you do not use much light at night if you expect to stay afloat for long. The boatswain got one of the motor launches away and made trip after trip to the destroyers, which were lying as close alongside as was safe, bringing back a load of survivors each time. Have you ever seen a small boat bump against a large ship in heavy weather? Then you know the job the boatswain had holding the motor launch steady in the dark while lines were secured to Stokes stretchers and the wounded hauled aboard.
"Prior to the boat's return from the first trip, cargo nets had been secured to the side of the ship, and men stood by with hand lines with loops in the end of them to help the men up the side of the Pecos. All of the survivors from the two destroyers had been transferred by 6:30 a.m., and the Pecos then got under way again. With all of this, there was not one word of discontent. The ship's cooks on the Pecos had prepared 'mud' for all hands, and within a few minutes the men were settled about the ship drinking the coffee and swapping stories.
"Our job then was to head for the coast of Australia and land the Langley's men. Many of them were injured. Practically all were suffering from shock, exposure, and exhaustion, from being bombed and in the water before the destroyers picked them up. Many had no clothes except those that the crews of the destroyers had contributed. . . ."
There is nothing remotely approaching luxury aboard a fleet tanker, and not too much room anywhere. In the cramped sick bay, Dr. Yon set to work to sort the injured men and to assign his five hospital corpsmen to the job of helping him treat those requiring immediate attention. Treating men who are seriously injured in a large, well-equipped hospital ashore, where it is possible to give them the absolute rest they require, is one thing. Treating them in a small and crowded sick bay aboard ship, and while that ship is running at full speed in a danger zone, knowing that the enemy may renew their attack again at any moment, and that the patients
