Frigate Gousblom to C-in-C: 'Strong U-boat contact Possession Channel. Eight depth charges dropped. Continuing attack. City of Banda seriously damaged, attempting to beach,'

20.40 hours

C-in-C to Convoy WV. 5BX: 'Corvettes Vygie and Aandblom to proceed maximum speed to assist Gousblom: 21.15 hours

U-160 to BdU: 'Attacked by frigate Flower elms. Blew up following two hits ex stern tubes. U-160's main ballast pumps damaged by attack, unable to dive. Jettisoned eight mines. Proceeding seawards partly submerged. Will signal position 06.00 hours dawn tomorrow,'

22.15 hours

Corvette Vygie to C-in-C: 'Unable to enter Possession Channel due to presence drifting mines and rising gale. No U-boat contact but sighted oil slick. City of Baroda ashore at Bridge of Magpies. Gousblom presumed sunk:

8 July 1943

06.30 hours

BdU to U-160: 'Report your position immediately.'

10.00 hours

BdU to U-160: 'Report your position immediately. Repeat, report your position immediately. Repeat, report your position immediately • .

Geoffrey Jenkins

A Bridge Of Magpies

C H A P T E R O N E

`Master of the Equinoxes, Lord of the Solstice! The splendidsounding title is engraved on one face of the blade of a knife which lies on my desk as I write. It is dark and discoloured. It is an unusual weapon: a thin, pointed blade, widening abruptly at the hilt, which is very flat and hammered out of copper. A design has been tooled into the metal: a seascape about three inches long and half an inch broad, showing a setting sun, and ships sinking after battle. On the reverse side of the blade are scribbled the last words the Master wrote with the lead tip of a Taisho pistol bullet, using it like a pencil, after he had plucked the knife from his side ' Mei fa tzu! – it is fate!' These words underwrite not only his own fate, but add a strange and awesome new dimension to two of the great decisive naval victories of the twentieth century: Pearl Harbour and Tsushima.