The bridge of the Eilat was crowded as it always was toward sunset when the watch is doubled against surprises lurking in a world half drained of light, yet unprotected by darkness.
Through binoculars, Cmdr. Yitzhak Shoshan, the destroyer’s captain, could make out the tops of cranes in Port Said silhouetted against the horizon to the west. Around him, commands were being given laconically through intercoms with the exaggerated enunciation used for clarity in shipboard communication. His orders were to skirt the edge of Egyptian territorial water, 12 miles from Port Said, at the entrance to the Suez Canal. Ever since Israel’s spectacular victory in the Six-Day War four months before, the navy had been patrolling Sinai’s coasts, showing the flag. In approaching this close to the Suez Canal, the navy was not only showing the flag but ramming it down the Egyptians’ throat. It was highly unlikely that they would do anything about it, particularly since the Israeli vessels kept to international waters.
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