HMS Tempest (H71) destroyer flotilla in supporting the small craft inshore, "within close range of the enemy's heavy batteries". "Tempest" remained with the Tenth Flotilla at Harwich until its dispersal in February 1919. In October 1919, she was recommissioned with a reduced compliment. In October 1930, "Tempest" was used to repatriate the bodies of 48 men who had been killed in the crash of the R101 airship near Beauvais in France. The bodies were carried by "Tempest" from Boulogne-Sur-Mer to Dover, from where they were taken by rail to lie in state at Westminster Hall. She was finally sold for scrapping on 28
A Year in the Merde With countless long weekends, holiday allowances to be used up, and the inevitable strikes, the French know that if you haven't finished your year's work by May 1, you're in the "merde". The title of the book refers, in a metaphorical way, to all the difficult situations Paul West finds himself in during his stay in France, but also, literally, to the huge amount of dog excrement that can be found in the streets of Paris in this fiction. "A Year in the Merde" is also an allusion to "A Year in Provence" by Peter Mayle, an earlier work on