"Carry On"

Navy headquarters stopped chuckling long enough to release the story last week. The corvette Mayflower, called "Daisy Mae"* by her men, left Halifax early in the war to herd 75 cargo ships across the Atlantic. Her only weapons: eight depth charges, six rifles, one Tommy gun, one Lewis gun, three revolvers. But the "Daisy Mae" also had plenty of nerve.

One day at dawn, she sighted a ship that looked, in the dim distance, like an armed raider. The stranger was twice challenged, and twice she ignored the "Daisy Mae." Then Lieut. Commander (now Commander) G. H. Stephen ordered his signalman: "Tell them we're going to open up if they don't answer.'' Back came the reply: "Carry on, Canada, with your gallant little ship!"

It came from Britain's powerful (nine 16-in. guns), 33,900-ton battleship H.M.S. Rodney.

* After Li'l Abner's buxom, bucolic sweetheart in Al Capp's comic strip.

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