“Number Four boat,” he replied.
“This is Number Four. Jump in,” urged the other, and the boy answered:
“Not on your life! I’ve got to go to my gun.”
Unfaltering, the stricken Finland ploughed along at fifteen knots with a great chasm in her side, while the anxious Corsair and the destroyer Smith hovered close and felt unspeakable relief when the Ushant Light was seen on the port bow in the early evening. Before midnight the Finland had passed through the Raz de Sein and was safely anchored in Morgat Bay, beyond reach of submarines. Next morning her escort led her into Brest Harbor and the Finland, Smith, and Corsair, three weary ships, rested at the mooring buoys. The Corsair courteously signalled the Finland:
The officers and men of the Corsair express their admiration of the spirit shown by your officers and men in sticking by their ship and bringing her safely into port.
The Finland gratefully signalled back to the Corsair:
Thank you. I congratulate the spirit and efficiency of your command and thank you for the personal assistance in a trying time.
Ships and men are much alike. Some are tenacious, hard to knock out, standing punishment, and gallant in adversity. Others crumple under defeat and surrender at one blow. The Finland had a long record of faithful and successful service as one of the favorite passenger steamers of the Red Star Line between New York and Antwerp. She had the reputation of having lived up to the expectations of her builders. They had tried to make her a staunch ship that would hang together. When the cruel test came, the bulkheads stood fast, the water-tight doors did their duty, and the concussion failed to start the engines from the bed-plates.
The Finland was placed in dry-dock in France, but mechanics were scarce and the work dragged. Thereupon the American Army was called upon, and from the ranks came riveters, structural workers, machinists, who turned to and repaired the ship in record time. The Corsair had been spared the unhappiness of seeing this fine ship lost while under her protection. And of all the ships which went in and out while the Corsair was engaged in convoy duty, it was her good fortune to behold only the Antilles sunk by torpedo attack.