CHAPTER VIII
THE RETIREMENT
It had been arranged that the storming parties on the Mole should have twenty minutes' warning of Vindictive leaving the outer wall. A maximum length of stay alongside had also been laid down so that, under certain circumstances, watches would provide some guide as to the amount of time available.
The warning signal for leaving the Mole was to consist of a succession of long and short blasts on the siren, or a particular method of waving the searchlight beams, or, if all other means failed, a message conveyed by runner.
At about 12.50 A.M., three-quarters of an hour after Vindictive's arrival alongside, the question of the length of stay was considered. The blockships had been seen passing the lighthouse en route to the canal, the viaduct had been blown up. The diversion on the Mole had throughout served to attract the fire of a large number of enemy batteries. From this followed the deduction that some chance of rescue work had probably offered itself to our motor launches. It was likely that in another twenty minutes these latter vessels would have definitely succeeded or failed in their object.
Beginning of the End
The primary object for which the attack on the Mole was designed had been attained. There remained the secondary object of demolition. The only guns in Vindictive which could have borne directly on the Mole had been put out of action. Her upper works were still being hit every few seconds with a continually increasing list of casualties amongst those in exposed positions. Owing to the failure of the Mole anchors no member of the storming parties could hope to return if Daffodil was disabled. That the latter vessel had thus far escaped destruction was little short of a miracle. The maximum period allowed for the operations of the storming parties would expire at twenty minutes past one. Thirty minutes remained. If the warning signal was made immediately, the storming parties would have their maximum time cut down by only ten minutes.
The question which arose out of the foregoing considerations was as to whether it was worth while to remain alongside during the last ten minutes for the sake of demolition work whilst risking, at the least, the loss of the whole of the storming parties then on the Mole.
Shortly after 12.50 A.M. the order was given to make the retirement signal. Vindictive's sirens had both been shot away. The starboard searchlight had received a direct hit from a projectile and had been hurled off the bridge down to the upper deck. The port searchlight had also been put out of action. An order was passed to Daffodil to make the retirement signal on her siren. The latter spluttered and gurgled whilst emitting a veritable shower bath, but presently began to show signs of being useful. A low groan developed into a growling note which in turn travelled gradually up the scale until loud enough to be heard at a distance. The signal was repeated several times and then came an anxious period of waiting.
At about this time a large stack of Stokes bomb boxes, containing fused bombs, was set on fire by a shell. All the fire-extinguishing apparatus in the vicinity had already been shot away. The chief Quartermaster, Petty Officer E. G. Youlton, whilst shouting to others to take cover, extinguished the fire by hauling out the burning boxes and stamping on them. A few moments later the fire broke out afresh. Youlton repeated his very gallant efforts and succeeded in saving a very awkward situation.
The Recall
The storming parties commenced to return to the ship almost at once. Many of the ship's company, officers and men, assisted in carrying the wounded on board over the gangways, which were as rickety as ever. One Marine carried a disabled man on board, placed his charge on the deck, kissed him on both cheeks and was heard to remark, "I wasn't going to leave you, Bill."
I have seen both statements and illustrations to the effect that our storming parties, before leaving, erected a staff on the Mole and hoisted a Union Jack upon it. It may seem a pity to spoil a good story, but this event was quite imaginary. A memento of our visit, however, was prepared in the shape of a board to which were attached our visiting cards bearing the letters P.P.C., but there is no very clear evidence as to whether this memento was left on the Mole, though I believe that was the case.
A shell burst just outside the conning tower whilst three of us were discussing the probability of any men being still on the Mole. Lieutenant-Commander Rosoman was shot through both legs; Petty Officer Youlton had an arm shattered; a very slight wound in the shoulder was my own share of the damage.
By the time that fifteen minutes had elapsed from the sounding of the retirement signal practically all the storming parties had returned. No more men were seen to come back, but I had given a definite promise that the full twenty minutes' notice would be allowed. After repeated assurances from other officers, backed up by my own personal observation, that no others were returning we decided to leave the Mole. The cable had already been unshackled ready for slipping overboard when no longer required.
Lieutenant-Commander Rosoman, in spite of his wounds, accompanied me to the conning tower. He absolutely refused to sit down, but remained standing so that he could keep a lookout through the slit in the armour.
The conning tower was of very small dimensions. Four wounded men had previously crawled inside and had died where they lay. Three or four other wounded men had crawled in later on and had collapsed. One of the telegraphs to the engine-room had been shot away, but the telephone was intact.
All the other compasses having been destroyed, we had to depend upon the conning-tower compass. The magnetic directive force on a compass needle is necessarily very weak in a conning tower of such small dimensions. The ship had received so many hard knocks that the magnetism on board was pretty certain to have undergone considerable change. Thus, whereas this particular compass was somewhat independable before, it was now exceedingly unreliable.
In spite of the many hundreds of times that I must previously have instructed young officers that no iron should be placed within five feet of the compass, I have my first lieutenant to thank for pointing out that the presence of so many steel helmets in the conning tower was inadvisable.
Daffodil was ordered to tow Vindictive's bow away from the wall. Lieutenant Campbell obeyed at once; our anchor cable was slipped overboard. Directly after the strain came on the Daffodil's hawser the latter broke, but it had served its purpose. "Full speed ahead" was ordered and the ship moved forward almost immediately. This was at 1.11 A.M.
A large steel boom—the original mainmast of the ship—had been rigged over the port side of the quarter-deck, jutting out rather further than the port propeller with the object of saving the latter from hitting the wall. When Vindictive's helm was put over to port, her stern swung towards the Mole, but the boom saved the situation as a result of a heavy blow against the wall.
As soon as Vindictive had moved a few feet the gangways slipped off the wall and fell overboard with a resounding crash. For a few moments the wreckage fouled and stopped the port propeller, but quickly cleared again without having done any serious damage.
The German's Last Straw
It is not difficult to gauge the feelings of the enemy when they first noticed the ship moving off. We had taken them more or less by surprise on arrival and had managed to storm the Mole in spite of every effort to prevent us. The enemy could not have been over-pleased about that. The ship had been able to remain at the Mole for one hour and ten minutes without sustaining any vital damage. That fact was not calculated to engender a pleasant frame of mind amongst the enemy. But they knew exactly where we were. They knew we should endeavour to leave sooner or later; they knew that any attempt to do so would inevitably expose the vitals of the ship to their batteries at point-blank range; they thought they knew that our fate was sealed immediately we were clear of the wall; there could be no surprise about leaving. But all such matters had been carefully thought out beforehand. Vindictive, Iris, and Daffodil each carried several sets of artificial smoke apparatus for use on retirement. Immediately we started to go ahead orders were given for the smoke to be turned on. In less than a minute all previous fog records were beaten beyond comparison. Thus in place of a victim the enemy found a fog.
We steamed away to the northwestward at utmost speed. The flames were pouring through the holes in the funnels; the ship had the appearance of being heavily on fire. The wind being now offshore brought the fog along with us; fortunately for the navigation we had a clear lookout ahead. The enemy cannot have seen much more than the vivid glare of our funnel flames illuminating the upper part of the fog. From all accounts their batteries were far from idle. As the ship sped seaward we had the sensation of the ship jumping at irregular but frequent intervals. This may have been due to the concussion of heavy shell striking the water near the ship. Whether any shell hit us or not during the retirement is unlikely to be known. One could hardly see one's own feet. The ship had already been hit so often that any further damage of the same description would hardly have been noticed. Suffice it to say that no vital damage to the hull was received.
After steaming for twenty minutes the first lieutenant reported a light off the starboard bow. It was the Blankenberghe buoy, which we had passed during the approach. We altered course to pass close to the buoy and then for our line of retirement.
Homeward Bound
Presently the dark form of a vessel was sighted ahead. Our guns' crews were ready for any emergency, but the vessel proved to be H.M.S. Moorsom, one of the patrolling destroyers. All the bridge signalling lamps had been destroyed. With an ordinary pocket torch we flashed a signal requesting Moorsom to lead us as our compass was hopeless.
On the way across to Zeebrugge my anxiety with regard to accuracy of compass course had led me to criticise the steering of one of the quartermasters. Now, on the return voyage, I had become quartermaster, in the absence of Petty Officer Youlton, and am afraid the steering was execrable. That fact was officially recorded by the Commanding Officer of Moorsom who, knowing nothing about our amateur steersmanship, reported, "... Vindictive appeared ... steering a very erratic course!" Fortunately the services of another petty officer, as steersman, were obtained later on.
Lieutenant-Commander Rosoman combined the duties of lookout and navigator; his advice was most helpful. A visit from the stretcher parties relieved the congestion in the conning tower. Another memorable incident was the arrival of the Paymaster with a jug full of a certain stimulating beverage which put new life into us; I shall not complete the testimonial.
Several signals were interchanged with Moorsom on the subject of shoals; it was a great relief when we eventually located a buoy marking a danger spot.
Vindictive was steaming nearly seventeen knots until daylight—a great achievement on the part of Engineer Lieutenant-Commander Bury and his department.
Soon after daylight a destroyer was observed to be racing up from astern at high speed. She quickly ranged up alongside and proved to be H.M.S. Warwick. The first signal from her, "Well done, Vindictive," cheered us up immensely, not because of its actual import, but because it looked very much as if the Vice-Admiral were alive. To make sure we enquired if that surmise was correct and, greatly to our relief, received a reply in the affirmative.
H.M.S. Warwick had continued throughout the operation to patrol in a central position, namely, near the Mole lighthouse. She had come under a heavy fire and altogether experienced a couple of hectic hours. Soon after one o'clock she had moved towards Vindictive and suddenly came upon the latter leaving the Mole. Vindictive's smoke screen made it impossible to keep touch, so the Vice-Admiral decided to search for Iris and Daffodil in case they should require assistance. Shortly after this M.L. 282 was met and transferred her blockship survivors to Warwick, who was also informed that Iris and Daffodil had left the Mole. Warwick then escorted some motor launches out of the danger zone, and, after rallying several other craft at a prearranged rendezvous, she steered for Dover and overtook Vindictive as mentioned above.
Admiral Keyes ordered Moorsom to lead Vindictive to Dover, to which place Warwick proceeded at high speed to land her wounded and to arrange for the arrival of the casualties from the remaining vessels.
The weather being misty, we did not sight Dover until within a mile or so. Our reception was wonderful, the result of the operation being already known at Dover. I think everybody cheered himself hoarse that morning. Presently we were ordered to proceed alongside the railway jetty. Within me there was some feeling of satisfaction at having berthed the ship at Zeebrugge, a place which I had never seen, in face of certain difficulties additional to the tide. Any feeling of pride, however, was quickly dispelled when, in accordance with the routine of the port, on my ship being ordered to proceed alongside Dover jetty in broad daylight, with no opposition from the enemy, and with every convenience in the way of hawsers and bollards, a pilot was sent on board to handle her!
On arrival alongside the wounded were disembarked into a Red Cross train, which immediately took them off to hospital. Those who had laid down their lives were then carried ashore; this, indeed, was a sad parting. Finally we moved out to a buoy to make room for other vessels.
A Souvenir from the Mole
After our arrival at Dover it was discovered that a large block of concrete was jambed between a fender and a ledge on the port side of the ship. Apparently a German shell fired from one of the heavy land batteries had struck the upper part of the outer wall and had torn away this block, which fell into the position mentioned. This concrete block, weighing nearly half a ton, was hoisted on board. A few pieces were taken as souvenirs. The main portion was presented to the Imperial War Museum and formed rather a unique piece of evidence, not only of the fact that Vindictive lay alongside the Mole, but of the exact position at which the Mole was stormed. The illustration facing page 74 shows the damaged portion of the wall from which this block of concrete was torn.
H.M.S. VINDICTIVE AT DOVER AFTER THE ATTACK.
A large piece of the Mole was found resting on the ledge
shown at the bottom right-hand corner of the photograph
Daffodil was exceedingly fortunate in having escaped serious damage. Her hull had been exposed to the fire of the German batteries throughout the whole hour and the odd minutes during which she had been keeping Vindictive alongside the Mole. On the retirement signal being made everything was prepared for towing the bows of Vindictive away from the wall. Immediately the order was received, Lieutenant Campbell turned his ship and commenced to tow. The hawser had parted almost at once, but that was of no consequence. Daffodil then steamed away to the northward under cover of her own artificial smoke and eventually spoke H.M.S. Trident. The latter took her in tow and brought her safely to Dover, which was reached at 1 P.M. The enthusiastic reception commenced all over again. It must be realised that the fate of each vessel was unknown to the majority of the remainder until some hours after the completion of the operation.
It has already been described how Iris, after leaving Vindictive and suffering severe damage from hostile gun-fire, had been smoke-screened by a motor boat and had disappeared from view. This smoke screen, augmented by further smoke from their own apparatus, undoubtedly saved Iris from destruction. Under the directions of Lieutenant Oscar Henderson, R.N., who had assumed command after his captain had been mortally wounded, Iris steamed away to seaward and eventually proceeded to Dover under her own steam, whilst being escorted by other vessels met with in the small hours. She arrived at Dover at 2.45 P.M. and, once more, everybody cheered himself hoarse.
At intervals throughout the forenoon and afternoon of the 23d the several vessels and craft arrived at Dover. We then had the opportunity of piecing together the information obtained from each unit and were thus able to gauge the probable results attained.
The air force had been requested to obtain new photographs of Zeebrugge as early as practicable, but the sky was so clouded over that no absolutely indisputable evidence was obtained until 2 P.M., when a photograph was taken through a chink in the clouds. This photograph showed the positions of the inner blockships and the break in the railway viaduct. The operation had been an unqualified success.
The Operation at Ostende
The operation at Ostende had unfortunately failed. The difficulties of navigation had been accentuated by the change of wind which brought the artificial fog back to seaward. The consequent obscuration of the harbour entrance made it necessary to place some dependence on a buoy which had, unknown to us and by the merest coincidence, just been moved a mile or so to the eastward by the enemy. In spite of the most gallant attempt by Commander A. E. Godsal in H.M.S. Brilliant and Lieutenant-Commander H. N. M. Hardy in H.M.S. Sirius, ably assisted as they were by their officers and men and by a large number of other craft, the blocking attempt had not achieved success. The Vice-Admiral decided, therefore, to make another attempt at the earliest possible moment. Vindictive, being the only suitable vessel available, was immediately prepared for this further service. Owing to a continuation of impossible weather conditions the operation could not be carried out until May 10th; thus it is clear that if our expedition had not started on their journey on April 22d the operation at Zeebrugge could not have taken place during the allotted period.
Just one other reference to the further use of Vindictive cannot be omitted. Immediately on their return, after the failure to block Ostende, both officers who have been mentioned above as commanding the blockships at that place, begged to be given ships for a further attempt. They had failed through no fault of their own and had gone through some terrible experiences. Nothing could curb their ardour, and I believe they gave the Vice-Admiral no peace until he consented to give them another chance. Poor Godsal. Nothing could have been finer than his handling of the old Vindictive on the night of May 9th-10th, but he was killed at the very moment when complete success seemed to be assured; Ostende was partially blocked.
It was with considerable feelings of regret that, on April 25th, we made way in Vindictive for the new crew destined to take her to Ostende. It was a sad farewell.
The behaviour of the wounded had been splendid; their cheerfulness was unbounded. One poor fellow who had suffered severe internal injuries as well as the loss of both legs was asked if he was sorry that he went over to Zeebrugge. He replied, "No, sir, because I got on the Mole." That was all that mattered to him. There was practically no chance of saving his life, but "he had got on the Mole."
The spirit of all the men in Vindictive was fine. Nevertheless, I do not deceive myself into imagining that these men were exceptional. They only represented one small contingent of many which fought at Zeebrugge and Ostende on St. George's Day; the combined crews of all the vessels in the operation only represented a trifling percentage of our total naval personnel; the behaviour of my men was merely typical of all those others.
Those of our survivors who had not been sent to hospital with wounds proceeded on a few days' leave before rejoining their depots or their ships in the Grand Fleet. What a piratical appearance the crew presented on their departure! Many of them had lost all their clothes, except those in which they stood during the action. Those others whose clothes had survived the fight were not much better off. The souvenir hunters had raided my ship, had "picked up" some of the men's belongings, and had even been inconsiderate enough to break into my cabin and make a complete clearance of the officers' handbags placed there for safety.
H.M.S. VINDICTIVE ON HER RETURN TO DOVER AFTER THE ATTACK
One last story of a personal nature. On receipt of the news at Dover a young officer, in his desire to do me a kindness, decided to wire the good news to my wife. He forgot that she would know nothing of the enterprise or even of its preparation, and he worded the telegram: "Operation successful. Husband quite all right." The recipient's feelings may be easily imagined; she guessed it was appendicitis!