Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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The Canopus

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  • control, these enthusiastic boys felt that they were the lucky ones—there was always the chance that some Jap plane might venture low enough to be knocked out of the sky, and such vengeance would be sweet enough to justify any risks. Just a week after the first bombing, the Japs showed their annoyance at such temerity by sending another squadron of planes over the Canopus to try and settle the affair once and for all. Again the closely bunched bomb pattern blanketed the ship, but again only one missile made a direct hit. This time it was a quick-acting fragmentation bomb which struck the side of the towering smokestack, and literally sprayed the upper decks with small fragments. The gun crews, which had ducked behind their shields at the last instant before the bombs landed, had little protection from splinters coming down from above, and three-quarters of them were wounded—fortunately with no fatalities. No serious fires were started, but the upper decks looked like a sieve as hundreds of fragments had pierced the light plating. Stretcher parties from ashore boarded the ship almost before the dust had settled, and carried the fifteen wounded men to dressing stations ashore, but the hardest part of the task was- to convince each victim that someone else should not get attention first. One of the highlights of the scene was the sight of "Red" Otter dashing to the bridge, bleeding from half a dozen gashes, to make certain his skipper was all right, then dashing back to direct evacuation of the other wounded men before he would allow his wounds to be dressed. What "softies" our decadent democracy produces! The damage due to the one direct hit had been only superficial, but inspection below decks disclosed that several near misses had also taken their toll. Each side had been pierced a few feet above the water line by forty or fifty fragments of bombs exploded by contact with the water alongside. Another bomb had exploded deeper under water and dished in the hull two or three inches, cracking the plating and loosening rivets which were leaking steadily. These were the wounds which had to be bound up to make the vessel again seaworthy, and the welders were soon on the job plugging the openings. The tough old girl was not ready for her grave yet, but if she were to continue a career of usefulness, it seemed best to make the Japs think the last salvo of bombs had done the trick. It was useless to pretend any longer that we weren't there, but at least we could make them think that what was left was useless. The next morning, when "Photo Joe" in his scouting plane came over, his pictures showed what looked like an abandoned hulk, listed over on her side, with cargo booms askew, and large blackened areas around the bomb holes, from which wisps of smoke floated up for two or three days. That he did not know was that the smoke came from oily rags in strategically placed smudge pots, and that every night the "abandoned hulk" hummed with activity, forging new weapons for the beleaguered forces of Bataan. Evidently the Japs were completely deceived, because only one half-hearted attempt was made a week later by dive bombers to finish off the faithful ship, and that was driven away without damage, by our anti-aircraft machine guns. These had been taken off the ship and mounted on the hills nearby, so as not to draw further retaliation to the vessel.
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