'The story at last of the young naval signalmen who greatly helped to keep Australian convoys moving unscathed to New Guinea and other warzones of World War II. In the month after Japan's carrier-borne aircraft bombed Pearl Harbour, Bill Walshe turned 17 and volunteered for the Navy.
'Jap submarines had already begun to take a terrible toll of Australian shipping, so the Navy devised a convoy system, with warships shielding the merchant ships that carried troops and materials to Allied fighting fronts. Vital to success of the convoys was signalling, to keep all the vessels in train and that required the speedy skilling of signalmen like young Bill.
'At Flinders Naval Depot in Melbourne, he and 27 lads of similar age were put through a crash course in signals. After three months they were promptly allocated to merchant ships, and would serve on over 1000 of such ships between 1942 and the war's end.
'The story of the vital convoys is here told by Bill Walshe as a feast of anecdotes which say more about the lives of sailors in wartime than do the official histories. Through his mix of wry humour and keen observation we glimpse stark realities of heavy loads on young shoulders, loneliness, aching fatigue, lurking dangers, air attacks, sudden storms, mountainous seas and more. ' (Publication summary)
