a lookout station which they captured. Here an iron ladder led down on the quay and three of the party went down it. A machine-gun in the fortified zone was firing on them, and Lt.-Comm. Adams advanced towards it for some 40 yd. and after taking up a position returned to collect more men. Lieuten- ant-Commander Harrison, severely wounded in the head, arrived about this time and took charge. Lieutenant-Commander Adams met Maj. Weller who gave him reinforcements, but by the time he got back Lt.-Comm. Harrison had led a rush along the parapet, where he and several of his men were killed- by ma- chine-gun fire. Able seaman Mackenzie's courage here gained him a V.C., and able seaman Evans was seriously wounded and taken prisoner in trying to bring in Lt.-Comm. Harrison's body. D Company was still in the " Iris II.," but the marines were forming up on the mole to make an assault.
They had been busy at first in the other direction. The first platoon to get ashore made to the right toward the shore and silenced a party of snipers near No. 2 shed. Captain Bamford (awarded the V.C.) joined them and they reached and held a point 200 yd. toward the shore. Another party of marines dropping straight to the mole had established a strong point by No. 3 shed close to the "Vindictive." About 12:20 a ter- rific roar and a great sheet of flame rose high above the din. The viaduct had gone up, and the mole was secure from landward side. Major Weller now received Lt.-Comm. Adams' request for reinforcements and sent a platoon and the remains of another to help him.
They advanced toward the lighthouse and reached the lookout station, where they were held up again by machine-gun fire. Lieutenant-Commander Adams and his men were some 40 or 50 yd. ahead. Nos. 5, 7 and 8 platoons were forming up under Capt. Bamford for an assault on the fortified zone. This was the position when the signal to retire blared out.
The demolition company (C Company of seamen) had got ashore under Lt.-Comm. Dickinson, but the storming parties were too close to permit of the sheds being blown up, and an attempt to blow up the destroyers was beaten back. The danger of the attack from landward had been removed by the destruc- tion of the viaduct. Submarine Ci had parted its tow and did not reach the scene in time. Lieutenant R. D. Sandford (awarded the V.C.) in C3 had sighted the viaduct about half a mile off, and running into the iron piers at p| knots had jammed the vessel with its 5-5 tons of amatol hard and fast. The fuze was lighted and the crew of six were pushing off in their little motor skiff when the propeller was torn off by fouling the submarine, and they had to take to the oars. A rain of bullets fell close to them, and struck down two oarsmen in succession. They were 300 yd. away when the viaduct went up, scattering huge pieces of iron and concrete around them.-
Another bullet struck Lt. Sandford, but just at that moment the picket boat with his brother (Lieut.-Comm. Francis Sandford) came up and took them off. Meanwhile, in the " Vindictive," Capt. Carpenter had seen the block ships go jn. The position of the storming party and of the ship was precarious. None of the mole anchors had grappled. The ship was being held into the mole by the " Daffodil," and if she were disabled it was practically certain that the men in the mole would not get back. He decided it was time to retire. His own siren was riddled through and through, but the order was passed to the " Daffodil," and the shriek of its siren rose above the din.
It was 12:50 A.M. The parties came gradually back, the marines retiring in perfect order, bringing their wounded with them. Capt. T. M. Palmer refused to leave the shore while any of his men were there, and joined the ranks of the missing. Wing-Comm. F. A. Brock, too, never returned. He was last seen fighting on the mole.
A hawser was passed from the "Vindictive," and at 1:10 A.M. the " Daffodil " began to pull her bows off the mole. The hawser just held long enough to swing her bows round, and she got clear. The " Iris II." came under a heavy fire as she left the mole. A large shell carried away the port side of the bridge, mortally wounding Comm. V. Gibbs and Maj. Chas. Eagles.
Lieutenant Spencer, though seriously wounded, continued to con the ship and got her clear. Three more shells hit the ship and caused heavy casualties in the crowded decks, but Motor Launch 558 (Lt.-Comm. Lionel Chappell, with Capt. Ralph Collins on board) came up, and throwing a smoke screen round her helped her to get away.
To return to the blocking ships. With the "Thetis" lead- ing they had rounded the lighthouse in a storm of shot and shell. The " Thetis " propeller fouled a net laid at the entrance to the harbour and carried it with her. Both engines brought up, and she grounded 300 yd. from the pierhead. She was under heavy fire, and as she appeared to be sinking, the order was given to abandon ship and blow the charges; they detonated and the ship sank. The crew manned the remaining cutter and pulled to ML$26 (Lt. Hugh Littleton) which was lying near.
The " Intrepid " astern had come under heavy shrapnel fire from the guns as she approached the mole, but after rounding it escaped their attention. She had 87 officers and men in her instead of 54, as the surplus had contrived to stay on board rather than miss the fight. She ran right into the canal, and Lt. Bonham Carter went full speed ahead with the starboard engine and full speed astern with the port to turn her round. As the ship com- menced to make stern way he blew the charges, and the crews got into two cutters which were picked up by the " Whirlwind " and a motor launch. Lt. Bonham Carter with two officers and four petty officers had got on a Carley raft and floated down the canal. ML$82 (Lt. Percy T. Dean, awarded the V.C.) had come right into the canal behind the " Iphigenia," and under a heavy fire picked them up and took them off. All the crew except one were saved. In the " Iphigenia," like the " Intrepid," the engine room ratings had avoided being taken off, so as to be present at the fight. She came under shrapnel fire off the mole, and as she rounded it a star shell showed up the " Intrepid " heading for the canal and the " Thetis " aground. Two shells struck the ship on the starboard side. The canal was hidden by smoke. It lifted for a moment, and the captain, seeing he was heading for the western pier, went full speed astern, then ahead with the starboard engine, and with a barge in front of him drove into the canal. There was a gap between the " Intrepid " and the eastern bank; he steered into it, collided with the " Intrepid," rang the gong to signify the imminent blowing of the charges, went astern and then ahead. She grounded on the eastern bank and the charges were fired. The crew left the ship in the only cutter left under fire. ML2&2 (Lt. Percy T. Dean) was waiting and took the crew on board, and then making the cutter fast to his stem went out of harbour stern first at full speed. Heavy machine-gun fire was concentrated on her; two officers were dangerously wounded and two of the launch's crew of four killed, but she got clear.
The destroyers had been lying off the harbour, and the " Warwick " now picked up four motor launches, including ML282 overloaded and full of wounded with 101 men of the "Iphigenia" and "Intrepid." MLno (Lt.-Comm. Dawbarn Young) had come under a heavy fire while trying to show the blockships the way in. She was struck by three shells, which killed or wounded half the crew and wrecked the engines. Her captain, hit in three places and mortally wounded, gave orders to the last, but died before reaching Dover. The " Warwick," " Phoebe " and " North Star " had been cruising off the mole to screen the force from torpedo attack. The destroyer " North Star " losing her bearings in the smoke had emerged from the smoke screen and coming under a heavy fire was reduced to a sinking condition. The " Phoebe " (Lt.-Comm. Hubert Gore- Langton) attempted to tow her out, but the hawser was shot away once, and parted another time. She was therefore aban- doned and sunk. By 1:30 it was all over and the force was on its way back to Dover. The " Vindictive " in terrible disarray arrived there soon after 8 A.M. on April 23. The " Iris II.," limping behind her, reached home at 2:43 P.M. Her commander had died that morning.
Meanwhile things had gone badly at Ostend. The blocking ships " Brilliant " (Comm. Alfred Godsal) and " Sirius " (Lt.-
