It's been back on again, watched it twice now, would love to know why they may have missed picking the sub on the asdic, was it range.
The scene where there were men in the water and they thought it was a sub - could it not have been the sinking ship they had just been thrown from as it went to the bottom - all ships become subs when they sink below the waves - ideally they should have circled and picked up the survivors before determining if it was the sinking vessel - just my opinion.
You mean drop rafts for the survivors. With a uboat around, I don't think a captain dare stop to lower a boat.
Watched a bit of this on TV the other day: Ericson orders abandon ship and a man 'losing his head' jumps from the gunwhale unprepared, next scene is 'Tonbridge', the seaboats coxswain(?) who takes a few seconds to prepare himself, adjusting his lifebelt, see it is inflated, etc. We see Tonbridge again by a carley float calling for survivors, you don't see the unprepared guy.
p.s. about the original question to 'pipe the silk'. I don't think the ensign was ever called silk, maybe he said 'pipe the ship'?