Your crew aboard HMCS Prince Henry are not trained at all
in gunnery. They have enrolled as seamen, but have only received basic training
and a pocket booklet about the perfect sailor. Still, they are doing all they
can to complete the mission of sinking the German ship. First, they move the
vessel half a mile away, and then begin firing on the Hermonthis as best
they can. Because of the waves and because of the crew's lack of experience,
the shells sometimes pass over the target and sometimes under it. After 24 hours
of firing, and having used up the greater part of their ammunition, the sailors
finally sink the motionless and ill-fated vessel. But the situation is admittedly
somewhat embarrassing for the gunners of a navy!
Having
completed this job, you are under orders to return to Vancouver so that the
damage to the hull of HMCS Prince Henry, caused by the many collisions
between the two vessels during the firefighting operations, can be repaired.
After picking up additional provisions in port, you and your crew begin a three-week
voyage, accompanied by 53 German sailors and the pregnant dog. You have to make
this voyage without any stopovers.
Since they are enemies, the sailors from the two vessels are afraid of each other, and do not fraternize. On arrival in Vancouver, the 53 German prisoners are transferred to prisoner of war camps and HMCS Prince Henry goes into drydock for an indefinite period. You and your crew have to wait for the repairs to be completed before you can go back out to sea.
You understand that the repairs could last for some time yet, and you ask your
captain for two weeks' leave so you can get married. The captain willingly grants
your wish, suggesting that you hold the ceremony on the Pacific coast. You immediately
call your fiancée in Roberval, Quebec, nearly 3000 km from your port.
Since you have not spoken to her for six months, you ask her if there have been
any deaths since then, and tell her, "[...] apparently we'll have time
to get married [...] there are two getting married next week, all three of us
could get married at the same time [...]." Your future wife calls back,
asking you to come instead to Roberval for the wedding, for in the opinion of
your future father-in-law, "That would be better."
Heeding
only your heart, you board the train in Vancouver for Roberval the very next
day and travel across Canada. The trip lasts four days and four nights, and
in fact you are on this train when, on 24 May 1941, you learn that the British
flagship HMS Hood has been sunk in the North Atlantic. You arrive in Roberval
on Thursday and on the following Saturday, 31 May 1941, you marry Miss Cécile
Brassard. You and your wife make a short wedding trip to the Ottawa area and
visit family, "as though I was about to get killed," you think. After
a visit of eight or ten days, you have to head back alone for the west coast
naval base at Esquimalt. When you arrive and see that the repairs to HMCS Prince
Henry are nowhere near finished, you ask your captain for permission to bring
your wife to Esquimalt to join you. Your request is granted. You and Cécile
rent an apartment outside Victoria and live there for a month. 
One fine morning when you are the officer of the day, you decide to go see
the work at the shipyard and make arrangements to meet your wife for dinner
in the port. When you arrive, you are set back on your heels! All your crewmen
are making great preparations: HMCS Prince Henry is leaving port at noon for
an unknown destination.
