TNA ADM 199 790

Collection details

TNA ADM 199 790

Admiralty records concerning Operation Dynamo and the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk, dating from 1940.

Holding archive: TNA
Collection reference: ADM 199 790

View the archive catalogue entry ↗

Source: The National Archives, Kew, ADM 199/790. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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Page	Image	OCR text	OCR tags
717	Log in to enlarge	248 OPERATION 231 NO.22 SHIP:- NAME NOT KNOWN. SEA FALCON (?). About 40 ft. open M/B, grey. (Similar to FAIRY NYMPH) STATEMENT BY $ Crew Service $ L.S. A.Westbrook 30th. Left Dover after dark with L.S. in charge. PJX 131401. Towed in company with about 5 others by tug - two O.S. Smith. tows. Foremost boat of opposite four broke Sto. Hardwick. adrift, swung back, hit stern sheets and broke main feed pipe. Proceeded on reserve tank, repeatedly filling from main tank. Arrived. off beach near Gravelines and ran gauntlet of fire from beach as far as Dunkirk and on to Bray. Filled boat by grounding and pulling in soldiers - - continued from dawn Friday to dusk Friday. Stores being swamped had nothing to eat. Only water was in few bottles filled at pier. On last trip rising tide and wind swamped boat, carried it broadside on. Crew abandoned boat and swam ashore. Other boats could not get near enough to get a line across. About 60 carried each trip. Continual bombing all day. Smith found a cance, floated it, paddled with piece of driftwood to Walmer Lifeboat. Others walked along beach to pier and boarded destroyer. Beach littered with guns and equipment and fairly crowded with soldiers, mostly French. On pier shrapnel was bursting over, marching troops several casualties. Saw ship hit by bomb in distance in La Pame direction. Saw 5 or 6 dive bombers brought down by destroyers. A number of boats working off beach all day.	Boat Broke Dawn Falcon Gravelines Sea Falcon Day Dover Few Last Smith SMITH S Westbrook

Raw OCR

Unformatted machine-generated OCR for document page 717.

248
OPERATION
231
NO.22
SHIP:-
NAME NOT KNOWN. SEA FALCON (?).
About 40 ft. open M/B, grey.
(Similar to FAIRY NYMPH)
STATEMENT BY $
Crew
Service
$
L.S. A.Westbrook 30th. Left Dover after dark with L.S. in charge.
PJX 131401. Towed in company with about 5 others by tug - two
O.S. Smith.
tows. Foremost boat of opposite four broke
Sto. Hardwick.
adrift, swung back, hit stern sheets and broke
main feed pipe. Proceeded on reserve tank,
repeatedly filling from main tank. Arrived. off
beach near Gravelines and ran gauntlet of fire
from beach as far as Dunkirk and on to Bray. Filled
boat by grounding and pulling in soldiers - -
continued from dawn Friday to dusk Friday. Stores
being swamped had nothing to eat. Only water was
in few bottles filled at pier.
On last trip rising tide and wind swamped boat,
carried it broadside on. Crew abandoned boat and
swam ashore. Other boats could not get near enough
to get a line across. About 60 carried each trip.
Continual bombing all day. Smith found a cance,
floated it, paddled with piece of driftwood to
Walmer Lifeboat. Others walked along beach to
pier and boarded destroyer. Beach littered with
guns and equipment and fairly crowded with
soldiers, mostly French. On pier shrapnel was
bursting over, marching troops several casualties.
Saw ship hit by bomb in distance in La Pame
direction. Saw 5 or 6 dive bombers brought down
by destroyers. A number of boats working off
beach all day.