Dust on the Sea

BOOKS BY

EDWARD L. BEACH

Dust on the Sea

The Wreck of the Memphis
      

Around the World Submerged
                    

Run Silent, Run Deep
                                                     

Submarine!
                                                                                        

The latest edition of this work has been brought to publication with the generous assistance of Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest.

Naval Institute Press

291 Wood Road

Annapolis, MD 21402

© 1972 by Edward L. Beach

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

First Bluejacket Books edition, 2004

ISBN 978-1-61251-545-8 (eBook)

The Library of Congress has cataloged the paperback edition as follows:

Beach, Edward Latimer, 1918-2002

  
Dust on the sea / Edward L. Beach

      
p. cm. — (Bluejacket books)

  
1. World War, 1939-1945—Naval Operations—Fiction. 2. World War, 1939-1945—Naval Operations—Yellow Sea—Fiction. 3. Submarines (Ships)—Fiction. 4. Yellow Sea—Fiction. I. Title. II. Series.

  
PS3552.E12D87 2004

  
813'.52—dc22

2004042680

Print editions meet the requirements of ANSI/NISO z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

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Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

About the Author

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO INGRID, MY WIFE, WHO IS NEITHER LAURA NOR JOAN–BUT HAS ALWAYS BEEN ONLY HERSELF
.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Steven Kroll—friend, confidant, editor, and an author himself, who helped form this story
.

Patricia Doolittle—with astonishing patience she copied all the pages many times over
.

Tia Cronin—who helped by critically reading and commenting on an early version of this manuscript
.

Edward Beach—my son, who read and criticized the manuscript and in the process inserted much of his own philosophic, poetic nature
.

Hugh Beach—my other son, who also carefully went over every word and made many thoughtful comments in the knowledgeable way I have come to value so
.

Ingrid—my daughter, known as Ping, whose happy spirit and joie de vivre meant so much during the difficult days of composition
.

and

Martin Clancy, Bill Hatch, and Bruce Barr, the three tenders of the boiler room, to whose encouragement, thoughtful suggestions, and tactful criticism I owe such a great deal
.

PREFACE

A
s with
Run Silent, Run Deep
, which it follows, this is entirely a work of fiction. I have striven to portray what submarining was like during the war years, and have held closely to the idea that not only should all the action and motivation be plausible, but also that the reader should receive an accurate description of the instrument in which the work was done: the U.S. submarine. Sometimes I have thought of
Eel
herself as the heroine of this story, but a valid case for this might be hard to make. Nevertheless, the reader will know more about how to operate a submarine of World War II after he finishes this book than he knew before.

None of the events herein described existed anywhere except in the mind of the author. There has been no conscious portrayal of any actual person, nor did a submarine named
Eel
figure in World War II. If some of my old comrades recognize that
Eel
had much in common with
Tirante
and
Piper
, as did
Walrus
with
Trigger
, I can only answer that any author has the prerogative of borrowing from his own experience.