Two days later the three chums received instructions to report on board the _Pomfret Castle_, which was due to sail with a mixed contingent on the following afternoon. The vessel was a Union Castle liner commandeered by the Government. Capable of doing twenty-two knots, compared with the _Pintail's_ seventeen, it was more than likely, U-boats and mines excepted, that the _Pomfret Castle_ would arrive at Plymouth days ahead of the convoy with the New Zealand reinforcements.