Spitfires. Three of the German planes were shot down or manoeuvred to evade the Spitfires, but one bomber held its course and a 1,000-pound bomb landed in the tanker's wake. Ohio was flung forward, parting Ryes tow, buckling the stern plates of the tanker and forming a great hole. Arrival Ohio was sinking little more than 45 miles west of Malta. Under the protection of the Spitfires, the danger of enemy attacks receded. After the tow line was parted, Ledbury was still secured to Ohio by a heavy wire which had been pulled round by the heavily yawing tanker, and had ended up alongside Penn, facing the wrong way. After a quick analysis of the possibilities, it was decided to tow the tanker with a destroyer on either side of the tanker. Bramham was immediately ordered to make for port, while Penn remained coupled to the starboard side. The speed was increased but limited to . Ohios deck was awash amidships. Now under the protection of the coastal batteries of Malta, the group of ships were slowly moving around the island, approaching Grand Harbour. The coastal batteries fired on a creeping U-boat's conning tower, and drove off a group of E-boats. Slowly the group approached the tricky harbour entrance, near Zonqor Point. Here the group dispersed before a British-laid minefield. At 0600 hrs on the festival of'Santa Marija (Assumption of Mary), with Ohio still hovering on the edge of the minefield, the situation was eased by the arrival of the Malta tugs. With destroyers still linked on either side of the tanker, the tugs made fast ahead and astern and the tanker was soon proceeding up the channel to the Grand Harbour entrance. There, a great welcome awaited them. On the ramparts above the wreck-strewn harbour, on the Barracca, Fort Saint Angelo and Senglea, great crowds of Maltese men and women waved and cheered and a brass band on the end of the mole was giving a spirited rendition of Rule Britannia. Captain Mason, however, standing at the salute on the battered bridge of Ohio, could spare not a moment's thought for the pride of bringing the ship to harbour, since the creaking plates showed that Ohio might still go to the bottom of the Grand Harbour. Pipes were now hauled aboard and emergency salvage pumps began to discharge the kerosene. At the same time, a fleet auxiliary, RFA Boxol,