Douglas Reeman Rendezvous-South Atlantic

I am not a great lover of Fiction, never have been. But I became engrossed in Douglas Reeman's Rendevous South Atlantic, over a two week period, - keeping returning to see how the fate of Reeman's characters progressed.

The year is 1941, Britain stands alone against the onslaught of Nazi Germany. Even the might of the Royal Navy is overstretched and former pleasure ships and cruisers are enlisted, fitted out with ancient weaponry to attempt to defend vital sealanes against enemy attack.

Commander Andrew Lindsay becomes the skipper of the SS Benbecula.

I cannot give a better description of the story than the foreword: "By 1941, when she became an armed merchant cruiser, the SS Benbecula - once a familiar sight on her voyages between England and Australia - was tired and old. But even she was needed to protect vital sea lanes against relentless enemy attack, and her new Captain, Commander Andrew Lindsay, had the task of transforming her into a ship of War. Many of his company were inexperience recruits; and the others, older members, who remembered THEIR ship's cruising days, were resentful of change".

Reeman's book captures the horrors of war, - the freezing desolation of the Arctic Ocean, and the second world war killing grounds of the Atlantic. It also captures the vastly differing personalities of those on board and their trials and tribulations. SS Benbecula may be a fictitious vessel - but to the reader she becomes an icon of awe and admiration, and the British backbone in 1941.