"MacDonnell, J E - 021 - The Coxswain" - читать интересную книгу автора (MacDonnell J E)

Programs Used: Adobe Pagemaker 7, Acrobat Writer, FineReader 5,
Adobe Photoshop 4, Windows Write.
This is a pre-release: the only checking has been by FineReader &
Pagemaker on any spelling errors, when I find time I will read the book
again and I will be checking it against the original


Copyright © 1960 by J.E. Macdonnell
Second Edition 1963
Classic edition 1971
Collectors edition 1981
National Library of Australia Card No.
and ISBN 0 7255 1078 1


Typeset by
Cap_One, Australia
Published in Australia by Adobe Pagemaker 7
Printed to Adobe Acrobat

*Recommended price only
(he deserves the money buy the book, it is worth it)



CHAPTER ONE

H.M.A.S. WIND RODE, FLEET destroyer, was at sea, at peace.
That last-named state, for a destroyer in a worldwide war, was,
admittedly, unusual. But Woodlark Island, a small and dangerous
speck in the wide blue of the Coral Sea, had been passed last night,
at high speed.
Now on this hot and cloud-piled morning Jomard Passage lay
ahead of her; its lighthouse doused in these unfriendly times but its
reef-bound exit known accurately to Commander Peter Bentley. Once
through she could turn to starb'd and run straight for Port Moresby.
There she would refuel.
Allied naval forces in the Pacific were stretched worryingly thin,
and Wind Rode had been patrolling on her own. This state was not
unusual. She was a destroyer, and what she couldn't handle with her
torpedoes she could run away from. Anything seaborne, that is ...
From outboard she made a graceful picture. She was clean grey
overall, and her gleaming paintwork made a colourful and matching
union with the clouded blue of the sea. The sea was almost flat-it is
never completely smooth-so that the white flashes of her bow waves
and wake made a solitary and vivid contrast against the vast reach of
blue.The ship was steaming at 20 knots, and her long low hull, the
armoured gun-mountings, the compact bridge and the squat funnel
imbued her with an impression of efficient and powerful purpose.
The impression was accurate. Commander Bentley had had close