The Battle of Britain pilots in WW2 are, rightly, revered and eulogised for their courage and heroic defence of their nation. But it is one thing to do battle with the enemy on equal terms, with a well equipped fighting machine, quite another to face that same enemy on a hostile ocean with little or no means to defend against an enemy attack. The unsung heroes of the Fourth Service, the Merchant Navy, have, in comparison, received scant recognition for their Battle of Britain' -- the contribution they made to keeping Britain's ocean life-lines open. This is a story about one such vessel, a peace-time passenger ship converted to a troop carrier, and her crew on a single fateful voyage. The m.v. Patriarch sailed from Bristol in 1942, at a time when the enemy was sinking, on average, an Allied ship every four hours and the prospect of the crew returning safely to their homes and families was, statistically, not good. Seamanship of the highest standard would not, alone, be sufficient to guarantee their safety, for this was a time when Britain's darkest hour' loomed ominously close. Tony Gyles writes with authority and the benefits of first hand knowledge of the times and the conditions that prevailed aboard ship.