It needs stressing this is a dramatic retelling of an actual event that happened during a world-wide war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_San_Demetrio
At the time the film was made the whole nation of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland was in severe peril and so the film, like others was of far more importance than a vehicle to entertain.
I do not know if every detail is accurate in terms of what exactly happened but some aspects are particularly worth considering.
It portrays the men of the British merchant fleet - not the military and what they were doing was attempting to bring vital fuel oil to Britain for use to keep the nation functioning during the time back home they were under intermittent bombing attacks (I recollect it was November 1940) We are actually shown the oil port of Galveston Texas, which I found interesting and I presume the basic technical information about how a ship can be 'rescued' and sailed using auxiliary controls was also correct.
OK for entertainment and uplift there was the propagandising - the people seeing it back home in the UK - really did need the fuel that such ships were bringing and did have close relatives away from home in peril amidst uncertainty and they did come from all parts of the UK and even at that time much further afield. It is therefore natural reference was made to an Englishman, Scotsman... etc.etc., and even a North American - who was nominally Canadian because the regulations at that time made it 'legal' for him to be taken on as crew.
There was an element of the public service broadcast with mention of The Board of Trade (A UK Government Department) and the regulations allowing only non intoxicated seaman to board a British ship, anywhere in the world - but then showing us that regulation was not surprisingly disregarded.
I learned real stuff, some important some merely interesting, and I felt we were given - in just a hundred minutes a real idea of the perils that were faced by those involved in North Atlantic convoys.
I also learned - about a bit of social history - how the News of the World ( A Sunday newspaper of long-standing - strap-line- "all the news that's fit to print") really did give an award for darts players scoring three successive treble tops I checked it with my Internet Search engine and my finds included http://www.dartsnutz.net/showthread.php?tid=1206
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_San_Demetrio
At the time the film was made the whole nation of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland was in severe peril and so the film, like others was of far more importance than a vehicle to entertain.
I do not know if every detail is accurate in terms of what exactly happened but some aspects are particularly worth considering.
It portrays the men of the British merchant fleet - not the military and what they were doing was attempting to bring vital fuel oil to Britain for use to keep the nation functioning during the time back home they were under intermittent bombing attacks (I recollect it was November 1940) We are actually shown the oil port of Galveston Texas, which I found interesting and I presume the basic technical information about how a ship can be 'rescued' and sailed using auxiliary controls was also correct.
OK for entertainment and uplift there was the propagandising - the people seeing it back home in the UK - really did need the fuel that such ships were bringing and did have close relatives away from home in peril amidst uncertainty and they did come from all parts of the UK and even at that time much further afield. It is therefore natural reference was made to an Englishman, Scotsman... etc.etc., and even a North American - who was nominally Canadian because the regulations at that time made it 'legal' for him to be taken on as crew.
There was an element of the public service broadcast with mention of The Board of Trade (A UK Government Department) and the regulations allowing only non intoxicated seaman to board a British ship, anywhere in the world - but then showing us that regulation was not surprisingly disregarded.
I learned real stuff, some important some merely interesting, and I felt we were given - in just a hundred minutes a real idea of the perils that were faced by those involved in North Atlantic convoys.
I also learned - about a bit of social history - how the News of the World ( A Sunday newspaper of long-standing - strap-line- "all the news that's fit to print") really did give an award for darts players scoring three successive treble tops I checked it with my Internet Search engine and my finds included http://www.dartsnutz.net/showthread.php?tid=1206