Descrizione

8vo., First Edition, with 29 plates on 12 and numerous illustrations and maps in the text; cloth, gilt back, a near fine copy in unclipped dustwrapper. Moving account of convoy OG71 which sailed from Liverpool for Gibraltar in August 1941. The convoy was badly hit by U-boats resulting in the loss of several escorts and merchant vessels. Most dreadful of all was the death of twenty-two Wrens (the first such loss of the war) in the Commodore's steamer Aguila. Dustwrapper artwork and text illustrations by Tom Shuttleworth who served during the convoy abroad HMS Wallflower. It is notable that Nicholas Monsarrat, present aboard the Flower-class corvette HMS Campanula, termed this action 'my particular nightmare' and later based Lt.-Cmdr George Ericson of 'The Cruel Sea' on Captain Charles Cuthbertson, captain of HMS Zinnia. Another vividly-written account by a team with a well-deserved reputation for historical accuracy and carefully collected vernacular material.