190 CHALLENGER 



the naval and scientific staffs. It was the week-end, and the First 

 Lieutenant had given leave to a large number of the crew, leaving 

 only a small fire party of about half-a-dozen men onboard. He had 

 also decided that on that Saturday it would be appropriate to give 

 a small farewell luncheon party onboard for a few of his friends. 

 The gin had been enjoyed and the party were about to be seated 

 around the luncheon table. The calm of a 'make and mend' had 

 settled on the ship, when the quartermaster announced the arrival 

 on the dockside of a Mr. Swallow, who had driven up in a huge 

 vehicle loaded with about a dozen sono-buoys and associated equip- 

 ment. So what was to have been a quiet and pleasant afternoon 

 was busily employed in embarking the scientist's apparatus. 



By May all was ready and Challenger set out from Chatham on 

 the first leg of her journey. Bermuda was the first port of call, 

 and was in fact used as a base for three cruises into the North-West 

 Atlantic. On the last of these cruises Challenger ran for her life. 

 The author had only recently joined the ship and this was his first 

 voyage in command, for he had taken over in Bermuda from 

 Commander Bill who had been taken ill there and had returned 

 to England. Challenger sailed northward over the Great Newfound- 

 land Bank and on into the North Atlantic. She was intending to 

 stay at sea as long as possible to carry out investigations before 

 returning to Bermuda for fuel. This is a risky business in a low- 

 speed ship in the hurricane season, and after steaming southwards 

 for some days on her way back to Bermuda a hurricane warning 

 was received. Before the last war, the first a ship often knew about 

 a hurricane was the falling of the barometer and the presence of 

 an ominous calm. Today, at the suspicion of a circular storm 

 forming in the hurricane breeding area, which lies eastward of 

 the West Indies, United States 'planes search for and locate the 

 storm, which, if it proves to be a hurricane, is given a girl's 

 name and assumes a personality. The storm is followed daily by 

 the patrol 'planes, which often fly boldly through the storm, 

 fixing their position and estimating their course and speed, until 

 the hurricane enters the mainland of the United States or peters 

 out in the North Atlantic. 



Such storms usually set out in a north-westerly direction and 

 if they do not reach the mainland turn slowly northward and then 



