THE SEARAVEN STOR

[Music] i'm rear admiral thomas m dyke has retired in the spring of 1942 the uss sea raven went through one of the most thrilling episodes of the war she persisted in the face of one bad break after another the success of failure of her mission rested squarely on the shoulders of a young ensign who volunteered for a most hazardous assignment [Music] in april 1942 it was believed that a japanese task force was planning a strike at western australia [Music] one of the allied ships available to meet this threat was the ussc raven she came up from a berth in albany and southwest australia to take part in the defense lieutenant commander hiram cassidy of brookhaven mississippi had taken command of sea raven just two hours before she sailed a new command suddenly assumed a patrol destined to be different by the time the sea raven arrived at fremantle west australia the situation had changed and so had sea raven's orders all right captain cargo in the after torpedo rooms all braced in shorts thank you george and good morning yes sir or isn't it such a good morning oh oh wonderful morning don't get me wrong i'm not exactly a jumping fire reader or anything like that but also it's almost too bad that japanese task force didn't materialize after wasn't it you'll get your shots of them the war is young yes sir i i still hate to see us unloading most of our torpedoes i'm saying orders are to bring three-inch ammunition to corregidor somebody has to do it and those eight torpedoes we have in our tubes can be fired if necessary yes about they can't be serviced uh or can say no i put 45 tons of three-inch shells blocking the tubes you know you're learning george thank you sir uh i just hope i'll be able to stand my own watch's diving office before the patrol's over would say patience new england you'll get there thank you on april 9th history arrived at one of its grand climaxes and with disaster came change the turn has fallen well iraq won't be needing that three-inch stuff for carrying cruise offensively against enemy then return to australia a limited cruise of course considering our reduced armament reduced armament sir we're loaded we're a floating bomb exciting isn't it this is the captain we have received new orders radioed from headquarters we will not have present return to australia i am calling for volunteers to go ashore on the island of timur for special duty involving considerable personal risk i will interview the volunteers in the wardroom when on watch will be heard when we leave i will need three men george here it is 33 australian soldiers navigators have been trapped on timor by the japanese advance they've been fighting a retreating action there for 80 days now they've managed to salvage a radio from a plane and i've been hollering for help we've been assigned to take them off water master markson and sigmund mcgreevy are all set to go are you interested yes sir now this uh might be a very dangerous mission not only is the island heavily occupied by the enemy but they may also have the code the aussies are using they may be just waiting for us to make our move sounds like it might be interesting well another good possibility is that they uh may attack the ship while you're sure and forced us to strain you there yo i understand you do and you still want to go yes sir why well there's lots of reason for sir it's uh like you said at fremantle somebody's got to do it yeah and uh was i i i guess i'm still sore at the japanese for bombing the tender i was on in manila chasing us out of the melee barrier that was the otis you know and uh well i hope this won't work against me go ahead well there's my being a reserve officer and never having gone to submarine school well i just don't feel like i'm any value to the submarine as a submariner i'd like very much to help get those australians off sir i see well you did go to massachusetts marine institute and being from the new england coast you'd no small crap and i hear you're a very good swimmer yes sir you are the eager people yes when the beaver looks like first-rate submarine material time for him well thank you for just a moment there's one more thing now this island is swarming with japanese they've warned these artists to surrender or expect no quarter when caught they will not be very easy on anyone trying to save them okay new england there she stands now george let's talk about timor approaching timor sea ravens submerged and cruised back and forth a mile and a half off the beach and a lot of people on the beach four five on horseback there's a lot of traffic out there can't make out whether it's japanese australians or natives have a look george soundscope we attempt contact tuesday night let's hope they show up at 2 a.m the morning of monday april 13th an enemy submarine fired a torpedo at sea raven it missed but it was near enough for sonar to hear its propellers at 6 40 pm of the appointed tuesday night sea raven surfaced one mile off the beach [Music] the crew was at battle stations and ready for any eventuality the utmost precautions were taken against the possibility that the enemy knew sea raven's movements and might mount a surprise attack [Music] there is it small fire in the jungle at the point of rendezvous [Music] well here's hoping the enemy is not the whole scheme landing party on deck mcgreevey and moxon will remain outside the surf with the boat henson cook will go ashore alone when you find the men bring them back through the surf to the boat is that clear yes sir now whatever you do don't take the boat to the beach you might not be able to get back through the surf then you'll all be captured and remember we're in an exposed position here submerged the surface and we have a cargo of high explosives so work fast all right and cook keep that pistol dry already sir good luck thank you hold it steady right here nothing well we saw their fire signal earlier maybe they're just lying alone waiting they know we're coming like all the anger what do we tell mousey for let's serve and drive out a three-inch gun it's a lot of gun to swim with sir well the breakers will carry me in i think the breakers will accommodate you coming back take care of yourselves take care of ourselves they uh if i'm not back by 2 30 go on back to the ship they've got to submerge before daylight he's supposed to be pretty hot stuff in the water yeah so are sharks [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] um um [Music] so [Music] [Music] hey you guys hey hey you guys guys [Music] [Music] he should have been back an hour ago [Music] not a sign of anything sir they're getting light soon yeah well we'll give another half hour that'll be stretching it these waters are pretty heavily patrolled we'd have heard shots if anything was wrong you don't know these japanese no jungle fighting they could reach out of a tree and clobber cook before he knew what hit him besides he had to go inland to make contact could have been shooting [Music] hey what'd he say any luck no sir nobody with him tell him to return his ship immediately getting light oh i i don't know who they were sir but if they were are australians why do they run could they have been natives uh it's kind of hard to say i don't know if they were japanese what they have to fear from one american they beat me maybe we'll have another chance george i'm sorry sir why you did all you could under the circumstances and you did fine are you sure you're feeling all right i'm just a little boy say i'll get some sleep and since george cook was annoyed and worried he was annoyed with himself for being green he thought he was worried for 33 australians trapped on that island at the mercy of an enemy who had promised no quarter he wondered if he would get another chance and if he got a chance again if he'd be fit he burned with a fever his head throbbed the fact he tried unsuccessfully to hide from the captain wednesday april 15th sea ravens stood out to sea requesting instructions from submarine headquarters the reply came the following day thursday april 16th the australians weren't to run the boot point all right uh you were okay a japanese patrol moved in and the aussies had to lie low you mean it was that patrol around the campfire yeah you must have sounded like an allied invasion force to them oh well we'll try again tomorrow or saturday night i'd say the sooner the better tomorrow night we'll serve as about 7 p.m the enemy permitting you uh feeling all right oh much better sir you'll have marks and do the swimming remember the same situation prevails orders are the same vote outside the breakers i understand her good luck [Music] no it's just a funny feeling i've got about the australians it's me they're always the anzacs there never were really too many of them but boy what a reputation those guys have got same way with the canadians same one the highlanders you got to pull for people like that now you'll probably find them in the jungle just beyond the beach take this and secure it to a stump or a tree or something so you pull your way back to the breakers and if you run any trouble or need any help it's five short flashes with that light good luck to you good luck [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so hello yay well we glad to see you 80 days we've been on the run mighty glad you're here yank all right paulie all right we couldn't have met you at the wrong report again yank those blasted patrols are reported blast them eat nothing but wild rice and roots for 80 days look at us once will you where are the others undercover they're earth and sick with fever it's been a mess they can't shift for themselves some of them can't it's going to be rough getting to our boat for that surf [Music] hmm [Music] shift contact bearing 3-0-0 [Music] looks like she might be a destroyer now he knows something's up he'll pass within 1500 yards start to have one third port back one third left full rudder battle station surface [Music] we don't dare try a torpedo if it doesn't go off or if it misses the whole mission will be lost all we can do is present the smallest possible outline that dd and pray [Music] they spot us we haven't got a chance we've got the land behind us maybe they won't see us maybe [Music] didn't see it [Applause] [Music] [Music] we swim and pull ourselves out by the stern line let's just hope the anchor holds the men in worst condition go first i'll uh i'll take this one take it easy with him he's bad what about marshall i'm a guy he's coming oh this is no good we're never gonna get them all in this way we shouldn't leave them there you kidding if we can get them through those [Music] breakers boy that surf i don't know what are we going to do this is one of the times gonna take all night i don't think some sick artists are gonna live through this [Music] oh that's the last officer makes 33 you know i get the photo board i don't lose any time getting out of here all right captain all 33 men being provided for the pharmacist mate's treating the wounds he says he can take care of some of those bad tropical doses not other stuff that we get to a hospital in fremantle the men in the worst condition are in permanent bugs and uh the others are hot bunkers so they can all get some rest you understand my reason for insisting you didn't take that boat to the surf yes sir you and your men could have been lost the vote destroyed an entire mission hopelessly compromised you realize that yes sir nevertheless you landed that boat last night through those dangerous breakers you made several trips back and forth why well sir there was no other way why not well uh uh our anchor line parted and we lost our anchor you lost your anchor yes sir we lost our anchor oh i see well i just wanted to recall the operation exactly as occurred in my patrol report well done well thank you sir that's all uh oh mr cook very well done indeed george i'll be back in a moment with our special guest we are fortunate to have with us the hero of our story that's enjoyed c cook who is now commander cook united states navy george when you volunteered for submarines you probably had no idea you'd go through one of your most hair-raising experiences ashore that's right sir and especially in an island's remote us tomorrow you must be quite a swimmer to have made those trips through the surf particularly carrying a man on your back well i was brought up on the shores of massachusetts and been swimming practically all my life from the surf how did it feel to have all those strange people scattered for the jungle when you turn the light on your face even before i turned the flashlight out it was one of life's darkest moments you were decorated with the navy cross for this action and you certainly deserved it congratulations to you please be with us again for another true and exciting story of the silent service [Music] is [Music] underneath [Music] underneath you