138 CHALLENGER 



louder and bawdier as the evening progressed. No news of Cap- 

 tain Wyatt's return had been received and it was a surprise to 

 the coxswain of the boat which went inshore at 10.30 p.m to 

 pick up the hbertymen to see his Captain, who had just arrived 

 from Colombo by flying boat, pacing up and down the jetty 

 awaiting a passage off to the ship. 



As the coxswain brought the boat alongside the gangway of the 

 ship the sound of a well-known naval song issued from the ward- 

 room portholes where every singer was trying to outdo the next. 

 To the amazement of the Officer of the Day the Captain came up 

 the ladder from the boat, and even before the coxswain had 

 shoved off from the gangway he heard the song cease with a 

 startling suddenness and silence reign. 



One day when Lieutenant- Commander Tripp was ship sounding 

 off Seychelles he saw to his horror the brown, ominous shape of 

 a dangerous rock only a few feet below the surface and a few yards 

 from the bows. As he watched aghast the pinnacle of rock passed 

 down the port side. What could he do ? Guy Wyatt, who happened 

 to be on the bridge at the time, soon told him. 'Fix, man!' said 

 he. 



A month later the work in the Seychelles was completed as far 

 as it was now desired to carry it, and Challenger sailed north- 

 eastwards. She called briefly at the lonely atoll of Fadiffolu to 

 appraise its value as a Fleet anchorage, but in haste as he was, the 

 Captain found time to run a line of soundings through and away 

 from the atoll on the other side, fixing his position with reference 

 to the centre of the atoll by running taut wire. In this manner 

 he obtained an excellent profile across an atoll, that strange coral 

 structure which rises so abruptly from the depths of the true 

 oceans. 



Challenger had always sailed alone in the Indian Ocean, for she 

 was really too slow for the ocean convoys. Her armament of two 

 Oerlikon guns was quite inadequate for these long, lonely voy- 

 ages; true, the First Lieutenant had rigged a most convincing 

 looking gun on the forecastle using canvas for the gunshield and 

 a beacon pole for the 4-inch barrel, but once that bluff was called 

 there would be little left with which to fight a well-armed sub- 

 marine or raider, and Challenger's speed would not help her escape. 



