Stand by to Ram!

Scimitar-a new ship with a green crew-was already at 25 knots and in the ridged sea she could take no more. Her nose was pointing straight at the Jap cruiser's bridge. Snelling's eye caught the flicker of tumbling numbers on the range-repeat dial. Five thousand yards. God, why hadn't the Jap opened fire? Five thousand yards! He couldn't miss. And then the Japanese cruiser opened up, and a storm of high-explosive burst all about them.Then the captain looked at his first mate, and the first mate would never forget the sight of his captain for as long as he lived. With his left hand clutched round his throat, red as though he had hauled it, dripping, from a tin of red paint, he bent over the voice-pipe and ordered, "Full ahead together." Then he turned to them and spoke as if he tasted every word."Stand by to ram!" JAMES EDMOND MACDONNELL was born in 1917 in Mackay, Queensland and became one of Australia's most prolific writers. As a boy, he became determined to go to sea and read every seafaring book he could find. At age 13, while his family was still asleep, he took his brother's bike and rode eighty miles from his home town to Brisbane in an attempt to see ships and the sea. Fortunately, he was found and returned to his family. He attended the Toowoomba Grammar School from 1931 to 1932. He served in the Royal Australian Navy for fourteen years, joining at age 17, advancing through all lower deck ranks and reaching the rank of commissioned gunnery officer. He began writing books while still in active service.Macdonnell wrote stories for The Bulletin under the pseudonym "Macnell" and from 1948 to 1956 he was a member of The Bulletin staff. His first book, Fleet Destroyer – a collection of stories about life on the small ships – was published by The Book Depot, Melbourne, in 1945. Macdonnell began writing full-time for Horwitz in 1956, writing an average of a dozen books a year.After leaving the navy, Macdonnell lived in St. Ives, Sydney and pursued his writing career. In 1988, he retired to Buderim on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. He died peacefully in his sleep at a Buderim hospital in 2002. He is survived by his children Beth, Jane and Peter.Macdonnell's naval stories feature several recurring characters – Captain "Dutchy" Holland, D.S.O., Captain Peter Bentley, V.C., Captain Bruce Sainsbury, V.C., Jim Brady, and Lieutenant Commander Robert Randall. J. E. Macdonnell wrote over 200 novels, in at least 7 different series under several versions of his own name and several pseudonyms. Macdonnell's naval stories feature several recurring characters. His work has been published in at least nine different languages. As an ex-Royal Australia Navy gunner, his fiction is full of authenticity. With action and navy life spot on.