[Venatore]

I'm currently reading the book "Bitter Ocean" by David Fairbank White; this is up there with the best. On page 60; the writer describes convoys and this is an extract from that page;

"On any given day, four to five convoys were in motion on the sea, heading for Britain or returning to America. They were huge. It took about two weeks for a convoy to cross. A typical convoy had some forty ships in it, arranged in eight columns each five rows deep. There were 1,000 yards between columns, 400-600 yards between a ship and the ones ahead and behind her. When fully spread out on the face of the sea, each flotilla covered a tremendous area, perhaps twelve or fifteen square miles".

What struck me as truely amazing was another passage, this is an extract from page 61;

"Consider then the almost incredible skill of the masters who steamed for two weeks across the Atlantic, holding position faithfully & constantly, adjusting speed, advancing & backing, staying just 1,000 yards from the ships to the left & right, 500 yards from the ships in the back & in front. With a thoroughly varied cross section of differing engines, varying steering qualities, different hull characteristics, the ships nudged forward, dropped back, yawed, bobbed across the ocean.

Thoses convoy crews must have been extraordinary people. This is a must have book.