The L'Anse sentinel., 1918-10-18

crews of the three block ships were
lost.
Still in Position.
"All three block ships are still in po-
sition. after three and half months,
and the navigable channel into the
canals remains sealed. The difficulty
of placing ship across the channel
in broad daylight and without oppO-
stion Is considerable, so how the COM
manding officers Of these ships man.
aged to sink them so successfully al
most passes comprehension.
"The escape of the officers and men
from the wrecks was well carried out.
The Intrepid alone carried nearly 30
men and not single man fell into Ger
man hands, although, as has been said
before, this blocking operation took
place very nearly one mile inside the
batteries Of the Mole, and two of the
block ships were actually inside the
shore line.
when it was considered that suf-
ficient time had elapsed for the block
ing ships to do their work and for the
crews to be rescued the order was CIV
en- to the storming parties to retire
from the Mole. Whilst the Vindictive
and her consorts were actually along
side they were comparatively safe from
fire except in the case of the upper
works which rose above the Mole. The
big tunnels and mast of the Vindictive
had been rIddled through and through,
and many casualties were caused by
flying splinters. AS soon as the order
to retire was given the storm parties
re-embarked. Soma had been killed,
several severely wounded, and yet out
Of about four hundred men who had
stOrmed the Mole less than a score
were left behind, in spite of the 16-
foot climb up the ladder onto the
parapet.
There must have been many acts
OF great gallantry to enable men who
could not walk to be carried back on
board amidst heavy fire of the light
guns on the Mole and shell fire from
the shore batteries, which had com
menced to shell their own Mole as
soon as they discovered 1t was In our
possession.
Small Craft Take Part.
1T was fully realized that immedi-
ately the ships showed off the Mole
they would come under the concen-
trated fire of every battery that could
bear. ii. M. S. Iris, on leaving the
Vindictive, was severely hit and suf-
fered many casualties, but the Vim
dictive herself and the Daffodil bore
charmed lives. All three ships retired
to the northward whilst emitting
smoke clouds to cover their retreat.
an addition to the vessels already
mentioned, large number of small
craft took part in the operation, and
II can safely be said that any failure
on the part of single unit might
have prevented the success of the
whole expedition. Small motor boats
steamed up and down close off the
shore batteries, as 1t were, treating the
latter with utter contempt. Destroy
ers supported the small craft, lombard
ed the enemy batteries and assisted In
rescue work with equal contempt Of
danger.
"vice Admiral Keyes directed the
whole operation, which had been pre-
pared under his own supervision, from
III. NJ. S. Warwick, and did not leave
the scene of operations until the last
Of the blocking ships crews had been
recovered. The spirit and determina-
tion with which he had imbued all his
officers and men and his great quality
of leadership made success as near a
certainty as possibly could be done.
Every officer and man who took part
in this operation consequently had put
to sea with absolute confidence that
success would be attained. A COM
plete success was attained, and more
complete was 1t than could ever have
been hoped when the undertaking first
came up for consideration"
-RATI0N SHIP FLAG