Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-04-25

London Times.PnbHc Ledger Serrice
fCopyrighf Igts. JD Pvb'" Ledger toUpuH"
London. April 25.-The experiences of
those aboard the old cruiser Niudiciivc
In the raid on ZeebrugEc were Of a
character that recalls stories Of the
naval cutting out Of guns and fortresses
in past days The Vind!cuyc is no small
target. but men who were on board
say she was put alongside the Hcebruggc
mole as though going to 80 pier in her
own harbor.
Men speak with admiration of the
coolness and pluck Of the captain ana
officers Of the Nindctiye. who when the
cruiser was under storm of guniire
from the German defenseS, went about
giving orders i'm the calnest possible
manner. Time and again the old ship
was struck, its masts and bridge car
ried away and much damage done 20
the upper works. but stiI the crew
stuck to it,
For nearly two hours. the exact time
is stated to have been one hour and
fifty minutes. the Nudictiye was along
side ZcebruEge mole Under these cSu-
ditions, seamen marvel that she came
through at all.
The Vindietive's casualties were rather
severe. mainly because Of one unfor-
tunate shell from a big German gun
which struck the mole alongside the
cruiser while portion of the landing
party was on, deck. 3
Large fragments otsblown-up masonry
added TO the casualties resulting from
shell splinters.
"Are You sure all the men arc
aboard?" was the captains last inquiry
before getting away from the mole II
was not until given assurance that
everybody who could be expected, 10 re-
turn was" on board that the order to
steam away was given. ...
A nernber or a destruycr's crew added
to the story Of the Vind!ctive's exploit
ian Interesting fact, His destroyer re.
sceived signals from the cruiser to show
the way out LAS we were rafting away,
sadded the seaman, the old Niudictive
,came past us with a rush, sending out
flames from the tunnels twelve feet high
land giving her best imitation Of battle
cruser. They must have been stokiug
her like blazes'' was his thGery com.
ment
survivors Are Cheered
Another $50 men. the Royal marines
and sailors in The landing party, have
been brought to Dover They We're en-
Enthusiastically Chcered by crews Of the
.warships as boats conveyed them ashore
These men stated that they We're I'm the
Ostend landing party, and We're satisfied
they had done a good deal Of damage,
although their own losses were heavy.
sThey were in the brightest spirits.
Although the weather for miles out
+ In the Channel at the time Of the action
was clear. there was a thick mist and
drizzling rain in the vicinity Of Osteud
This caused uncertainty as 10 whether
III. Il s,s..l IL
eharbor WAS thoroughly effectual.
Ia regard to the smoke clouds. the
men consider there are disadvantages as
twell as advantages in these as volumes
of smoke give away the position Of tn,
feet, although making it almost impos.
sible for German gunners to distinguish
individual ships and make targets of
them. The firing of the German bat.
teries was exceedingly heavy, the men
stated. both at Zeebruggc and Ostend
They seemed generally surprised the at
stacking fleet did not sustain more
damage.
They consider the shooting Of the
Germans rather wild. as in spite Of all
precautions, good targets were at times
afforded by several Of the ships.
Many were rescued in only shirts and
trousers from engine rooms and stoke
holds They were roughly fitted out
with anything which came to hand.
They were CHEEKY as crckets and vigor-
orously answered the cheers Of the
townspeople.
Ofhcers Tell story
The most connected account Of the
Zeebrugge undertaking was given me
by two surviving officers: We were on
board the Nindctive. In accordance with
The plan, we approached under cover OF
4 A L.
small. took part in this ingenious de-
vice the smaller craft letting out as
much smoke as their larger cOnsOrts. In
fact there was a veritable blanket of
smoke stretching from Zeebrugge Ia
tOstend, a black impenetrable wall OF
smoke which completely deceived the
Hum for a time, but. when he discovered
We had no alternative then but &c
ahead. We steamed through the smoke
screen and then we caught hell There
IS no other word for It,
"AU our men were on deck and Ger.
mans shelled the Nindictive without ces.
sation for twenty minutes, Despite the
terridc hre. we carried on. but when we
got alongside the mole we found. out
81 fourteen gangways which we had
~ hoard, only two were OF any use. All
ne remainder were shot away There
Was no help but for our stormlng party
al land by these two gangways. damaged
as the were. With over you go. Roy.
ais our men effected a landing on the
first ledge OF the mole, but We lost
heavily IN the process, for the shell fire
directed against us was terrible.
ron reaching the FIRST ledge, we had
another drop Of tWenty feet before we
could get TO grips with the enemy To
make matters worse, II was raining
heavily all the time. Undaunted, We
lowered ourselves BY means Of rope
ladders. Three Hun destroyers lay