Chapter 45

The dock at Toulon gave the impression of organised chaos with dock officials rushing here and there trying to sort out cargos for either unloading or loading the ships that arrived or departed.

Shaun had taken a room at a seedy hotel near the docks and had been there for two days waiting for the Iona Star. A harassed dock official had informed him it was anchored in the roads awaiting its turn to enter the port, which was supposed to be a day ago.

It had taken him four days to reach Toulon. On booking into the hotel he had managed to contact Sharon after going through the chaotic French telephone system. She had passed the details of the pickup point and said that Prof had left with the trucks for the Canal.

He had made contact with Bobby, who had told him to make himself known to a Captain Mason who would be expecting him. The weapons for the Crater would be in packing cases with CP burnt into them. There were 26 cases in all and these would be in a separate box car.

He had watched the goods train pull up alongside the dock and five British soldiers and a Sargent and Captain Mason climb off. After introducing himself to the Captain he had requested that the CP crates be loaded first.

At three in the afternoon the Iona Star docked. A Custom official hurried on board and thirty minutes later the cargo hold was opened and loading commenced. As the pallets were being lifted into the hold Shaun went aboard.

Captain Stavros Papulose was a large heavily bearded man in his sixties with a ready smile on his face as he met Shaun.

“I understand, Major Ramage, that we both have Jewish wives”, was his opening remark.

Shaun took an immediate likening to him. Over a glass of Ouzo he gave him the coordinate’s for the pickup point.

“It will take five days to join the queue to pass through the canal. I intend to wait for the night trip down. As we near the Great Bitter Lake I shall radio that we are experiencing generator problems. This will be accepted as we will have to wait for the ships coming up the Canal into the Lake to arrive before passing down it. We should have twelve hours in which to unload”.

Stavros pulled out a chart and after checking coordinates indicated a point on the east side of the Lake.

“Your colleague as picked a good point, close to an embankment where we should have enough water under our keel to carry out the unloading. Most of the ships waiting to go down the Canal anchor up on the west side of it”. He moved away from the chart table and looked at Shaun, “Come, I will have you shown to your cabin. We will be getting underway shortly”.

Nine hours later the Iona Star moved away from its berth and began its journey to Suez.

Shaun spent long hours in the hold of the ship organizing the pallets. He had quickly realised that the trucks coming for the weapons would not be able to carry it all away in one trip. Some of the cargo would have to be hidden for a second trip. With this in mind he had sorted out which should go first.

Suez resembled Toulon in organized chaos. The Iona Star had to anchor out in the roads and await its turn to enter. As ships left Suez those waiting to enter were informed to proceed. Captain Stavros was aware of the system in place and bided his time until the late afternoon before joining the queue. After an official had checked his documents they waited until the Canal pilot boat started on down the Canal and fell into line with the other ships keeping to the strict speed limit.

As is usual night came suddenly and the ships switched on their running lights. After an hour Stavros began switching off his running lights on and off. They were just entering the Great Bitter Lake when he radioed the Pilot Boat to say he was experiencing generator problems and he intended to anchor on the east side of the Lake to carry out repairs knowing the other ships would anchor on the west side. Receiving an affirmative from the Pilot Boat he proceeded further into the Lake.