Watkins, Richard Howells "Sub Conscious"
What happens when German treachery comes up against a quick-thinking merchant mariner. Watkins’ tale is set in the Atalntic, 400 miles off the coast of Portugal, where the American freighter ERNESTINE HOBART sights a German U-boat disabled and sinking after an encounter with a British convoy. Despite resistance from the American crew who loath German submariners, the HOBART’s Captain orders his 2nd Mate, Rob Paley, to rescue the German survivors. The Germans react to their rescue by smuggling small arms onto the neutral American ship and eventually taking it over in an attempt to force a rendezvous with another German U-boat in the vicinity. These are stock World War 2 Germans: arrogant, treacherous and vicious. They meet their match in 2nd Mate Paley, who convinces their commander that he has spotted their hoped-for submarine on the near horizon. In realiy, they rendezvous with a British warship and are taken off to captivity. Watkins is probably right on the mark in terms of American public opinion and national self-image in the months before our entry into the Second World War with this exchange between two seaman who are unhappy about the Captain’s decision to rescue the Germans:
“Sure, that gang of underwater thugs haven’t got around to torpedoing American ships yet. But we’re on their list. Know about the Lend-Lease Act, don’t you? Would they rescue us?”
“No, but maybe that’s what the war’s about ... We’re different from them.”