New-York tribune., 1918-05-15
Britain Giues Details of
Nindictiue' Ostend Raid

reaching the position at which she flrst
lost her way there came rift In the
mist, and she saw the entrance, the
piers on either side, and opening dead
ahead
"The inevitable Motor Boat U. P. No.
%, commanded by Acting Lieutenant
Guy l.. Cockburn, raced on into the
growing fire and planted a bare on the
water between the piers. The Vindlc-
tive steamed over it and on. She
was in.
Shells Rain Upon Ship
"The guns found her at once. She
was hit every few seconds after she
in a score of places, her deck and
upper works swept by machine guns.
The machine gun at the end of the
western pier had been put out Of action
by motor boats torpedo, but from
other machine guns at the jnshore end
of the pier. from q position on the
front and from machine guns apparent
ly firing over the eastern pier, there
converged upon her hail of lead.
after her control was demolished
by shell which killed all the occu-
pants, including Sub-Lieutenant Angus
Fl. Maclachlin, who was in command
of it, the upper and lower bridges and
the chart room were swept by bullets.
Commander Godsal ordered the Off
GERS to go with him to the coming
tower.
They observed through the obser-
vatlon slit in the steel wall of the
coming tower that the eastern pier
was preached some two hundred yards
from the seaward end, as though at
some time a ship had been in col
lision with it. They saw the front Of
the town silhouetted again and again
in the light of the guns that blazed at
them. The night was a patchwork Of
fire and darkness.
"lmmcdate]y after passing the
breach in the pier Commander Godsal
left the coming tower and went on
deck, the better to watch the ships
movements. He chose a position and
called in through the slit OF the coming
tower his orders to starboard. the helm.
The Vindictive responded and laid her
battered nose to the eastern pier and
prepared to swing her 320 feet Of
length across the channel.
She'll Hits Coming Tower
"It was at that moment that a shell
from the shore batteries struck the
coming tower. Lieutenant Sir John
Alleyne and Lieutenant V. A. C. Crutch-
ley were still within. Commander
Godsal was close to the tower outside.
Lieutenant Alleync was stunned by the
shock. Lieutenant Crutchley shouted
through the slit to the commander and,
receiving no answer, rang for port en-
gine full speed astern to help the
swinging of the ship. BY this time she
was lying at an angle of about 40 de-
grees to the pier and seemed to be
hard FAST so it was impossible to
! bring her further around.
i After working the engines some
minutes to no effect Lieutenant
Crutchley gave t.le order to clear the
engine room and abandon ship, ac-
cording tc the programme previously
laid down. Engineer Lieutenant Com
last to leave the engine room, blew
the main charges by a switch installed
aft. Lieutenant Crutchley blew the
auxiliary charges in the forward six
inch magazine from the coming
tower
"Those on board felt the old ship
shrug as the explosive tore the bot
tom plates ard bulkheads from her
She sank about six feet and lay upon
the bottom of the channel. Her work
was done.
at is to be presumed that Com
mander Godsal was killed by the shell
which struck the coming tower Lieu
tenant Crutchley, searching the ship
before he left her, failed to find his
body or that of Sub-Lieutenant Mac
Lachan in that wilderness of splintered
wood and shattered steel. In the
previous attempt to blockade the port
+ Commander Godsal commanded the
! Brilliant
Bury Severely Wounded
Engineer Lieutenant Commander
Bury, who was severely wounded, had
been in the Vindctve in the attack on
/ Zeebrugge Mole. He had urged upon
the vice admiral his claim to remain
| with her, with four engine room artif-