Mort tells of Hemingway hunt for German subs

Hemingway, hunting German subs in WWII, may never have seen one.

Los Angeles: Ernest Hemingway, hunting German subs in World War II, may never have seen one, but he thought he did.

He headed straight for the target in his wooden fishing boat with its crew of friends, knowing that a sub`s deck gun could blow them to splinters without wasting a torpedo. It didn`t matter if the sighting was a delusion. "The search is what matters," explains author Terry Mort, "the quest, the adventure, the serious purpose, the voluntary service, the fun, the satisfaction of command and comradeship, the joy of being at sea, the craft of seamanship and navigation, the possibility of danger, and the piquancy of not knowing whether it will come, the reality and the metaphor of an unseen enemy suddenly rising." What mattered most may have been the almost mystical need Hemingway always felt to stand up against a powerful, menacing — and unidentifiable — "they." His 38-foot Pilar wasn`t part of the U.S. Navy. If she had been, alcohol — an important part of its patrols — would not have been allowed aboard. She operated under navy command like hundreds of other volunteer sub-spotters in the Gulf of Mexico. Hemingway called them the "Hooligan Navy." Part of their dangerous mission was to explore the maze of keys and mangrove swamp on the Cuban coast in search of spies and clandestine German supply depots. He never found a German. Mort makes a fascinating read of every subject he takes up. His meticulously written "The Hemingway Patrols" details not only the miserable living conditions and ultimate defeat of the U-boats but also the contempt for the volunteer patrolling felt by Martha Gellhorn, Hemingway`s third wife, who was a noted reporter and novelist herself. They divorced after the war. Hemingway had an attack plan: Get close enough to throw grenades down the sub`s conning tower. Marine Col. John Thomason told him no U-boat commander would be foolish enough to let him get that close. Hemingway dubbed him "doubting Thomason." Hemingway thought the sub he saw may have been unloading spies or saboteurs from a Spanish passenger ship, to be landed on the U.S. coast. But Pilar was not only outgunned, she was also outpaced. The sub — or phantom — had finished its job and moved away before Pilar could approach. Though Hemingway liked to emphasize his hatred of fakery, he was not one to let facts spoil a good story. His posthumously published book "Islands in the Stream" tells of chasing the survivors of a sunken U-boat among the Cuban keys. Bureau Report