Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1918-05-01
OFFICER DESCRIBES THE RAID.
Germans Put Up Hard Iight--Shells
Repeatedly Hit Ships.

|
yer Harbor, April 25.-A correspond
ent of the Associated Press visited
the cruiser Vindictive to-day as the
guest of Capt. Alfred T.. B. Carpen-
ter, who commanded her in the ex-
pedition last Tuesday against the
German submarine base at Zeebrug
&c, on the Belgian coast.
Capt. Carpenter received the COR
respondent with his arm in a sling
from a shell splinter wound. The ship
showed innumerable signs of con-
ilict, her decks and superstructure
being covered with the scars Of shells
and machine gun hits. The COM
maHder, during the attack, was at the
end Of the bridge in small steel box
or cabin, which had been specially
constructed to house flame thrower.
In the course Of long account of the
part taken by the Vindictive in the
raid, Capt. Carpneter said:
"Our chief purpose in the expedi-
tion was to distract the attention of
the battery while the block ships ran
in, especially the battery of 11-inch
guns, which occupied a commanding
position at the tip Of the mole. Our
ship was elaborately prepared for the
business of landing soldiers on the
mole, which is Of stone 40 feet high
and 5 feet above the Vindictives
top deck at the stage Of the tide
when the attack took place.
1--WE had a special superstructure
over the upper deck and three long
gangways or 'brows,' which were de-
signed to take the men >up to the
level Of the mole as soon as we got
alongside. Exactly according to the
plan, we ran alongside the mole, ap-
preaching 1t on the port side, where
we were equipped with specially built
buffers Of wood two feet wide.
"As there was nothing for us to
tie up to. we merely dropped anchor
there while the Daffodil kent US
against the mole with her nose
against the opposite side of our ship
In the fairly heavy sea two of our
three gangways were smashed, but
the third held, and 500 men swarm
ed up this on to the mole. This gang
way was two feet wide and 80 feet
long.
"The men who went up it included
800 marines and 150 storming sea-
men from the Vindictive, and fifty or
so from the Daffodil. They swarmed
up the steel gangway carrying hand
grenades and Lewis machine guns.
No Germans succeeded in approach
ing the gangway, but a hard hand-to-
hand fight took place about 200 yards
up the mole toward the shore.
"The Vindictive's bow was pointed
toward the shore so the bridge got
the full effect OF the enemy fire from
the shore batteries. One shell ex-
ploded against the pilot house, kill
Ing nearly all of it's ten occupants.
Another burst in the fighting TOP,
killing lieutenant and eight men
who were doing excellent work with
two pompoms and four machine guns.
The battery of 11-inch guns at
the end of the mole was only about
900 yards away, and it kept trying to
reach us. The shore batteries also
were diligent. Only few German
shells hit our hull because it was
well protected by the wall of the
mole, but the upper structure, masts,
stacks and ventilators showed above
the wall and were riddled. A con-
siderable proportion of our casual
ties were caused by splinters from
these upper works.
Meanwhile the Daffodil continued
to push us against the wall as IL no
battle was on, and If the Daffodil had
failed to do this none of the NOM
bers Of the landing party would have
been able to return to the ship.
| '"Twenty-five minutes after the
Vindictive had reached the wall the
first block ship passed in and headed
for the canal. Two others followed
in leisurely fashion, while we kept
up the fight on the mole. One or the
block ships stranded outside Of tho
canal, but the two others got two or
hundred yards inside, where they
were successfully sunk across the
entrance.
"One difficulty we had in prepar-
ing this expedition was that we could
not have open practice Of what we
! contemplated doing for fear the en-