TNA ADM 199 790

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As instructed the wreck "John of the "Grenade" was drifting down on the I
follow and ships out. "Polly Johnson" and "Brock" and to
the other Cattling" to attempt to pull her clear trawlers,
7
up troops survivors, got clear, and proceeded out of harbour picked
at full speed. "Arley" was clear and "Fyldea" under way.
and several the more troops and survivors jumped on board. I was
The Skipper of "Fyldea" kept his ship close to the wall
further up but pier trying to find the Piermaster again for further
instructions, I failed to find him and just managed to jump
on board as she was leaving. This was at about 1815.
Lieutenant Peake the First Lieutenant of the "Granade"
then told me that the Piermaster had also instructed him to get the
ships clear of it and to go round to the beaches. I therefore took
the four remaining ships towards the beaches and signalled to the
ships there asking if there were any troops available for me. After
three unsuccessful attempts to obtain further troops to fill up to
capacity - all ships replying that they were themselves having
difficulty in completing I received signals from "Polly Johnson"
and "Brock" stating that they were damaged. I ordered "Arley" to
stand by "Polly Johnson" and to remove her crew and sink her if
necessary.
With "Brock" in company I then proceeded towards the "Jaguar"
who was anchored in the vicinity of the Nieuport Bank Buoy with her
troops on board and another destroyer alongside her, and asked if I
should take some from her. I was told to escort her as she had to Express
boats and I therefore told "Brock", whose damage was slight, to
proceed independently. I proceeded with "Brock for about two miles
to exchange the necessary signals and satisfy myself that she was
capable of making the journey and then returned to "Jaguar".
By this time she had weighed, and I followed astern of
her and signalled my maximum speed.
At about 1930, five German Dive Bombers passed on our port
side at about 2500 feet, in the direction of the "Jaguar" and started
to make an attack. We opened fire with the 12 pounder and one plane
detached itself from the formation and made an attack on us. As
the plane straightened up to attack I gave the order"hard-a-stareoard"
Six bombs were dropped which fell about 40/50 yards on our port beam.
We then straightened up and proceeded on our course.
The other planes attacked the "Jaguar" who replied with
her multiple pom-poms and zig-zagged, and no hits were registered,
although all attacks appeared to be very close to her.
After this attack she increased speed and she was soon
out of sight.
Having been left by "Jaguar" - who was taking a different
route I set a course for the Dyck Buoy and followed "y" route.
Between "T" and "S" buoys I overtook "Brock" and she
signalled that she could only steam at half speed and that she had
three serious cases on board. I signalled her to heave to and
went "Fyldea". alongside her and transferred her survivors and troops to
I then proceeded at full speed and arrived back at Dover
at 0300.
During the bombing raids and the periods between, the
situation was so tense that it would have been almost impossible to
realize any passage of time, so that the times in this report may
be in error to a considerable extent.