73 
Little by little, all during the day, we picked up such 
information as we could, from the agent, the ship’s chandler, and 
from our two new passengers* The attack on the Richelieu had taken 
place at dawn, when a small number of British sailors had come in 
over the net in a launch and sent a torpedo Into the propeller* 
A British plane had flown overhead and dropped a bomb or two, 
managing very neatly to put the huge battleship out of commission 
without the loss of a man, French anti-aircraft guns had gone into 
action, but they had come nearer to killing their own nationals than 
Inflicting any damage on the elusive English* l< ith the fall of 
France Dakar surrendered to a violent attack of nerves; they no 
longer knew to whom they belonged or to which side they owed loyalty. 
The French Admiral, arriving by plane, to settle the problem of 
what to do with all the French sailors on the now helpless French 
cruisers, was actually fired on by a French gun and narrowly es- 
caped with his life. 
Great Britain's edict forbidding British ships to come within 
thirty miles of any French port, has created a veritable blockade of 
Dakar, and they are rapidly running out of supplies. They have now 
no butter, milk, bread, cigarettes, brandy, matches, and are running 
low on meat and vegetables* The ship’s chandler who came aboard as 
soon as we doc ed, showed us his list, with Item after item crossed 
out. However he promised to secure for us 20 melons, 4 bunches 
of bar as, 20 pounds of beef, 20 chickens, 15 pounds of cabbage^ 
6 baskets of spinach, 50 pounds of hay, 10 pounds of tomatoes, and 
10 bunches of leeks. What actually came aboard in the late afternoon 
was tv/BBjry chickens, twenty melons, and a few heads of cabbage* 
Both the ship and the passengers had counted on buying matches 
and cigarettes in Dakar* All the American brands of cigarettes 
were on the chandler’s list, but life told us that there were no more 
in town. Bill and I divided our supply and I at least made a 
careful day-by-day rationing of mine, but the match situation is 
serious, ' I overheard the Captain greeting the chandler this morning 
and his first question was about matches. It seems the cook had had 
to borrow matches from the captain in order to light the stove to 
cook breakfast. 
In the afternoon two French submarines, low, rakish, and with 
the white-uniformed crew standing on deck a few feet above the 
water, came speeding into the harbor* Later a big transport loaded 
with sailors moved out of the harbor, and turned north* We wondered 
how they were going to get past the British blockade, but were told 
that the ship was unarmed, and that the sailors from the Richelieu 
and other battleships in tossm the harbor were being taken to Casa- 
blanca, with the knowledge and approval of the English* As the 
transport passed the Richelieu flags of both ships were dipped in 
salute, and the departing sailors were lustily cheered by their 
comrades who still remained on the damaged vessel* 
We left the dock and sailed out into the r.K.:-tcb5.t.RS harbor, 
late in the afternoon. We were expecting the naval authorities to 
send out our clearance papers, and a pilot, but no papers came, and 
we were forced to lie at anchor all night, with plenty of company 
In the shape of more than fifty ships from almost every belligerent 
country. Host of them had been there for several weeks, ever since 
the surrender of France, uncertain as to what their fate would, be 
