TNA ADM 199 788 A

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over inshore a hundred yards out to sea. A long rolling surf flows
most of the time and even the shallow draught motor-
boats could not approach closely with any degree of safety.
Open boats of all kinds from naval cutters and whalers to
seaside dinghies were towed over from England by the motor-
boats themselves and by other craft. Some of these pulling
boats were manned by odd naval ratings, others by the soldiers
themselves.
One of the principal difficulties was to avoid fouling
the motor-boats' screws with painters and odd lines attached
to these pulling boats. It is amazing how much sea-room a
soldier can take up with a couple of fathoms of rope! Carley
floats and inflated motor inner tubes also played their part
in carrying men from the beach to the motor boats, which in
turn took aboard those on these more precarious perches and
towed the loaded pulling boats to larger craft lying off in
waiting, picking up their own or any other empty boats and
towing them back inshore for further loads.
As petrol ran short each motor boat would pick up such
men as it could carry and set off back to England for more
petrol, then out again for further service.
During Wednesday, May 29th, the Mole at Dunkirk was
apparently rendered temporarily useless so that most, if not
all of the troops had to be taken from the beaches. During
this day, too, and for at least a part of the following day,
air attack continued almost unabatedly from dawn to dusk;
dive-bombing for the larger ships and machine-gunning for the
smaller.
Later in the week, although the R.A.F. were present in
greater numbers to relieve the pressure from the air, shelling
added to the difficulties and men were being hit in the pulling
boats as they carried on their work.
By the week-end evacuation from Dunkirk harbour was in
full swing again and the beaches were often almost deserted.
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