THE WORK OF THE BLOCKSHIPS.
The blockships had eased down soon after passing through position G so as to drop astern of Vindictive sufficiently far to enable that vessel and her consorts to create the necessary diversion. The conning and steering positions in each ship were triplicated and fully manned so that, in the event of one position being destroyed, the handling of the ship could immediately be taken over by another party. Guns' crews were standing by their guns ready to defend their vessels against attacks by enemy craft or to retaliate against the batteries in the hope of reducing the latter's fire.
At about midnight heavy firing was heard close at hand, but nothing could be seen owing to the dense smoke screen which was then drifting slowly to seaward. During the first quarter of an hour after midnight the blockships passed through an area which was apparently being barraged with shell fire. They were steaming in the order Thetis, Commander Ralph S. Sneyd, Intrepid, Lieutenant Stuart S. Bonham-Carter, and Iphigenia, Lieutenant Edward W. Billyard-Leake.
At twenty minutes past midnight the Mole was sighted right ahead in the glare of the rockets fired from Vindictive; the blockships had just been hailed by M.L. 558, who gave the direction of the lighthouse.
Dash for the Canal
Thetis increased to full speed and, passing round the end of the Mole, steered for the extremity of the barge boom. A fairly heavy fire was being directed at her by such guns of the Mole-extension battery as were still in action; as far as could be seen, nothing was fired by the three-gun heavy battery at the end of the broad part of the Mole. The ship's guns opened fire at the lighthouse, which was believed to be used as a signalling and observation station, and at the southernmost barge; the latter was sunk. At this stage Thetis was caught by the strong east-going tidal stream and was set towards the boom of entanglement nets. The ship passed over the latter between the two northern buoys and tore the nets away with her momentum. The piers at the entrance to the canal were then sighted, but the propellers were so badly fouled by the nets that the engines were brought to a stop.
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN THROUGH THE CLOUDS A FEW
HOURS AFTER THE ENTERPRISE.
Note the blockships sunk in the entrance, the break in the viaduct,
and the southern barge missing from the boom.
It must have been at about this moment that the enemy first realised the true nature of the enterprise. The attacks on the Mole, the blowing up of the viaduct, the explosions of torpedoes on the inside of the Mole, the smoke, the rapid changes of visibility, and the terrific noise on all sides had combined to leave the enemy in a hopeless state of stupefaction as to our real intentions. We heard afterwards that they believed a forced landing on the coast was in progress. The impossibility of using one's defensive measures to the best advantage when the initiative lies in the hands of the attackers has already been referred to. Suffice it to say that the enemy do not appear to have discovered the real purpose of our operations until too late to make the best use of their defensive measures.