The Corsair in the war zone

by Ralph Delahaye Paine

In the early morning of September 14th the Corsair trailed into the mouth of the Gironde, doggedly kicking along at six knots, with the Norwegian water-bruiser dragging in her wake. There the Penguin took hold and the yacht went on alone to a berth at Pauillac, none the worse for the experience. It was all in the job, not so sensational as dropping depth bombs on a submarine, but perhaps requiring more courage, endurance, and seamanship. Commander Porter’s description of the tussle with the hawser is highly technical, but one catches glimpses of the hard and heavy toil of the sea and the ability to do the right thing in time of stress which comes only with experience. The sailors of the Corsair, many of them landlubbers only a year before, were learning the tricks of the trade.

It was back to the convoys again, the same old round of discomfort at sea and coaling ship in port, but the spirit of the great adventure had not been dulled. By way of change and respite, the Corsair was twice chosen to carry distinguished official visitors from one French base to another. The first occasion was on August 24th when the passengers comprised the party of members of the House Committee on Naval Affairs who were inspecting for themselves the American naval and military forces overseas—Chairman L. P. Padgett, D. J. Riordan, W. L. Hensley, J. R. Connelly, W. B. Oliver, W. W. Venable, J. C. Wilson, T. S. Butler, W. J. Browning, J. R. Farr, S. E. Mudd. J. A. Peters, and F. C. Hicks.

They were the guests of the Corsair from Royan to the great American aviation base at Pauillac, and their enthusiastic approval of the work of the Navy in the war was pleasant for the crew of the Corsair to hear. Their report, later submitted to the Secretary of the Navy, contained this non-partisan opinion, signed by Republican and Democratic members alike:

The committee visited and inspected the United States naval activities at Bordeaux, Moutchic, Pauillac, Rochefort, La Rochelle, La Pallice, Fromentine, Paimbœuf, Saint-Nazaire, Montoir, Le Croisic, L’Orient, Île Tudy, and Brest. The amount of money expended at these various stations mounts into the hundreds of millions of dollars and the activities involve the employment of thousands upon thousands of men. They represent activities on land and water, under the water, and in the air. They involve transportation of troops, munitions, equipment, food, and clothing from the United States into France of the value of untold millions. The duties and responsibilities of the Navy were to escort and convoy ships transporting troops, and all manner of effort and activity in the air, patrolling the seas against German submarines, and safeguarding the arrival and departure of ships, the construction of bases for the operation and the care of the enormous aviation organization, and also at the various bases providing first aid and hospital accommodations for the sick and disabled and the establishment of sanitary conditions, housing facilities, and numerous other activities essential to the proper care of the men, besides the many other efforts essential to the successful prosecution of the war.

Copyright by Underwood and Underwood, N. Y.

ADMIRAL HENRY T. MAYO, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ATLANTIC FLEET

The whole work was so colossal that while there may have been mistakes and matters subject to criticism in small details, they were lost in the magnitude of the success accomplished. Taken as a whole, by and large, the Navy has achieved a great work and is entitled to approval and commendation.

Late in October the word came to the Corsair that the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, Admiral Henry T. Mayo, and staff, would be graciously pleased to use the yacht (or fourth-class gunboat, to be precise) to take them from Royan to Pauillac. Now a four-starred admiral is absolutely top-hole in naval rank and dignity, and the three gold stripes above the broad band on his sleeve are viewed with awe and bedazzlement by the younger officers. To be a vice-admiral, or even a rear admiral, is a resounding distinction, but an admiral is so much more imposing that there are very few of him extant.

You may be sure that the Corsair was fit for minute inspection when the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet stepped aboard at Royan, with side boys at the gangway and the boatswain’s mate to pipe him with proper ceremony. The ship’s officers found him to be the affable gentleman and manly sailor which his reputation in the Navy had led them to expect. Admiral Mayo later recalled this trip in a letter to the writer of this story of the Corsair, and was kind enough to say: