Convoy (48 page)

‘By the way, Number One, any news from Bennett about the wreckage we picked up?’

‘Yes, sir. Bit of luck with the papers – there’s the deck log, half the signal log, various letters belonging to seamen, a book of ciphers Bennett can’t understand – hardly surprising – and the usual training manuals. He’s drying out what matters but doing an immediate rough translation of the last entries on the log. He should have it ready very soon.’

‘He’s being careful not to damage it, I hope.’

‘Very, sir. Ah, here he is.’

A thin, sallow-faced RNVR sub-lieutenant came on to the bridge, and Johnny said to Yorke: ‘You haven’t met Bennett. He’s one of DNI’s bright boys – codes and ciphers. Speaks German like a Berliner – which is hardly surprising, since he was born there.’

So Bennett was not his real name: he was a Jewish refugee, brought over by his family when it was still possible to get out of Germany.

‘You were right enough, sir,’ Bennett said to Yorke, ‘it’s all in the log. He left Brest for a routine patrol, received fresh orders from the Lion – that’s Doenitz – four days out directing him north and, a couple of days later, giving him a position where he’d probably sight the convoy. Not a position but a fifty-mile patrol line.’

‘The dates all coincide?’ Yorke asked.

‘Yes, he actually sighted the convoy a day before the Swede first dropped back, and stayed submerged in daylight – the log entries show they’re getting scared of Liberator attacks – and caught up at night.

‘The log notes everything in detail after that – very wordy and bureaucratic, the Germans. I speak,’ Bennett said with a grin, ‘as a naturalized Briton. Every entry is signed by the officer that made it, just as the regulations say. How they came up astern of the
Penta
for the first time – they actually name her – exchanged signals and information about the individual ships in the convoy, the general route, the zigzag diagram numbers used so far, size of the escort and so on. I haven’t checked the signal log yet for the exact wording, but the details are in the general log.’

‘Any names of officers?’ Johnny asked.

‘All of them, sir. She had been undergoing a long refit in Lorient and had a completely new ship’s company. The names of all the officers and warrant officers were noted as they joined. Anyway, this is my rough translation of the entries – I’ve omitted routine things,’ he said handing over several handwritten pages. ‘Just the details of Operation Cuckoo.’

‘Cuckoo?’ Johnny exclaimed.

‘Yes, sir, that was the German name for it. There’s a number following it that I don’t understand, but–’

‘Is it twelve?’ Yorke asked.

Bennett glanced at him and grinned. ‘Yes, perhaps you’d explain it to me, sir, then I can get some sleep. I’ve been working on the log most of the night but that twelve was so intriguing I knew it would keep me awake!’

‘Let’s adjourn to the chartroom,’ Johnny said. ‘You’ll have to wait for your sleep, Bennett.’

Once in the chartroom, Johnny turned to Bennett and said: ‘You work for the Director of Naval Intelligence, so you can tell me this. I don’t trust our cipher tables. If the Jerries don’t know we’ve caught the
Penta
, there’s a chance they’ll try some more cuckoos in the nest, and we’ll nab ’em before they do any harm. But if there’s a chance they are cracking any of our ciphers I’d sooner wait until we get into port and report to the Admiralty by landline, using a scrambler phone, rather than make a signal now in cipher.’

Bennett looked embarrassed and Johnny, misunderstanding the reason, said: ‘No, sorry, it’s not up to you. I meant I wanted your opinion on the chance of the Germans reading any signal I might make.’

‘I hesitated, sir,’ Bennett said, ‘only because not many others in DNI agree with me. I think the
B
-
Dienst –
that’s the radio-intelligence branch of the German Navy – have penetrated a number of our ciphers. That’s just a feeling I have – a hunch – and it’s impossible to prove one way or the other. But if you were asking me,’ Bennett said carefully, ‘whether I thought there was a chance that the Germans would decipher any signal you could make to the Admiralty from this ship, using the cipher books we have on board, I would say they could read it as clearly as if you sent it in plain language.’

‘Thanks, Bennett. Officially I haven’t heard a word you’ve just said. And I’ve decided to maintain radio silence.’

‘Coastal Command,’ Yorke said suddenly. ‘We’ll have a Sunderland or a Liberator noseying round in a few hours. As soon as a plane spots three strange ships about which it knows nothing it’ll very quickly investigate. If we have a signal ready we can pass it by Aldis with strict instructions that it must be sent to the Admiralty as soon as possible by landline but not transmitted by wireless and likewise they shouldn’t report having sighted us until they land.’

‘That’s it,’ Johnny said. ‘I’ll draft the signal now. Their Lordships will probably slap my hand, but…’

‘I’m requesting you officially not to pass information by wireless about capturing the
Penta
and the U-boat sinking,’ Yorke said formally. ‘That means… I’m not sure what it means, but I’m supposed to be the outsider trying to catch the insider, and you had written orders to co-operate with me…’

‘Thanks Ned, but I’ll take the responsibility. We’re heroes, not villains,’ Johnny said philosophically. ‘Either we’re heroes for catching the cuckoo and Hobson gets a gong for carving up that U-boat, or we’ll be sent to sew mail bags in Aden for bringing Sweden into the war against us. As the Foreign Office will decide, I’ve no idea which it will be, but we’d better practise our herring-bone stitch.’

The scrambler telephone had a curious echo but it was such a clear line that Yorke could hardly believe that Uncle was sitting in the Citadel in London, several hundred miles from the Clyde, and not in the next room.

‘Telephone me at ASIU at noon,’ the signal had said and because the time had seemed important, Yorke had gone to a lot of trouble to arrange it.

‘Gower’s signal and yours caused quite a stir when they arrived,’ he heard Uncle say, the satisfaction showing in his voice. ‘We bunged copies to our friend round the corner – to Downing Street,’ he explained when he remembered he was talking on a scrambler telephone, ‘and the Foreign Office panicked. They called for an immediate conference with the Vice Chief of Naval Staff, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (U-boat Warfare and Trade), Director of Naval Intelligence and myself ordered to attend, to draft an apology to the Swedes and decide where you and Gower were to be shot.’

‘Where was decided?’ Yorke asked.

‘Ha, there are times when the wicked prosper. We were in the midst of this special meeting, with these senior Foreign Office wallahs sitting round with long faces and saying smugly that both of you would have to be “sacrificed” to placate the Swedes, when our friend round the corner – I’d called on him just before I went to the Foreign Office – came on the phone to the chief FO wallah and squared his yards by ordering him to send the Swedish Embassy a copy of that U-boat’s log and the
Penta
charter agreement… That shut up the FO people and we all – the Admiralty boys, that is – went out and had a stiff gin.’

‘I’m catching the next train with all the documents,’ Yorke said.

‘You come by train because the man round the corner wants to see you at once, but we’re laying on a special car and escort for the documents. That log is considerably more valuable than a ton of gold. How’s your arm, by the way?’

The sudden change of subject caught Yorke by surprise. ‘Bit painful, sir. I haven’t been doing the exercises, and the weather’s been cold.’

‘You haven’t been doing your exercises and the weather’s been cold?’ Uncle repeated. ‘Oh dear. You’re in trouble. I suspected that and sent for your medical adviser, who’s waiting now. Hold the line.’

‘Hello, darling,’ she said, ‘you’re back early.’

‘I love you. I’m catching the night train down to Euston. Can you get some leave?’

‘Captain Watts says I have some sewing to do,’ Clare said, as though she had not heard him. ‘Another ribbon and a half stripe for you, and tell Johnny Gower he’s getting an immediate award as well.’

Dates given are for first publication and (for Ramge series) year in which novel is set.

These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

These Titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

Published by House of Stratus

Buccaneer It is the 1650's and Spain considers the Caribbean to be its own private sea. But England, Holland and France conspire to battle for freedom on the oceans set in days littered with the plunder of piracy. Ned Yorke, a loyal Royalist living in Barbados has a small vessel and devoted crew and together they sail, hunted by Roundheads and Spaniards, determined to pay whatever the price for freedom from tyranny. What transpires is a colourful, dramatic retelling of historical events surrounding the capture of Jamaica and the infamous raid on Santiago.

Admiral Charles II returns from exile bringing with him unease to the Spanish Main. In this vivid description of seventeenth-century buccaneers, Ned Yorke, the leader and hero of the swashbuckling band are depended upon for the defence of Jamaica, fighting with captured Spanish guns. Daring raids on the Spanish seem inevitable, as Yorke sets out on the high seas to distant adventures on behalf of the King and his own honour.

Galleon As England falls under a blanket of peace with the restoration of Charles II, in distant Jamaica all is not well. Though there is peace with Spain, there is No Peace Beyond the Line. It seems that the West Indies have become the private estate of the King of Spain. But Ned Yorke, Admiral of the Brethren, leader of the Buccaneers will not kowtow to the new Governor in Jamaica who is bent on weakening the Island’s defences and destroying its currency. Ned Yorke and his Buccaneers must not remain idle. The third in a series set in the Caribbean, Dudley Pope reveals a masterful plot of subtle, seafaring lore wound around the tense excitement of adventure on the high seas.

Corsair In the 1660's Jamaica was an uneasy island, occupied by Spain but settled by the English and French. When Admiral of the Brethren, Ned Yorke, a brave, loyal Buccaneer, learns that Spain is mounting a Caribbean fleet perhaps to protect the treasures of Spanish ships, or carry an army to Jamaica, he vows to find out the truth. Yorke’s audacious attacks on Spanish camps reveal all and the Buccaneers must fight a bloody, desperate battle to try and hinder them.

Convoy A deadly game of cat and mouse unravels its way out of this spine tingling war story as Lieutenant Yorke must find an answer to one vital question: how are German U-Boats sinking merchant ships from inside the convoys? In this gripping saga of heroism and intrigue, Yorke discovers the fate of one entire convoy. Only his wit and daring can lead to its survival and that of himself.

Decoy It is February 1942 and the war in the Atlantic looks grim for the Allied convoys. The ‘Great Blackout’ has started, leaving the spy centre of Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire at a loss as to what the Nazis are planning. U-boat Command has changed the Hydra cipher. The Enigma cannot be broken. Cipher experts can no longer eavesdrop on Nazi command, which leaves convoys open for attack by packs of marauding Nazi submarines. Winning the Battle of the Atlantic will surely give Hitler a final victory. And who can stop him?