The Hurricane made its way toward the nearby port of Greenock, as CORB officials drafted a letter to parents of lost children, and the survivors began to absorb “the immensity of the tragedy” (196). 83 CORB children were presumed dead, and parents began receiving letters on Friday, September 20, a week after the ship had set sail. The families of chaperones like Mary Cornish and Michael Rennie also received letters of condolence. However, some of these letters were premature. Lifeboat 12 was still at sea, carrying 46 passengers, including chaperone Mary Cornish and six CORB boys.

Commanded by the City of Benares’s fourth officer, Ronnie Cooper, lifeboat 12 had been launched without taking on any water or losing any passengers. The survivors, including six CORB boys, were relatively safe and dry; the worst part of their ordeal “was hearing the other children screaming and not being able to do anything about it” (203-4). The boat was full, so body heat helped the passengers survive the night. Thirteen-year-old Keneth Spark, the oldest CORB boy on board, stayed warm because he had gone back for his “nice overcoat” during the evacuation, worried that his mother would be angry if he left it behind. Mary Cornish, on the other hand, was dressed only in lightweight clothes and was soon freezing. Father O’Sullivan was also on the boat, still sick and in bad shape.

When the sun rose on September 18, lifeboat 12 was alone in the Atlantic Ocean. Ronnie Cooper knew it might be some time before they were rescued, and there were limited supplies for so many passengers, so he began to carefully ration their food and water supplies. In the worst-case scenario, the boat would have to sail to the coast of Ireland, a journey of more than a week. George Purvis was in charge of the rationing, and he knew he had “to be detailed, methodical, and conservative” to make the food and water last (208). Cooper also arranged the passengers so they fit into the boat more comfortably and instructed the crew to rig a tarp to protect them from the weather.

At noon on Wednesday, the 18th, Purvis passed around the group’s first meal: a sardine atop a ship’s biscuit and a beaker of water each. Everyone had to be patient and wait their turn as the food and water were passed from person to person. The people aboard the lifeboat would need to employ “cooperation, good nature, and a sense of community” (209), all working together if they wanted to survive. The sun started to go down with no sign of rescue, and Purvis served the second meal: a biscuit, condensed milk, and another beaker of water. Lifeboat 12 buckled down for another cold and stormy night.

When the sun came up the next day, Father O’Sullivan roused himself to lead the CORB boys in the Lord’s Prayer. The lascars, most of whom were Muslim, also prayed at dawn. Mary Cornish was determined to keep the CORB boys alive; she felt this was “the most important task of her life” (212). However, they would have many obstacles to overcome, not the least of which was boredom. The boys, between the ages of nine and 13, were used to running around and playing outside. On the crowded lifeboat, there was hardly room to move. There were no games, no radio, and no books. To keep them occupied, Mary started by leading them in songs. The boys were also still eager to talk about their ordeal, telling one another where they had been when the torpedo struck and how they had escaped the ship. They asked one another over and over if they would “rather be torpedoed at sea or bombed at home” (215). They all agreed they would rather be torpedoed at sea, still feeling as if they were on an “adventure.”

However, “boredom set in quickly” (215). They tried playing “I spy,” but there was little to see there in the open ocean. Desperate to keep the boys’ spirits up, Mary began to tell the story of Bulldog Drummond, the hero of a series of popular novels by Cyril McNeile, adding her own story lines when she forgot what happened next. Drummond was “the perfect scrappy hero for children far away from home, in a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean in the middle of a war” (217), and when Mary got stuck in the story, she told the boys it would continue later. She took her time to think of her next installment, drawing from other films or books she knew. This gave the boys something to look forward to, and they settled into a routine of listening to Mary’s stories in the morning after prayers, in the afternoon after lunch, and finally another installment before bed.

Just like Drummond, Mary “was a hero in her own story,” and she had to overcome “obstacles” and face “adversaries” (218).

The passengers on lifeboat 12 couldn’t survive long with the food and water they had left, and the harsh conditions of the weather and cramped quarters were taking a toll on their bodies. Mary was feeling “the mental and emotional stress of keeping the boys alive,” but this “huge responsibility” also “gave her a reason to stay strong, to stay alive” (220). In addition to “the extreme cold, fear, boredom, and damage to their bodies because they couldn’t move around much” (219), Mary also had a “human adversary” in the form of Harry Peard.

Peard was 38, older than Ronnie Cooper and George Purvis, and had been a navy gunner on the Benares. Gregarious and outspoken, he was “a real-life hero” to the CORB boys (220). He made them laugh, but he could also be critical of Mary, accusing her of not taking good care of the boys. While he often irked Mary, he also respected her and tried his best to pitch in with her efforts to keep the boys’ spirits up, teaching them “salty old songs” when Mary needed to pause her storytelling.

On their fourth day at sea, they were sailing along when Father Rory spotted a pod of whales that soon surrounded the boat. The boys were delighted, but the lifeboat had to steer away to avoid being crushed by the huge animals.

By the fifth day, there was still no sign of rescue, and the boys’ “bodies were wasting away” (224). Mary rubbed their feet, sore from the seawater and lack of movement, and tried to keep them occupied with her stories. Some of the lascars were becoming delirious, and everyone was suffering from the lack of food and water. Now, when the boys asked each other if they would rather be torpedoed at sea or bombed at home, they all agreed that being bombed at home was the better option. They talked about how thirsty they were and fantasized about what food they would eat when they were rescued. The hours began to “blur” together and “[t]heir world got smaller and smaller” (227). Mary forced herself to keep up with her stories and urged the boys to be brave.