Atlantic Fury (31 page)

There was a Military Policeman on the door to see that we didn't discuss the case, nothing to do but sit and smoke, and I had ample opportunity to consider what my brother must be going through in the next room. Occasionally we could hear the murmur of voices, the stamp of boots as some NCO moved, the scrape of chairs, the sound of coughing.

The preliminaries took just over an hour – the reading of the charges and the Prosecuting Officer's speech in which he put his case. We could just hear the murmur of his voice. The first witness was called shortly after eleven-thirty. This was the Signals NCO. He was followed by the duty driver, then Flint, then Wentworth. Wentworth was still giving evidence when the Court adjourned for lunch. The order in which the witnesses had been called was our only indication of the course the case was taking. Clearly the Prosecuting Officer was establishing the fact of the order to evacuate having been given.

Field was called during the afternoon and when the Court finally rose, he was waiting for me outside. ‘Marjorie asked me to give you her love.' He smiled. He was looking younger, more buoyant, and his eyes had lost that nervous blink.

‘How was Braddock?' I asked.

He hesitated then shook his head. ‘Not good, I'm afraid. Very nervy-looking; at times I wondered whether he understood what was going on. He's still a sick man, I'm afraid.'

I asked him about the nervous breakdown, but he didn't know the details. ‘The strain of waiting, I imagine. Three months almost. It's a long time. Too long. But once it's over, probably he'll be all right then.'

‘What are the chances?' I asked.

He shrugged. ‘Hard to say. He's got a good man defending him, good enough at any rate to handle the two brigadiers. But even if he gets them to say they had every confidence in the accused, it won't outweigh the fact that Standing had him arrested. If Standing were here to be cross-examined …' Again that little shrug. ‘But he isn't, you see, and dying like that he's something of a hero. That counts for a lot in a case like this. And there's all the publicity. The Judge Advocate may tell them what the law is, but the Court is human; they can't help being influenced by it. And the size of the disaster. Fifty-three men dead. Who's to be blamed if Braddock is acquitted? The Press will say the Army is covering up and there'll be more questions in the House.'

‘So you don't think he's got a chance?'

He hesitated. And then he said, ‘No. Frankly, I don't.'

I was called the following afternoon, immediately after Cliff Morgan had given evidence. When I took my place at the witness table I was shocked to see how ill Iain looked, his eyes wandering vacantly, his big, powerful hands never still – plucking at the buttons of his uniform, toying with his pencil, sometimes brushing over his face and up through his hair with a quick, nervous gesture. I don't think he once looked directly at me all the time I was being questioned. As Field had said, he still seemed a sick man – all his intense nervous energy beaten down, as though something had destroyed his will to fight back. I had that feeling very strongly, that his strength was being sapped from within, and I wondered to what extent he had been affected by the fact that Lane was in Edinburgh. I had seen Lane that morning, just a glimpse of him as I was entering the main gate of the camp. He was sitting there in a car with another man.

‘Will the witness please answer the question.' The President's voice, kindly but firm, brought me back to the stillness of the court-room and the rather bland-looking major who was defending Iain standing facing me, waiting patiently for my answer.

‘I'm sorry,' I said. ‘Perhaps you would repeat the question.'

‘I asked you, Mr Ross, whether you could recall the time at which Major Braddock gave the order to evacuate the island?'

‘Yes,' I said. ‘Or rather, I can remember when the landing craft came into the beach. She grounded at nine forty-eight.'

‘And Major Braddock's order?'

‘About ten minutes earlier. The landing craft was coming into the beach as we left the hut. Say, nine-thirty.'

‘Now I want the Court to understand the circumstances in which that order was given. What was the direction of the wind at that time?'

‘Northerly. It had been northerly all day.'

‘And no indication of a change?'

‘No.'

‘After the landing craft beached you went on board?'

‘Yes.'

‘Where were you then?'

‘I was helping on the tank deck until nearly midnight. After that I went to the wardroom.'

‘Where you found Lieutenant Wentworth talking to Captain Stratton?'

‘Yes.'

‘What were they discussing?'

‘A radio message they had received from the Met. Officer at Northton.'

‘Do you know when that message was received?'

‘It had just come in so it would have been shortly after midnight.'

‘Two and a half hours after Major Braddock had given the order.'

‘Yes.'

‘And the wind at Laerg was still northerly then?'

‘Yes.' I saw the point he was trying to establish and I added, ‘It remained northerly for another four and a half hours.'

The Major reached for his glasses and glanced at his notes. ‘Mr Morgan in his evidence said that he was in contact with the
Viking Fisher
at twenty-three forty-seven. That's the trawler that was finally lost with all hands. Thirteen minutes to midnight. In your opinion was there any way in which Major Braddock could have foreseen how circumstances were going to change?'

‘No,' I said. ‘Definitely not.' I glanced at Iain as his Defending Officer said, ‘Thank you, Mr Ross,' in a satisfied tone. I was surprised to see him running his pencil back and forth across the table in front of him, apparently taking no interest in the proceedings.

The Defending Officer turned to the President of the Court. ‘That is the point I wish to establish.' And then to me: ‘You have some experience of the sea, I believe. A year in the Navy and ten in the Merchant Service as a deck officer. Correct?'

‘Yes.'

‘You were on the bridge with Captain Stratton part of the time during the crossing to Laerg and throughout the events that led up to the loss of the ship. Would you say he was a capable seaman?'

‘Very capable.'

‘So that in coming in to the beach you would say, would you not, that it was the action of a capable seaman?'

‘Yes,' I said. ‘I'm certain Captain Stratton would never have brought his landing craft in to the beach if he had thought there was any danger.'

‘And he was in a much better position than Major Braddock to assess the local weather situation?'

‘I think you have made your point, Major Selkirk,' the President said.

The Major gave a nod and a quick smile. ‘I just wanted to make it quite clear, sir.' He glanced down at the papers on his desk. ‘Lieutenant Wentworth in his evidence has said that after the ship was unloaded Captain Pinney refused to take his men ashore. Can you confirm that?'

‘Yes. I was in the wheelhouse at the time.'

‘When was this?'

‘Between two-thirty and three, I should say.'

‘Can you recall the conversation?'

‘It was hardly a conversation,' I said.

‘A row?'

‘No, not a row.' Briefly I told them what Pinney's attitude had been.

‘So even then, somewhere between two-thirty and three, there was doubt about the wind shifting from the north?'

‘Yes.'

‘Not only in Pinney's mind, but in Stratton's as well?'

I nodded.

‘Thank you.' He shifted his stance, glanced at my brother who was still fiddling around with that damned pencil, and then his gaze came back to me. ‘You remember that Captain Stratton asked his radio operator to contact Colonel Standing. About what time would that have been?'

‘Around twelve-thirty. We were in the wardroom then. He wanted to talk to Colonel Standing personally and he told the operator that the Colonel was to be got out of bed if necessary.' And I added, ‘He said something about it being time the men who gave the orders lost a little sleep on our account.'

Quick as a flash he said, ‘Are you implying that he knew Colonel Standing had gone up to his house, – which was a mile from the camp – that he had, in fact, retired to—'

But the President interrupted him. ‘Major Selkirk. I must remind you again that Colonel Standing is dead. References to him should be confined to facts. You must not include vague statements about him or expressions of opinion or the comments of other officers.'

‘I quite understand, sir.' The Defending Officer's face was wooden and he rustled the papers in his hand as he faced the Court. ‘I will endeavour to follow your ruling, but I must point out that the officer I am defending faces very serious charges and my case rests to some extent on the clash of personalities that, I submit, was the direct and inevitable result of this somewhat, shall I say, unusual appointment. You have heard the evidence this morning of two brigadiers, both of whom briefed the accused following his appointment. Both have admitted that their instructions could be interpreted as making Major Braddock directly responsible for the success of the operation. However, if Colonel Standing's behaviour is not to be referred to …' He flung his papers on to the desk. ‘Mr Ross, you will now tell the Court what Captain Stratton said after he'd spoken to Colonel Standing.'

I hesitated, for I didn't see how this could help Iain. But the Court was waiting and I said, ‘He didn't say very much – just that Colonel Standing hadn't known about the order and was angry.'

‘Angry? Because he'd been got out of bed in the middle of the night?' I saw the President lean forward, but Selkirk was too quick for him. ‘Or was it because he didn't know, at that time, that there was a landing craft grounded on the beach in Shelter Bay?'

‘I think it was because he didn't know about the evacuation.'

‘Did he know there was a landing craft on the beach or not?'

‘He couldn't have done.'

‘Did he know about the Met. Officer's latest forecast?'

‘I don't think so.'

‘In other words, he was completely out of touch with the situation and it was Major Braddock—'

The Prosecuting Officer was on his feet, but the President forestalled him: ‘I must insist that you confine yourself to questions of fact and refrain from putting opinions of your own into the witness's mouth.'

‘Very well, sir. But I would ask the Court's indulgence. It is a little difficult to know who exactly was in command.' Again he adjusted his glasses, leaning down to check his notes. ‘Now, about radio contact. In your deposition which I have here, you say you spoke to Mr Morgan yourself on R/T. What was the reception like?'

‘Very poor,' I told him. ‘And Stratton said it was bad when he was talking to Colonel Standing.'

‘Was that the reason, do you think, that Captain Pinney wasn't given a direct order by his superiors to get his men off the ship?' And before I could reply, he went on, ‘Or would you say, from your own experience, that in a situation like this Major Braddock would be fully justified in leaving any decision like that to the men on the spot?'

‘I think by then,' I said, ‘the situation was beyond the control of anybody at Base.'

He nodded, and after that he stood for a moment reading through his notes. I saw my brother's attention wander to the door at the back of the court. He had done that several times. Major Selkirk had stepped back from his desk, head thrown up and his eyes fixed on me again. ‘Now we come to the loss of L8610 … the cause, or rather the twin causes, for there were two, weren't there?' And when I nodded, he went on, ‘These were covered very fully by Lieutenant Wentworth in his evidence, but I would like to confirm one point with you – the failure of the steering. Do you remember Lieutenant Wentworth making a comment about the tiller flat? He says he told Captain Stratton that it was being flooded. Do you recall him making that report?'

‘Yes.'

‘And did he give a reason?'

I told them then how the stretcher party had taken McGregor's body to the tiller flat and had failed to secure the hatch on leaving. ‘That was what caused the flooding.'

‘And it was the failure of the steering, was it not, that threw the ship on her beam ends and made it impossible to deal with the sea water in the ready-use tank?'

‘Yes.'

‘And that again was something that Captain Stratton couldn't have foreseen?'

‘Nobody could have foreseen it,' I said.

‘And certainly not Major Braddock, back at Base?'

‘No.'

And on that he sat down. There was a moment of shuffling relaxation in the court-room, and then the Prosecuting Officer rose to cross-examine me. He was a large, quiet man with a soft voice and a manner that was easy, almost friendly. ‘One or two small points, Mr Ross. We know that Captain Pinney virtually refused to take his men off the ship. But later, just before you got off the beach, I think I'm right in saying that Colonel Standing spoke to him on the R/T. Am I also right in saying that the result of that talk was a direct order from his Colonel to get his men disembarked?'

‘I believe so, but by then it was quite impossible.' I knew what he was after. He wanted to show that Standing had not only countermanded the order, but had come very near to saving the situation. He was going to try and show Standing as a decisive man whose subordinate had let him down and who was making a last-minute effort to rectify the damage that had been done. I glanced at my brother, but his head was again turned towards the door, which was half-open. A sergeant had come in and was just closing it. I turned to the President, determined not to have this point twisted to the advantage of the Prosecution. ‘The first contact Colonel Standing had with the ship was when he spoke to Captain Stratton. My impression is that he had already taken personal command; yet he gave no order for the disembarkation of the Laerg detachment. I agree he did eventually give the order to Pinney, but by then it was at least two hours too late.'