Bernard Edwards

Anyone who has read about Great Britain's part in World War II has heard the story of the Jervis Bay: how a large convoy, escorted only by the armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay, was attacked by the German "pocket battleship" Admiral Scheer. The Scheer outgunned the Jervis Bay as badly as a rifleman out-guns a kid with a popgun, but the Jervis Bay went straight for the Scheer, and although she was ruined within minutes, it bought enough time for the convoy to scatter and for 33 of the 38 ships to survive. Captain Fegen of the Jervis Bay, although slain in the battle, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroism.

Bernard Edwards tells that story, but he tells it with a difference. Although he does not deny that the Jervis Bay fought, he credits another ship, the Beaverford, with standing off the Scheer until the convoy was well away.

This story, he says, has not been told because the Beaverford fought after the convoy was already in flight, so no one saw her battle, and she left no survivors (by contrast, about a third of the Jervis Bay's crew was rescued).

It is that claim that sets this book apart, and... it seems a little dubious. Oh, there isn't any doubt that the Beaverford tried to defend herself when the Scheer came after her; she sent wireless messages to that effect, and she ended up being sunk. But Edwards, in his Author's Note and elsewhere, claims that the Beaverford fought the Scheer for five hours!

Every other record indicates that the Scheer wasn't even in the area for five hours. She came, she sank half a dozen ships, she got out before the British could catch her. (The fact is that there were no British ships near enough to catch the Scheer. But the Germans couldn't know that; they played it safe.) Edwards is making an extraordinary claim -- and he doesn't even have much ordinary evidence. Yes, there is some doubt about the timing of events, in part because many of the ships involved were using different time zones. But I don't think there is enough to allow for his claim. And he offers no proof -- no evidence of his own, and no citations of anything else; the book is un-footnoted.

The "good" news is, this doesn't interfere with the book too much; because Edwards doesn't have information from the Beaverford, he can only devote perhaps 5% of his pages to its fight. The rest is a readable, well-organized account of a tragic and heroic incident. But I came away wondering about a few other things Edwards said -- only wondering; I can't prove them wrong. But the weight of it all makes me think that it's probably better to read a different book about the Jervis Bay before tackling this one; if you start with this one, you might get a wrong impression that's hard to shake.… (meer)

I as a teenager in the 1980s I am the last generation to have been taught by men who had fought in the Second World War. I remember one teacher in particular who was a tall upright man, well spoken and well educated, who had spent his war years in the Royal Navy as an officer. He would tell us about his time on the Atlantic Convoys and the fear of being attacked, while there was also the exhilaration of the hunt and destruction of U-Boats. He also introduced me to a book that I still read to remind myself of that side of war, Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat while reading Convoy will Scatter it reminded me of that story.

This book brings to life the bravery of the men on convoy HX 84 and the sacrifice of a few which saved many and allowed the bulk of the convoy to carry on to Port with their precious cargo. How when out gunned the Captain of Jervis Bay attacked the Battleship Admiral Scheer and in doing so saved many more lives while laying down his and the crews.

This is the story of how the sheer determination and bravery of the Navy were able to fight and protect Convoy HX 84 meaning that out of 37 merchant ships that only 4 merchant ships were sunk. The Navy had sacrificed themselves as a diversion to allow the merchant ships to escape amid the gunsmoke. This book shows the bravery of the men and why Captain Edward Fogarty Fegan earnt his VC and that the stories of the Jervis Bay and Beaverford sacrifice would have died with the war if it wasn’t for the neutral freighter the Stureholm who picked up the survivors.

As the veterans of the Atlantic battles and convoys are now on their final journeys to another life it is now more important to record the debt we owe, Bernard Edwards records this in Convoy Will Scatter. This book is a well researched historical record of Convoy HX 84 and those men who gave their lives in the service to protect us and as the years slip by this book will become more important because those who paid the ultimate price deserve to have their story remembered and not forgotten in the depths of the ocean or time.… (meer)