Rescue Ships and The Convoys

The Rescue Ships and the Convoys tells the history of one of the least known aspects of Second World War maritime history. Despite the threat of heavy losses of ships and lives, no hospital ships, which had to be lit, could accompany the convoys as they would betray a convoy's position. The solution was to create a fleet of 30 small Merchant Navy vessels of about 1,500 gross tons, mostly from coastal trade. These 'Rescue Ships', commanded and manned by Merchant Navy personnel, carried medical teams, and life-saving equipment including operating theatres, hospital beds, 'Carley' floats, and hoists. Undeterred either by either enemy action or atrocious weather conditions, these vessels accompanied close to 800 convoys and saved 4,194 lives from ships sunk in the North Atlantic and with the Arctic convoys. During their service, seven Rescue Ships were lost. This is a story packed with suspense, danger, achievement and tragedy. As the author, Vice Admiral Schofield, who was closely involved in the establishment of the fleet, writes, it is a record 'of great humanitarian endeavour, of superb acts of courage, of a display of seamanship of the highest order, of a devotion to duty by medical officers under the most arduous conditions imaginable, of great deeds by men of the Merchant Navy in little ships on voyages they were never designed to undertake.' AUTHORS: The Author. Brian Betham Schofield served in the Royal navy for some 36 years rising to the rank of Vice Admiral before retiring in 1950. This memoir covers his distinguished career in war and peace. In retirement he wrote numerous works of naval history including Operation Neptune and Stringbags in Action (both in print with Pen and Sword Books). The Editor. Victoria Schofield, the Author's daughter, is a celebrated historian and author. President of the Oxford Union in 1977 she has written extensively on South Asia. Her biography Wavell is in print with in hard back with Pen and Sword. She lives in west London. 16 b/w illustrations