Wonder. It's September 27th, 1941, on board the H. M. S. Springbank, a Royal Navy ship in the North Atlantic.

It's the middle of the night and in a tiny cabin 36 year old lieutenant Richard Lane is asleep

in his bunk.

Richard is the co-owner of Penguin Books, but the world of publishing

seems far off from where Richard finds himself now. Britain is at war with

Nazi Germany and Richard is an officer in the Royal Navy.

HMS Springbank is escorting a convoy of merchant ships across the Atlantic and it's been a difficult voyage.

Already two of the British ships have been sunk by German U-boats.

But Richard draws courage from his younger brother, John.

The two lanes are both serving aboard HMS Springbank, and they've made a pact.

If their ship comes under attack, they'll find each other and stick together.

The HMS Springbank shutters and Richard is instantly awake.

Clampering out of bed, he stumbles from his cabin out into the passageway.

It's eerily dark and the ship groans beneath him like a wounded animal.

Richard feels his way along the wall and collides with a man hurrying the other way.

Hey watch out.

Richard, it's me, it's John.

What are you doing down here?

What's going on?

I thought you were on watch.

It was coming to get you.

We've been hit by a torpedo and we've lost power. The captain's given the order to assemble at the life rafts. We're abandoning a ship. Looks that way. We're going down. Not quickly, but we're going down nonetheless. Richard's stomach twists with fear.

...