Havighurst, Walter "Suicide Ship"
Collier’s tag line: “Why England will never die.” Set aboard the armed merchantman PENTLAND FIRTH during an Eastbound convoy during the early days of World War 2. Young 3rd Officer Philip Sands’ enthusiasm for life at sea (depicted as his incessant whistling of “There’ll Always Be an England”) seems to grate on his elderly — and ailing — superior, Captain Allerdice, who in Havighurst’s tale is serving as both captain of his vessel and Convoy Commander. Halfway across the Atlantic the convoy is set upon by a German battleship and Allderdice, in an act of suicidal bravery, has the PENTLAND FIRTH take on the German warship, thus allowing the convoy to scatter and (hopefully) survive. Havighurst’s elderly and somewhat cantankerous captain is an eloquent study in “practical, no-nonsense” heroism, while 3rd Officer Sands evokes the more romantic courage often summoned up by youth. The short story’s pentultimate scene has both Captain and young officer, one on the shell-wrecked ships bridge and the other on the PENTLAND FIRTH’s burning deck, evoking our popular image of British strength, singing aloud above the in of war, that rousing, much beloved anthem:
“There’ll always be an England
And England shall be free —
If England means as much to you
As England means to me.”