoy.

- Aye, aye, sir.

- Stand by.

- Three more men surfaced, sir.

- Good lad.

Come on, Snipey. No good gazing at it.

We can't use that hatch again.

Well, that's that!

Now we've got to decide

who the next four will be.

That's pretty obvious, isn't it, sir?

Why?

Well, there are eight of us down here.

Four of us are bachelors and four married.

The Chief, Barlow, Snipe and yourself.

Obviously, you're the ones to go.

I'm not in agreement

with you at all, Number One.

Why should l, or any of the others

have preference in an emergency?

- Now listen, Chief...

- We're all volunteers.

Nobody ever told me anything about

bachelors giving way to married men.

MANSON:
Don't be stupid, Chief.

- Don't be so heroic.

- I'm not.

I'm just trying to save as much suffering

as possible if something should go wrong.

Come, Number One.

You underestimate yourself.

If anything happened to you

I'm sure a large number of young women

would be most upset.

Oh, for the love of Mike!

The Chief's right, Harry.

All right. You're the one

makes the decisions here.

Go ahead, make this one.

This one is a bit tougher than you think.

What do you mean?

There are only four escape sets left

in the locker in the control room.

I know that, but there are six more

in the one over there.

Go and have a look at it.

It's no good. They're all ripped to pieces.

- When did you know about this?

- Just before they located us up top.

I put it in the reports that Oakley

and the others took with them.

It isn't so easy, is it?

The next four to go up will be the last.

The rest will have to stay down here

and hope they'll be able to salvage us.

Flooding the whole compartment

would be absolutely impossible

without escape sets.

It's a nasty position, all right.

- You gonna tell the men, sir?

- Yeah.

But you aren't going to tell them now,

before the next lot go up?

I think it's fairer if everybody knows

exactly how we stand.

But if you tell them now they'll know that

whoever's not ordered to escape will...

I'm not going to order anybody to stay

or anybody to go.

I don't understand.

It's no good talking about it, mates.

We'll know who goes next just as soon as

the skipper tells us, and not before.

Come to that, it don't make

much difference.

The last four just flood

up this compartment,

and away they go, just as easy as it was

through the gun hatch.

They'll got wetter sooner, that's all.

Well, I don't mind admitting, I hope I go up

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