Miller, Blaine "A Lady at Heart"

Co-written with Dupont Miller. Haunting World War 2 story set in the Caribbean circa 1941. A young U.S. Navy officer “on the Neutrality Patrol” and attempting to get his first command (a decrepit , barely seaworthy seaplane tender, the U.S.S. FLAMINGO) safely to Colon in the Panama Canal reluctantly comes to the aid of the disabled S.S. ARIADNE, “an ancient Greek tramp carrying a tragic cargo. Loaded with refugees from Central Europe, she had cleared the war zone safely, but when she arrived at the country in which her cargo had expected haven, that country, fearing Trojan-horse tactics, refused to accept them. Vainly, the ARIADNE had entered one steaming, blistering Central American port after another, only to be turned away, still bearing her disheartened passengers.” When a German U-boat commanded by a swinish Nazi shows an unwanted interest in the refugee ship, the American vessel takes the ARIADNE in tow to the Canal Zone. The Millers’ story ends with both ships safely entering the submarine nets of Colon, though with the fate of the ARIADNE’s passengers (mainly Jews) clearly – and uncomfortably – undecided. “A Lady at Heart” represents the earliest known depiction in fiction of refugee ship sailing from port to port in the Western Hemisphere, fruitlessly looking for safe haven.