Book excerpt: The biography of Ronald Burns, who served as a Royal Navy DEMS gunner aboard merchant ships during WWII. His first ship, SS Empire Drum was torpedoed in the Atlantic and he and his fellow shipmates spent thirteen days adrift in a lifeboat. Shortly after being rescued, he served aboard rescue ship, SS Rathlin, which sailed with the infamous convoy, PQ17 to Russia. What Ron witnessed was carnage and devastation beyond belief. This is his story.