The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-04-26
THRILLING TALE
OF ALLIED RAID
ON CANALS TOLD
Commander of Vindictive, With
Arm in Sling Relates Ad-
ventures
GREAT BRAVERY SHOWN
Unprecedented Acts of Daring
Nonchalantly Brought to
a. Light

Aboard II: M. S. Vindicitive in Dove
Harbor, April Pa correspondent
Of the Associated Press visited tn,
cruiser Vindictive today as the CUES
Of Captain Albert F. B. Carpenter
who commanded her in the eXpedi
ton last Tuesday against the German
submarine base at Zeebrugge, on thu
Belgian coast.
Captain Carpenter received the cor
respondent with his arm in SLING
from she'll splinter wound The shil
showed innumerable signs Of conflict
her decks and superstructure being
, covered with the scars of shells and
machine gun hits. The commander
during the attack was at the end o!
the bridge in small steel box or cab
in which had been specially contruct
ed to house flame thrOwer In the
course Of long account of the part
by the Vindictive in the raid Captain
Carpenter said to the Associated
Press: "-
'aa y Ship Was Prepared.
'"Our chief purpose in the eXpedi,
ton was to disract the attention OF
the battery while the block ships ran
in, especially the battery Of ll-inch
guns which occupied commanding
position at the tip Of the mole. Our
ship was deliberately prepared for the
business Of landing soldiers on the
mole which is OF stone, forty feet high
and fifteen feet above the Vindictive's
top deck at the state of the tide when
the attack took place.
1--WE had 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 along
side. Exactly according to the plan,
we ran alongside the mole, approach
ing it on the port side, where we were
euipqped with specially built buffers
Of wood two feet wiue
- "MereIy Dropped Anchor"
"'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 op.
posite side Of our ship. In the fairly
heavy sea two Of our three gangways
were smashed, but the third held and
five men swarmed up this on to the
mole. This gangWay was two feet
wide and thirty feet long.
"The men who went up it included
three hundred marines and one humid
red and fifty storming .seamen from
the Vindictive and fifty or so from
the Daffodil. They swarmed up the
steel gangway carrying hand gren
AIDES and Lewis guns. No Germans
succeeded in approaching the gang
took place about 200 yards up the
mole toward the shore.
Shells Fall Slaughterously.
'"The Nindictive's bow was pointed
toward the shore SO the bridge got
the full effect Of enemy fire from the
shore batteries. One shell exploded
against the pilot house, killing nearly
all of it's ten occupants. Another
burst in the fighting top, killing a
lieutenant and eight men who were
doing excellent work with pom poms
and four machine guns. 49,,
"The battery of eleven inch guns at
the end Of the mole was only 800
yards away and it kept trying to
reach US. The shore batteries also
were diligent. Only a 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 considerable proper
ton Of our casualties were caused by
splinters from these upper works.
OaffodiI Saved Them.
Meanwhile the DaffodiI continued
to push US against the wall as if no
battle was on, and if the Daffodil had
Of the landing party would have been
able to return to the ship. i
"Twenty five 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 Ss% " s,
"One difficulty we had in preparing
this expedition was that we could not
have open practice of what we con.
templated doing for fear the enemy
might get information of the plan.
Our preparation, therefore, was limit.
ed to a certain amount of intensive
training at night fighting and bombing
while officers were carefully drilled
in dealing with all exigencies likely
to occur. E &t .."'..
g Men Eager for Battle.
All the men were tuned up to
high pitch and it was with very an
xious hearts that we waited for a suit.
able time to strike, knowing that ev.
cry day we waited there was a greater
chance Of our secret leaking out.
Fifteen minutes after the Vindic-
tive arrived alongside the mole our
submarine exploded under the viaduct
connecting the mole with the main
and. The Germans had sent consid-
cradle force tothis viaduct as soon
Is the submarines arrived and these
men were gathered on the viaduct at
acking our submersible with machine
,uns. When the explosion occurred the
riaduct and Germans were blown up
ogether. The crew of the submarine
of six men, escaped on
.oard dingy to motor launch. i
1a Howitzer Knocked Out.
Early in the fighting a German l
hell knocked out our howitzer, which I
lad been getting in some good shots I
m Q big German seaplane station on I
L. H. HISf-s -