HALF SEAS UNDER
Publishers: A C Black
Ruari McLean
ISBN 0901281271
£21.95
Published August 2003
Over 100 illustrations. Ruari McLean started his war
in 1939 as a pacifist but by Christmas he had changed his mind and joined the
Royal Navy. Altogether he spent five years in the Navy, sailed on or under five
oceans, and walked on three continents. He wore seven different kinds of hat,
carried (but never used) six kinds of gun and was issued with an Instantaneous
Death Tablet. In Half Seas Under, the
author vividly brings to life his time as Liaison Officer on the Free French
submarine Rubis when they saw action off the coast of Norway, his time in Naval
Intelligence and his role in reconnaissance work off (and sometimes on) the
beaches of Japanese-held Burma and Sumatra. Commander Jeff Tall, OBE RN, Director, Royal Navy Submarine
Museum, writes: FOREWORD Beneath the surface of wit
and wonderful lightness of touch used by Ruari McLean to describe his wartime
experiences in submarines and with the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties
(COPP) lies a story of true heroism and dedication. Winston Churchill told
Parliament in 1942 that `of all branches of His Majesty's Forces none faces
grimmer perils than the submarines'. He was right. One in three of British and
Allied submariners lost their lives during World War 11, with the Royal Navy
losing five out of its six minelaying submarines. To stand into danger with
one's own countrymen is one thing, but to be exposed to that danger in a
foreign submarine carries an additional piquancy. Sub-Lieutenant McLean's
appetite for adventure and his ability to get on with his fellow man carried
him through, and he was fortunate to serve an outstanding Submarine Commanding
Officer of FS Rubis and their gallant crewmembers. Lieutenant de Vaisseau Henri
Rousselot was the most decorated Allied officer, with a DSO and a DSC and two
Bars, all awarded for his many successful minelaying sorties between 1941 and
1944. His ship's company received three DSCs, one with a Bar and another with
two Bars, and eleven DS.Ms, one with a Bar. Seven of his men were mentioned in
Despatches. The reader should be in no doubt that FS Rubis was in the thick of
things! COPPs played a vital role in
establishing the groundwork for Allied amphibious operations, and once again
the dangers involved are nicely understated by the modesty of the Author. The
journey to the objective carried its risks regardless of the mode of carriage,
and the various phases of deployment, transit, getting ashore, conducting the
surveys, and finally getting the results home to those who needed them, were all
extremely hazardous. Many COPPs did not return. Because of the public
fascination for stories about the German U-boat, too often the contribution of
the Allied Submarine Services to ultimate victory in World War 11 is forgotten,
and I doubt that many people will have even heard of the COPPs and their
magnificent work. Half Seas Under is thus an important book historically, as
well as a brilliant read. Beneath the surface of wit
and wonderful lightness of touch used by Ruari McLean to describe his wartime
experiences in submarines and with the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties
(COPP) lies a story of true heroism and dedication. Because of the public
fascination for stories about the German U-boat, too often the contribution of
the Allied Submarine Services to ultimate victory in World War 11 is forgotten,
and I doubt that many people will have even heard of the COPPs and their
magnificent work. Half Seas Under is thus an important book historically, as
well as a brilliant read. RUARI McLEAN One of the leading typographers of his generation,
Ruari McLean was born in Galloway in Scotland in 1917. His parents moved to
Oxford when he was four, and that remained his home until shortly before the
war. After the war he became a typographer, designing books and magazines. He
designed the Eagle comic when it first appeared and has written (so far) 33
books including Modern Book Design (1951), Victorian Book Design and Colour
Printing (1963), and the Thames and Hudson Manual of Typography (1980) which is
still in print and has been translated into three languages. During his wartime service
he was mentioned in despatches three times and was awarded the Distinguished
Service Cross and the Croix de Guerre. In 1973 he was appointed CBE for his
services to typography.