Streaks

In Game, I pondered the recent success of the Red Sox.  I need not have been concerned as they've now lost six of their last seven games.  Observing the Sox who won 32 of 37 but who've taken 85 games to win another 33, I naturally thought of the 1916 New York Giants and took a look at the details of their season of extremes. The '16 Giants started off losing 13 of 15, then embarked on a long road trip winning their next 17.  Following a long period of post-streak mediocrity, the Giants then won a major league record 26 in a row, all on a home stand, before losing 4 of their last five.  They went 43-0 during the two streaks and 43-66 the rest of the season.  The Giants finished in 4th place with an 86-66 record.

Operation Pedestal

On this date in 1942, the SS Ohio, an American built oil tanker requisitioned by the British Navy the month before, and loaded with 13,000 tons of aviation fuel, reached the Grand Harbor at Malta.  The rudderless tanker, a gaping hole in its stern and its decks awash, had to be towed in.  The Ohio was one of 5 ships of the original convoy of fourteen that had survived repeated German attacks to reach the island.  The fuel carried by the ship would save Malta.

The story of WW2 is dominated by great battles and campaigns, but lesser known events proved just as critical.  The arrival of the Ohio is one of those.

The Mediterranean island of Malta was the object of one of the two great sieges of the war, lasting from June 1940 to November 1942, the other being Leningrad which lasted from September 1941 to January 1944 (1).

Malta had been a British possession since 1800, its position between Italy to the north and North Africa to the south, and midway between Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria and the Suez Canal to the east, making it of immense strategic importance and a major base for the British Navy.

The events of June 1940 were to make its importance even more critical.  With the surrender of France, that country's possessions in Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco were now under the control of Vichy, the French government collaborating with the Nazis and hostile to Britain.  That same month Mussolini declared war on Britain and France, making Libya, Italy's North African colony, a threat to Egypt and the Suez.  That same month, Italy began undertaking aerial bombing of Malta, which proved ineffective.

Over the next two years, Axis efforts against the island waxed and waned, going through various levels of effectiveness.  For the British it was critical to maintaining the supply lines to its forces in the Middle East where the 8th Army was fighting the Italians, and beginning in early 1941, the Germans under Rommel, as well as interfering with German and Italian efforts to supply their forces in North Africa.  For the Germans and Italians, neutralizing Malta would enable support for Rommel and cripple British defenses in the Middle East.

At times, the Luftwaffe deployed a large part of its fighter and bomber fleet against the island, but the failure of Germany to ever launch an invasion of the isolated island was a major strategic failure on its part.

Malta had multiple vulnerabilities. It required constant supply of food for its population,  In addition, the British garrison, particularly the air force and navy required large amounts of fuel oil.  This necessitated the need for supply convoys to undertake the dangerous passage through the Med.  In early 1942, the Germans and Italians began their fiercest campaign to cut off the island and by mid-summer Malta was in desperate conditions, the food supply nearly gone and the aviation fuel essential to its defense almost gone.  An effort to send two supply convoys in June was a costly failure and by the beginning of August, rationing on Malta reached a critical point; adult male workers got 1,690 calories a day, while women and children received 1,500 calories daily.

As a last chance gamble to keep Malta going, the British launched Operation Pedestal on August 3, 1942.  The convoy, consisting of fourteen merchant ships of which the Ohio was the most important, left Britain on that date.  On the night of August 9/10, the convoy passed Gibraltar and it was at that point that the German and Italian navies and air forces pounced.  To protect the convoy the British deployed at various times, four aircraft carriers, two battleships, seven cruisers, thirty two destroyers, four minesweepers, and eleven submarines.  The Axis deployed six cruisers, twelve destroyers, twenty one submarines, and nearly 600 fighters and bombers.

Axis attacks began on August 11, with the sinking of the carrier Eagle.  The following day the cargo vessel Deucalion was badly damaged and forced to leave the convoy, and another carrier and a destroyer also badly damaged.  That night the cruisers Nigeria and Cairo were sunk and the Ohio suffered a hit, blowing a 23x26 foot hole in the hull, blowing the steering gear apart, and starting a fire which its crew was able to extinguish. The deck was blown open so one could look down into the ship. Later in the night of August 12/13 several of the cargo ships were sunk or damaged.  

(First hit on the Ohio)

 

On the morning of the 14th, the cargo ship Waimarama, carrying ammunition and high octane fuel, was hit and disintegrated but on the 13th and 14th four cargo ships reached Malta.  Right after the Waimarama exploded a damaged German plane crashed into the deck of the Ohio, causing more damage. Bombs hit the boiler room and the stern.  The crew abandoned ship but Captain Dudley Mason, looking at his burning ship, decided to return with a volunteer crew and got the ship underway again.

(Dudley Mason)

 

The destroyers Penn and Braham lashed themselves to the sides of the Ohio, running cables under the ship to hold it together as they towed it toward Malta.  Later that day, Ohio was hit by another bomb which broke its keel.  Captain Mason once again ordered the ship abandoned and then, once again, decided to reboard and restart. The following afternoon, the Ohio finally made it to Malta, still towed by the destroyers lashed to its sides, with a minesweeper acting as a stabiliser at its stern, even as it was attacked by twenty bombers that hit the ship several more times, destroying its rudder.  We'll let Wikipedia describe its entrance into the harbor:

Ohio was towed into Grand Harbour at 09:30 on 15 August, to cheering crowds and a band playing Rule Britannia. The crowd fell silent as the ships entered harbour, men removed their hats, women crossed themselves and a bugle sounded Still.  The tanker discharged oil into two tankers and water was pumped in at the same time, to reduce the chance of structural failure. Ohio settled on the bottom just as the last of the fuel was emptied.

(Ohio entering Malta Harbor)

 

(Another view of Ohio entering the harbor.  You can see how low it is in the water.)

 

Captain Mason stood at salute as the welcoming band played. Mason and his chief engineer were both badly burned and flown back to Britain for treatment. For his actions, Mason, a member of the British Merchant Navy, was awarded the George Cross, the highest British award for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy and is considered the equivalent of the Victoria Cross, the highest military valour award.  In addition, the crew of the Ohio received a Distinguished Service Order, five Distinguished Service Crosses, and seven Distinguished Service Medals.  This is the text of Mason's award, after which he was granted a private audience with King George.

The KING has been graciously pleased to award the GEORGE CROSS to Captain Dudley William Mason, Master, SS Ohio. During the passage to Malta of an important convoy Captain Mason's ship suffered most violent onslaught. She was a focus of attack throughout and was torpedoed early one night. Although gravely damaged, her engines were kept going and the Master made a magnificent passage by hand-steering and without a compass. The ship's gunners helped to bring down one of the attacking aircraft. The vessel was hit again before morning, but though she did not sink, her engine room was wrecked. She was then towed. The unwieldy condition of the vessel and persistent enemy attacks made progress slow, and it was uncertain whether she would remain afloat. All next day progress somehow continued and the ship reached Malta after a further night at sea. The violence of the enemy could not deter the Master from his purpose. Throughout he showed skill and courage of the highest order and it was due to his determination that, in spite of the most persistent enemy opposition, the vessel, with her valuable cargo, eventually reached Malta and was safely berthed. (The award is dated 4th September, 1942.) 

Along with the nine cargo ships, Britain lost one carrier and another damaged, two cruisers and one destroyer sunk and two cruisers damaged, along with 500 dead, but Malta was saved. In November the Allies landed in North Africa and the tide of the war in Europe changed.

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(1) Leningrad was, by far, a more deadly siege with more than a third of the city's prewar population of more than 3 million perishing, most by starvation. 

Do The Strand

There's a new sensation

A fabulous creation

A danceable solution

To teenage revolution

Do The Strand 

We've had very little Roxy Music at THC.  Let's remedy that deficiency.  This is Do The Strand from the band's second album, For Your Pleasure, released in 1973.  With delightfully lunatic lyrics.

Arabs at oasis
Eskimos and Chinese

If you feel blue
Look through who's who
See like guru
And Nijinsky
Do the strandsky!

 

Weary of the waltz
And mashed potato schmaltz

Rhododendron
Is a nice flower
Evergreen
It lasts forever
But it can't beat strand power

 

The Sphinx and Mona Lisa
Lolita and Guernica
Did the strand

 

C'etait un Rendez-vous

We are approaching the 50th anniversary of French director Claude Lalouch's insane, law-breaking, early morning drive through Paris, which became his short film, the title of which in English is "It was a date",  a punchline you'll understand if you watch to the end of the film, which is less than nine minutes.  Lalouch's exploit inspired generations of racing aficionados.

Lalouch is driving his Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 but the sound track is overdubbed using a Ferrari and isn't always synced to the action. In order to accomplish the drive the director attempted it during August, when Paris is most deserted, particularly back in the 70s, at 5:30 in the morning, and on a Sunday.  It's August 15, 1976.

The drive is entirely on the Right Bank of Paris, starting at Port Dauphine, adjacent to the Bois de Boulogne, ending at Sacre-Coeur in Montmarte.  Along the way we see the Arc de Triumphe, Place de la Concorde, the Louvre, and encounter the cobbled streets of Montmarte.  Lalouch speeds the entire way and ignores red lights.

The first 3:15 are relatively calm.  Though Lalouch is driving fast, the roads are mostly wide and straight.  Then he makes a left turn into the Louvre, driving through a narrow tunnel ending in a blind-cross street and things get a lot more tense.  He is nearly hit by a car, he narrowly misses pedestrians, at one point to avoid a collision he drives into oncoming traffic having to swerve to miss a bus, and runs into a flock of pigeons, all as the streets get narrower, with more frequent intersections.

You couldn't do this today.  August is busier in Paris, the streets get crowded much earlier, and traffic monitoring by the police is much better.  Too bad. 

Here is the film, followed by a documentary explaining how it was done. 

Game

It may not have been the best played ball game but it sure was entertaining and exciting to watch.  Last night the Red Sox beat the White Sox in 13 innings at Fenway and I viewed all 4 hours and 23 minutes.  

Going into the game the Red Sox had won 30 of 35 games and seven in a row.  By the top of the third they were down 4-0 and I was thinking "well, everything good has to end".  They came back to tie it at 5-5 in the 4th, fell behind 7-5 in the 5th, narrowed it to 7-6 in the 7th, and then in the bottom of the 9th, with two outs and two strikes on Wilyer Abreu, he singled home the tying run and we went to extra innings.

The White Sox jumped out to a 9-7 lead in the 10th but the hometown team scored two to even it up.  The White Sox jumped out to a 10-9 lead in the 11th but the hometown team scored in the bottom of the frame to even it up.  The White Sox jumped out to a 11-10 lead in the 12th but the hometown team scored in the bottom of the frame to even it up and then, in the 13th after the White Sox finally failed to score, Caleb Durbin singled home Nick Sogard to win it for our boys.

The Red Sox had been disturbingly bad and even worse, boring, for most of this season, and on June 24 they stood at 32-46, 15 1/2 games behind the division leading Yankees.  I had barely watched an inning all season. Things suddenly changed as the Sox swept a four game series against the Yanks, the start of a 15 game winning streak.

I followed the streak but hesitated to watch a game thinking that if I did so and the Sox lost, I would bear the responsibility (yes, I actually think that way).  Couldn't resist anymore and watched the 14th game in the streak, a thrilling come from behind victory against the Orioles.

The Red Sox have now won 31 of 36 games, the best such streak in the 126 seasons of the franchise. They trail the division leading Rays by 5 games and are now only a 1/2 game behind the Yankees, and have the third best record in the American League.  And they've done it against tough opposition.  During these 36 games, the Sox have swept five series against four division leaders; the Rays, White Sox (twice), Dodgers, and Yankees.

The Sox have been doing this despite missing their best pitcher, Garrett Crochet, since April 25, and one of their best position players, shortstop Trevor Story, since May 14.  In their absence of host of players have stepped up over the past 36 games, many of whom I did not know previously.  Last night, seven different players had RBIs and ten scored runs. 

Sailing

THC has written on numerous occasions about his love for the Aubrey-Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian, along with his admiration for the movie Master And Commander.  First reading the twenty volume series between 1990 and 2000, completing a second voyage during 2020, and planning a third cruise for 2030, I recently ran across an engaging series of essays on the books by Joshua Corey.  This one perfectly captures their essence and what has attracted me.

Corey hooked me with his opening:

Language is a writer’s preoccupation, but the language of Patrick O’Brian preoccupies his readers to an uncommon degree. Every would-be Aubrey-Maturin fan must quickly decide what their relationship is going to be to passages like this one:

“Helm’s a-lee,” he remarked—the cry usually echoed from one horizon to the other. Then “Off tacks and sheets.” He heard the bare feet hurrying and the staysail sheets rasping over the stays: he waited, waited, until the wind was one point on her weather bow, and then a little louder, “Mainsail haul!” She was in stays: and now she was paying off fast. The wind was well round on his other cheek. “Let go and haul,” he said, “and the half-seen waisters hauled on the starboard braces like veteran forecastlemen. The weather bowlines tightened: the Sophie gathered way.

I’ll be damned if I could paraphrase, even loosely, what’s going on, except on the most brute and obvious level: the sloop and crew under Jack Aubrey’s command is doing what he asked them to do, and they’re doing it well, and the sloop is moving. Some readers set themselves up with secondary sources or Google assiduously until they understand the distinction between sheets and stays, halyards and braces. More readers, I suspect, let the music of the sea-jargon wash over them, in the same way in which one can enjoy a Bach fugue without knowing the first thing about counterpoint. Still other potential readers find the sea-terms an insurmountable barrier to their enjoyment, and they put the book down—or, intimidated by the books’ reputation, never pick them up in the first place. 

I fall into the camp of those who let the sea-jargon wash over them. 

And I agree with this assessment:

The friendship between Jack and Stephen is the core, the beating heart, of a series of novels with much else to recommend them: derring-do, dry humor, Thoreauvian natural history, a bit of romance, and a level of nautical, military, and historical detail that achieves a degree of apparent authenticity surpassing the effect created by any other historical or fantasy novel that I have ever read. It is an unlikely friendship, a friendship of opposites, and on that opposition rests its appeal: the fantasy of harmonizing body and mind, social care and solitary inwardness, intuition and erudition, openness and secrecy.

If Jack Aubrey is the ego ideal of many men—honest, decisive, a natural leader, consistently courageous in the face of danger and hardship, and tactically brilliant (at sea, anyway; his best qualities tend to desert Jack ashore)—then Stephen Maturin is something closer to the reality—a writer’s reality, anyway. Jack is a man of action, a man of intensely physical life, touchingly ingenuous in many respects, true to his mentor Nelson’s oft-repeated remark, “Never mind maneuvers; just go straight at ‘em!” Stephen, on the other hand, is contemplative, withdrawn, sometimes staggeringly awkward, self-conscious, and complex.

If you haven't read the novels, but enjoy Corey's essay, you will undoubtedly appreciate the O'Brian novels and should enlist for a voyage.