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So I went to the second signing Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson were doing yesterday. They recognized me from the afternoon signing, and I was telling them I called my dad (they were personalizing the book for him) and told him all about the earlier signing, including the Merchant Marine book that Herbert's writing, and relayed a story about my great-uncle.
Martin was in the MM's in WW2, just 18, and doing a stint as an engineer on a troop transport when the ship was hit (I'm not sure by what) and started to sink. They were in a convoy, so everyone just marched on over to another boat. No panic, no worries. Well, except for poor Martin.
See, the captain figured that it was sinking kind of slowly, so they might have a chance to send someone over to start up the pumps and maybe save the boat. Martin, low boy on the totem pole, was selected to go over, climb down the stack and see what he could do. So he hauls ass back onto the sinking ship, and starts climbing down the long, dark, dirty stack, which basically amplifies every sound - the popping of the rivets, the creak and shatter of the hull plating - all those lovely sounds that follow a sinking ship to the bottom. Half-way down, he panics, and crawls back up and out, and is making his way back over when the ship hits bottom (the water's pretty shallow at this point.
He's the only one on the boat to even get wet.
Anyway, apparently Brian's still looking for anecdotes for his book, so he asked for my number (accompanied by much teasing from Kevin - "Oh, sure, you're going to give her a 'credit'. Man, I wish that line worked for me!") I'll probably just direct him to my Dad, but still, it's worth a laugh - a famous dude asked for my number!
Martin was in the MM's in WW2, just 18, and doing a stint as an engineer on a troop transport when the ship was hit (I'm not sure by what) and started to sink. They were in a convoy, so everyone just marched on over to another boat. No panic, no worries. Well, except for poor Martin.
See, the captain figured that it was sinking kind of slowly, so they might have a chance to send someone over to start up the pumps and maybe save the boat. Martin, low boy on the totem pole, was selected to go over, climb down the stack and see what he could do. So he hauls ass back onto the sinking ship, and starts climbing down the long, dark, dirty stack, which basically amplifies every sound - the popping of the rivets, the creak and shatter of the hull plating - all those lovely sounds that follow a sinking ship to the bottom. Half-way down, he panics, and crawls back up and out, and is making his way back over when the ship hits bottom (the water's pretty shallow at this point.
He's the only one on the boat to even get wet.
Anyway, apparently Brian's still looking for anecdotes for his book, so he asked for my number (accompanied by much teasing from Kevin - "Oh, sure, you're going to give her a 'credit'. Man, I wish that line worked for me!") I'll probably just direct him to my Dad, but still, it's worth a laugh - a famous dude asked for my number!
