Bernard Edwards, Running the Gauntlet: Cargo Liners Under Fire 1939–1945 by Timothy J. Demy

Prior to the Second World War, the British Merchant Navy dominated global commercial shipping.Comprised of more than 4000 merchant ships, these ships accounted for almost two-thirds of global commercial shipping.Most prominent, and at the top of the fleet were the fast cargo liners that maintained regular, advertised service between ports.They were capable of twelve knots, were sturdily built, and well-maintained.They were officered by careerminded sailors who frequently had many years of dedicated service under one company flag.These ships became crucial to Britain's economic survival and their speed enabled them to sail alone, taking risks that other ships could not and would not assume.Bernard Edwards writes a fast-moving and engaging narrative of the story of these remarkable ships during the war years.The author of many books on the sea, Edwards is well-suited to write on this topic.Having spent more than forty years at sea and commanded ships in global trade, he understands well the challenge faced by the ships that were willing to "run the gauntlet" and take their chances against the threat of Nazi raiders, warships, and U-boats.Edwards presents his story in fifteen chapters filled with first-person accounts and eight pages of black and white photos.Rather than presenting an overall history of the British cargo liners during the war years, the author presents vignettes from that history, offering stories of success and failure in evading destruction.In so doing, he illustrates the breadth and variety of wartime experiences of these ships and crews.The story begins with the 30 September 1939 sinking of the SS Clement by the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee very close to Recife, Brazil, and far from the growing war in the Western Approaches.Eight months later, Clan Macalister was sunk after delivering ALCs to Dunkirk and while attempting take British troops off the beaches.While not technically one of the "little ships," Clan Macalister had responded quickly to the call for assistance to the Royal Navy in Operation Dynamo.Three months after the Dunkirk evacuation, Blue Star Line's Auckland Star was completing a voyage from Sydney, Australia, with 11,000 tons of frozen meat, grain, steel, and lead for Britain's war effort.Eighty miles off Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, it was zig-zagging at 16 ½ knots when it was torpedoed by the famous U-99, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Otto Kretschmer, who would later become Germany's top U-boat ace.From the North Atlantic to South Atlantic, to South Pacific, and Indian

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