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Lost in the Greenland Gap: A Day by Day Account of a WWII Convoy Crossing During the Battle of the Atlantic
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About Lost In The Greenland Gap: A Day By Day Account Of
Product Description The great storms of winter already were raging when Convoy SC-32 set sail from New York harbor on December 15, 1942, laden with supplies for beleaguered Britain. They were a portent of what was to become the fiercest winter in the meteorological annals of the North Atlantic. Even so, the sea was the lesser menace.In an all-out effort to stem the tide of supplies flowing from America to Great Britain and Russia, the U-boats of the Kriegsmarine were massed in the Greenland Gap - that expanse of the mid North Atlantic so named because it was beyond the range of land-based Allied planes. It was in the Greenland Gap where the submarines awaited the trans-Atlantic convoys; secure in the knowledge there was nothing to fear from the skies above.Lost in the Greenland Gap is a day-by-day account of the crossing by Convoy SC-32 during World War II at the height of the Battle of the Atlantic. Under unrelenting assault by hurricane force winds and German U-boats, the complete disintegration of the convoy threatened.Welcome aboard... Review B.L. Smith (aka "Smitty") offers honest, genuine insight in sharing his experience of crossing the Atlantic in Convoy SC-32 as a Midshipman. The timeline is the 1942 holiday season, which finds the weather cold and gloomy with atrocious seas which seem to continuously pound the vessel. The reader will shiver beside Smitty on the bridge wing while standing watch aboard the SS Caliope. The sense of being disconnected from the outside world is well captured as U-boats pluck vessels from the convoy without notice while the crew nervously looks on. Day after day, the Calliope fights through a variety of obstacles to deliver precious war cargo. The German U-boats and horrific weather are not the only issues faced by Smitty during this journey. The confines of the ship itself seemingly make for a battle with one's own sanity. For example, some of the stranger occurrences that Smitty and his fellow Midshipman roommates Hartigan and Scolari encounter are waking up to their room overflowing with sewage and a visit from a curious rat. The vessels Cook is portrayed as horrible, and certain provisions are pilfered from the pantry in order to achieve proper subsistence. Smitty's relationship with his fellow cadets is interesting. They often get on his nerves, yet are his closest acquaintances aboard the ship. A nightly poker game is the only stress reliever. Lost in the Greenland Gap is a truly unique nugget of WWII Merchant Marine history and is well worth the time to indulge. ---- American Merchant Marine Veterans News Magazine, Spring, 2017 About the Author B. L. Smith was a cadet-midshipman aboard the old tanker, S.S Calliope, one of the forty-six ships of Convoy SC-32. Subsequently he sailed on a half dozen other transatlantic convoys and attained the rank of Second Mate in the Merchant Marine as well as Lieutenant (j.g.) in the U.S. Navy. After the war, he was public relations officer of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y.; and was a writer for the National Federation of American Shipping.
