The Sentinel=record., 1918-04-26
For One Hour the Fight Ragged While
 Channel Was Being Blocked
Five Hundred and Fifty Men Were Landed From the Vindictive on the Mole and Hand to Hand Fighting of the Most Desperate Character Resulted

Aboard IT, M $ Vindicuye iu Dover Harbor, April 2s-A correspondent of the Associated Prega visited the cruiser Nudlatyo today as the guest of Captain Alfred F. E. Carpcntcr.I who commanded her in the expedition last Tuesday against tho German sub marine base at Hccbruegc on the Bcl. gian coast
 Captain Carpenter received the cor. respondent with his arm in sling from smell splinter wound The shie showed inuumer2ble signs oi a con tlict, her decks and suporstructure be-
 ing Vovered with scars of shells and machine guns hits The commander.
 daring the attack, was at the end of the bridge in a small steel box, or cabin which had been specially con structed tO house a flame thrower. In
 the course of long account of the part taken by the Vindictive in the
 raid. Captain Carpenter said to the Associated Press
 Our chief purpo7n in the eApedi-
 ton was to distract the attenil ion of
 Inc battery while the block ships ran
 in, especially the battery of eleven
 inch guns which occupied conmand-
 ing position at the tip of tue mole
 Our ship was elaborately prepared for the business of anding soldiers on the mole, which is of stone and forty fee, high and fifty feet above the Vim dictive top deck at the state of tide when the attack took place. We had special superstructure over the up- per deck and three long gangways or 'hrows' which were designed to take the men up to the level of the mole as soon as we got alongside. IiN- actly, according tO the plan, we ran alongside the mole, approaching it OH 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 paffodil kept us against the mole with her nose against the op- posite side of our ship. In the fairly ! heavy sea two of our three gangways were smashed, but the third held and | 800 men swarmed up this onto the mole This gangway was two feet l wide and thirty feet long.
 "The men who went up it included I 200 marines and 150 storming sea- | men from the Vindictlve and 50 or 50 ! from the Dalfodil. They swarmed up the steel gangwaY carrying hand | grenades and Lewis guns. No Ger !. mans succeeded in approaching tho ! sanSway but a hard hand to hand ! light took place about 200 yards up the mole toward the shore.
 Tho Vindictiye's bow was pointed , toward the shore so the bridge gotI the full effect of fire from the shore { batteries One she'll exploded against the pilot house, killing nearly all of | its ten occupants Another burst in | tue fighting top, killing 8 lieutenant i and eight men, who were doing ex | celle0t work with two pom poma and . fOur machine guns.
 "The battery of eleven inch guns at the end of the mole was only 200 yards away and t kept trying 10 reach | us, The shore batteries also were diligent. Only a few German shells { hit our hull because it was well pro tected by tho wall of the mole, but the upper structure. masts. stacks and ventilators showed abovo the wall and were riddled. A considerable propor tion of our casualties were caused by splinters from tho upper works.
 Meanwhile the Daffodil continued to push us against the wall as if no battle was on and had the Daffodil failed to do this none of the mem bers of the landing party would have been able to return to the ship
 Twenty minutes after the Vindictive had reached the wall the first block ship passed in and headed for the canal. Two others followed is leisurely fashion, while we kept up the fight on the mole. One of the block ships stranded outside of the