Watkins, Richard Howells "Half a Jackass"

An inexperienced 1st Mate learns that it’s “steady old seamen who save the bacon for young officers.” Set aboard the fictitious freighter ESTELLE HALLOCK during a voyage in convoy from California to the South Pacific. The new Mate (Mr. Kingsley) takes an immediate dislike to the friendship between two old seamen, Dan Mulqueen and John Strom, who had come out of retirement to serve shipboard during the War. An aerial attack on the ESTELLE by a Japanese fighter plane proves to Kingsley just how valuable the two old sailors’ friendship and combined maritime experience really is.