What Cares The Sea?

Kenneth Cooke

• Publisher: Lucknow Books
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781786253170
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

"The S.S. Lulworth Hill, a freighter bound home for England...was torpedoed by a German submarine on March 19, 1943, off the west coast of central Africa. The ship's first officer and 13 crewmen reached life rafts. Fifty days later, when a British destroyer steamed into view, two men still lived. One survivor died shortly after the rescue. The remaining man, who was the ship's carpenter, tells the story.Kenneth Cooke, ends his preface with a line that might have been written by Conrad: "And there is no one left now to tell me I have remembered badly." It is the musing of a man who sat helpless while sharks ate the bodies of twelve raftmates, and who calculated the dwindling strength of those left alive, as they openly calculated his, in the hope of gaining extra rations. After 17 years, the inexplicable and awesome fact of his survival still obsesses Cooke. No one who reads his book will need to ask why.After the 14 men reached their raft, the first officer calculated the food supply to last for 30 days...What follows is a catalogue of torments. Tongues swelled and turned black. Sea water and the equatorial sun cut running sores. The feet of a wounded man turned gangrenous. By the 19th day, Cooke, who kept the log, recorded the first death. The body was rolled into the sea; cannibalism was a temptation.Now and then a flying fish landed in the raft, and Cooke speared a few other fish with a homemade harpoon. Once it rained briefly, and the men greedily licked moisture from the raft's canvas. Otherwise there was no relief. More men died. The strongest man on the raft went mad, locked two other men in his arms and jumped to the sharks. Cooke, crazed by the groans of a man whose ribs were broken, kicked the fellow to quiet him.To the author, the book is a riddle: How was he alone able to survive?...The only conclusion is that some men, for some reason, cling hard to life, and that the sea, as Cooke wrote truthfully, does not care."-Time.

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• PROLOGUE
• BEFORE
• FRIDAY, 19TH MARCH 1943 - FIRST DAY ON THE RAFT
• SATURDAY, 20TH MARCH 1943 - SECOND DAY ON THE RAFT
• SUNDAY, 21 ST MARCH 1943 - THIRD DAY ON THE RAFT
• MONDAY, 22ND MARCH 1943 - FOURTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• TUESDAY, 23RD MARCH 1943 - FIFTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• FRIDAY, 26TH MARCH 1943 - EIGHTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• SUNDAY, 28TH MARCH 1943 - TENTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• TUESDAY, 30TH MARCH 1943 - TWELFTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• THURSDAY, 1ST APRIL 1943 - FOURTEENTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• FRIDAY, 2ND APRIL 1943 - FIFTEENTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• SUNDAY, 4TH APRIL 1943 - SEVENTEENTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• TUESDAY, 6TH APRIL 1943 - NINETEENTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• WEDNESDAY, 7TH APRIL 1943 - TWENTIETH DAY ON THE RAFT
• THURSDAY, 8TH APRIL 1943 - TWENTY-FIRST DAY ON THE RAFT
• FRIDAY, 9TH APRIL 1943 - TWENTY-SECOND DAY ON THE RAFT
• SATURDAY, 10TH APRIL 1943 - TWENTY-THIRD DAY ON THE RAFT
• SUNDAY, 11TH APRIL 1943 - TWENTY-FOURTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• MONDAY 12TH APRIL 1943 - TWENTY-FIFTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• TUESDAY, 13TH APRIL 1943 - TWENTY-SIXTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• WEDNESDAY, 14TH APRIL 1943 - TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• FRIDAY, 16TH APRIL 1943 - TWENTY-NINTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• SATURDAY, 17TH APRIL 1943 - THIRTIETH DAY ON THE RAFT
• SUNDAY, 18TH APRIL 1943 - THIRTY-FIRST DAY ON THE RAFT
• MONDAY, 19TH APRIL 1943 - THIRTY-SECOND DAY ON THE RAFT
• TUESDAY, 20TH APRIL 1943 - THIRTY-THIRD DAY ON THE RAFT
• WEDNESDAY, 21ST APRIL 1943 - THIRTY-FOURTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• THURSDAY, 22ND APRIL 1943 - THIRTY-FIFTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• FRIDAY, 23RD APRIL 1943 - THIRTY-SIXTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• SUNDAY, 25TH APRIL 1943 - THIRTY-EIGHTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• TUESDAY, 27TH APRIL 1943 - FORTIETH DAY ON THE RAFT
• THURSDAY, 29TH APRIL 1943 - FORTY-SECOND DAY ON THE RAFT
• FRIDAY, 30TH APRIL 1943 - FORTY-THIRD DAY ON THE RAFT
• SATURDAY, 1ST MAY 1943 - FORTY-FOURTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• SUNDAY, 2ND MAY 1943 - FORTY-FIFTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• MONDAY, 3RD MAY 1943 - FORTY-SIXTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• TUESDAY, 4TH MAY 1943 - FORTY-SEVENTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• WEDNESDAY, 5TH MAY 1943 - FORTY-EIGHTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• THURSDAY, 6TH MAY 1943 - FORTY-NINTH DAY ON THE RAFT
• FRIDAY, 7TH MAY 1943 - FIFTIETH DAY ON THE RAFT
• EPILOGUE