The Cruel Sea Page #7

- There's only you and Rose, sir.

Rose? Rose!

All right.

Ferraby! Wak e up!

Wake up, damn you!

I'm tired, Number One!

You're not going to sleep!

And that goes for the rest of you!

Nobody's going to sleep!

Come on, you lazy bastards!

Wak e up!

Wak e up!

That's if you want to live!

Come on! I'll mak e you move about!

- Turn it up!

- Go and drown yourself!

I'll drown the lot of you,

if you don't wak e your ideas up!

Now, come on! Sing!

U nder the spreading chestnut tree

When I tak e you on my knee

Oh, how happy I shall be

U nder the spreading chestnut tree

Come on, Gracey! Lend a hand!

If we go to sleep, we've had it!

If we can stay awak e till morning,

we've got a chance!

Come on! Sing!

U nder the spreading chestnut tree

When I tak e you on my knee

Oh, how happy I shall be

U nder the spreading chestnut tree

And again.

No going to sleep there!

Come on!

Let's go and look at the other lot!

The sun'll be out soon!

That's right. Now, paddle.

Gordon! Gordon, buck up!

I'll be all right, Keith.

If only Number One would let me

have my wife up to Glasgow.

He turned it down, you know.

We can't get rid of him!

We can't! We can't!

Carry on, lads.

All right. Next question.

What's a bar shoe?

Anyone know?

Come on! Wak e up!

A thing for towing paravanes from.

Right. All applaud.

Clap! Clap! Harder!

Do you hear that?

They're awak e, anyway.

Hello, Number One.

Hello, sir.

- Hi! Waiter!

- Yes, sir.

- Hi! Waiter!

- Yes, at once.

Oh, just a moment.

I'm afraid that water's a bit dusty.

I'll have it changed

immediately, sir.

I'm so sorry.

It's the war, I'm afraid.

Oh, dear. In that case,

I don't want to mak e too much of it.

No, sir. Thank you, sir.

- Bring me another large pink gin.

- Yes. Certainly, sir.

- Sorry I'm late.

- Sir, congratulations.

Oh. Thanks.

May I tak e this? Thank you.

I've ordered you a large pink gin.

Well, that'll do for a start. Thanks.

- Did you see Ferraby?

- Yes.

I'm afraid he'll be in hospital

a very long time.

I talk ed to the MO.

It's a complete break down all right.

Oh.

Did you go and see Morell's wife?

- I've just come from her flat.

- How was she?

She was in bed.

Oh. Was she taking it badly?

I think she was taking it very well.

I wasn't the only visitor.

Damn the war.

Yes.

- I was at the Admiralty yesterday...

- There, sir.

- Water, sir?

- Yes.

Right.

- Thanks.

- Thank you, sir.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

Now, then. They are giving me

a Castle-class Frigate.

That's the very latest type of escort.

They've also given me this,

and put me in charge

of an escort group.

And they're giving you

a half stripe.

Good heavens!

Lieutenant commander!

What will they do next?

But there is a snag.

I shall be senior officer of the group.

So they've agreed I can have

a lieutenant commander as N umber One.

They said I could have you.

I said I didn't know.

You'd better be clear about this.

You could have your own

command now, if you wanted it.

A corvette.

But if you stay with me,

you may miss getting your own ship.

I'd lik e to have you, of course.

But you'll have

to make up your own mind.

That's... up to you.

Tell me about our new ship, sir.

Waiter!

Saltash. I can't say I've ever heard

of a castle of that name.

Neither have I.

I couldn't even find it on the map.

Well, it's on the map now.

Lik e a block of flats, isn't she?

- I wonder what that thing is there.

- Goodness knows.

We ought to get a set of plans

and go over the layout.

There's a set in the dock office.

Shall I get them?

Oh, yes. Do that, will you?

'Yeoman! Get Viperous on RT.

'Say,

"Torpedoed 15 miles astern of you!"'

'Aye-aye, sir! '

'Clear away boats and rafts

but wait for the word! '

'She's going down! '

'Abandon ship!

Abandon ship! Abandon ship! '

- Here we are, sir.

- Oh, right, Number One.

Well, let's get on with it.

We've a lot of work to do.

You must be very fond of Ericson.

I feel I want to finish the war

with him and with no one else.

David and Jonathan.

- Does it sound silly?

- No.

But women don't often have

that relationship.

If they do, it's not usually

about something important.

Lik e running a ship

or fighting a war.

It's about the only personal

relationship war allows you.

- You've got very thin.

- That was Compass Rose mostly.

You know, when you lose a ship,

it's like losing a bit of yourself.

And the funny thing is

you don't realise it at once.

At first, it's just a bad dream.

When I was in London on leave,

I went to one of these concerts

at the National Gallery.

Suddenly I found that I was crying.

Couldn't stop.

People began to look at me and I...

And I had to go out.

Then after a while,

I... I felt better,

and I found that I could think

of Compass Rose,

and the men who died in her.

And the sadness and the waste of it.

And not want to cry any more.

Secrets of a first lieutenant,

or why I went home to mum.

You don't have to apologise

for being a human being.

Somebody had to cry

for Compass Rose.

Why shouldn't it have been you?

We'll be off again

in no time at all now.

Julie, Julie, am I wrong?

Is it better to have

something to lose?

It's better still

to have something to live for.

Yes. I seem to have got things

a little muddled, don't I?

A little.

- Tak e care of yourself, won't you?

- Great care. I always do.

I mean it.

You see, I know where you're going.

'And so we went to war again.

'And to the bitterest sector of it.

The convoy routes to north Russia. '

'Homeward bound from Murmansk,

'we had bad weather,

'and as long as that lasted,

we were safe from attack. '

'Then the weather moderated. '

'I n contact, sir. '

Altering course to bearing. Port ten.

- Instantaneous echo, sir.

- Fire!

Fire!

- Lost contact, sir.

- Lost contact, sir.

Oil, sir!

Well, that's settled that one's hash!

No wreckage, no woodwork. Just oil.

She could have released

that oil on purpose.

Yeoman, mak e to Petal,

"Continue search in your area."

Number One,

carry out lost contact procedure.

I am going on with the attack.

End of sweep, sir.

Nothing on the recorder.

Very well. Carry on.

Sweep from red 80

to green 80 by echo.

Transmission interval, 2, 500 yards.

2,500 yards, sir.

No contact, sir.

Carry on.

- Carry on the sweep.

- Carry on the sweep, sir.

She could have been sunk.

I wish to heaven you'd mind your

business and get on with your job!

Number One.

- Sir?

- Sorry I said that.

That's all right, sir.

I don't think she was sunk.

Not enough evidence for it.

No, sir.

- Steer 060.

- 'Steer 060, sir. '

It's getting to be a different

kind of war, Number One.

And the people in it

have got different, too.

In what way do you mean, sir?

Oh, at the beginning there was time

for all sorts of things.

Understanding people.

Making allowances for them.

Wondering whether they were happy.

Even whether they lik ed you or not.

Now, the war doesn't seem

to be a matter of feelings any more.

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