Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-04-30
RAID ON ZEEBRuGGE

| RAID ON zEEsRueeE
British Captain Gives Details Of Heroic
Achievement.
Aboard II. NJ. !. Nindictive in Do
yer Harbor, April s5-A correspond
ent OF the Associated Press visited
the cruiser Hindictive today rs the
guest OF Capt Alfred F. 3. Carpen-
ter. who commanded her In the ex-
pedition last Tuesday against the
German submarine base at Zee
brugge on the Belgian coast.
Captain Carpelter received the cor
respondent with his arm in sling
from a shell splinter wound. The
ship showed innumerable signs Of
conflict. her decks and super-struc-
ture being covered with the scars Of
shells and machine gun hits The
commander during the attack was at
the end Of the bridge in q small steel
box or cabin which had been special
| ly constructed to house. q name-
thrower. In the course Of long ac-
count OF the part taken by the Vln-
dictive In the raid. Captain C2rpen-
ter said to the Associated Press:
Our chief purpose In the expedi-
ton was to distract the attention Of
the battery while the block ships ran
In, especially the battery Of 1l-inch
guns which occupied a commanding
position at the tip OF the mole. Our
business of landing soldiers on the
mole, which is Of stone 40 feet high
and Is feet above the Vindictire's
top deck at the stage Of the tide when
the attack took place"
I'VE had a special sup p,r-structure
over the upper deck and three long
gangways or 'brows' which were de-
signed to take the men yp to the
level OF the mole as soon as We got
alongsidc. Exactly according to plan.
we ran alongside the mole. approach
ing it 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 kept 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 smached, but
L a
up this on to the mole. This gang
way was two feet wide and 80 feet
long.
| The men who went up II included
300 marines and $50 storming seamen
from the Vindictive and so or so
from the Daffodl. They swarmed up
the steel gangway carrying hand
grenades and Lewis guns. No Ger
mans succeeded In approaching 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 50 the bridge got
the full effect OF enemy fire from the
shore batteries. One shell exploded
ssaipst the -pIletb2asa,-killiRssReASlx
all Of its 10 occupants. Another burst
in the fighting top. killing a lieuten-
ant and eight men who were doing
excellent work with two pompoms and
four machine guns.
THE battery Of ll-inch guns at the
| end Of the mole was only 800 yards
away and 1t kept trying to reach US.
The shore batteries also were diligent
Only Il few German shells hit our hull
because 1t was well protected by the
| wall OF the mole. but the upper
structure, masts. stacks and ventila-
tors showed above the wall and were
riddlcd. A considerable proportion OF
our casualties were caused by splint-
crs from the upper works.
Meanwhile the Daffodil continued
to push w against the wall as II no
battle was on. and II the Daffodil
had failed to do this none Of the
members Of the landing party would
have been able to return to the ship.
Twenty live minutes after the Vim
dictive 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 Of the
| block ships stranded outside Of the
canal, but the two others got two or
three 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
enemy might get information Of the
plan. Our preparation. therefore, was
limited to a certain amount OF inten-
sive training at night fighting and
bombing. while officers were carefully
drilled in dealing with all exigencies
| likely to occur.
"All the men were tuned up to a
high pitch and II was with very anx-
ious hearts that we waited for suit
able time to strike, knowing that
every day we waited there was
greater chance of our secret leaking
out.