TNA ADM 199 792

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CONFIDENTIAL.
Page 33.
Operation "DYNAMO" - Narrative of Events.
Inshore Flotillas and Naval Shore Parties (continued).
preliminary action in most cases having originated in the
Admiralty Small Vessels Pool. As the operation proceeded,
Ramsgate was used as the main base for such craft, as being
nearest to Dunkirk, but a small number of motor boats and skoots
continued to work from Dover.
101. The work of servicing this multitude of small craft
entailed an enormous amount of work by the base organisation at
Ramsgate, and to a lesser extent at Dover. Items typical of
the work of the Ramsgate organisation are as follows:-
(a) Approximately 1,000 charts were issued by the Naval
Control Service, Ramsgate, to the various vessels taking
part, some 600 of which had the routes laid off on them
for those Commanding Officers who had neither parallel
rules nor dividers, together with approximately 500 sets
of routeing instructions.
(b) During the period 26th May to 4th June the number of
vessels dealt with for defects of all kinds, including
power, engine and electrical, at Ramsgate, was 170.
Included in this number were Dutch skoots, tugs, drifters,
trawlers, motor lighters, ferry floats and motor boats of
every conceivable type.
(c) All the small craft were initially without armament.
75 of the larger motor boats, skoots and tugs were armed
with A.A. Lewis guns at Ramsgate, this armament being
transferred from vessel to vessel as requisite during the
operation. 23 Lewis gunners arrived from London and
2 officers with 12 R.A.S.C. cadets were also accepted for
this service at Ramsgate. When British fighting troops
were being evacuated in the later stages, the soldiers
invariably mounted and fought their Bren guns as A.A.
armament for the ship they were in.
102. A large number of boats were quite unsuitable
for work off an open beach. For example, a convoy of 6 Thames
Bawley boats were shepherded over from Southend and arrived off
Dunkirk beach at 1930/31, but owing to ground swell and the
many offshore obstacles, such as semi-submerged lorries, it
was considered impracticable to beach these craft. Bawley
boats accordingly went along the outside of the East Pier of
Dunkirk harbour and started ferrying service to the skoots
lying empty outside the harbour entrance. The swell along-
side made embarkation duties from outside the jetty too
difficult, so Bawley boats proceeded inside Dunkirk harbour
working mainly from the inner harbour which was under heavy
shell fire. All Bawley boats were loaded up and left
harbour about 0300/1. On reaching Ramsgate at 0930/1 the
boats were so much damaged as not to be fit for further
service.
The conduct of the CROWS of those cockle boats was
exemplary. They were all volunteers who wore rushed over to
Dunkirk in one day, probably none of thom had been under gun
fire before and cortainly none of thom had ever been under Naval
discipline. Those boats were Thames ostuary fishing
boats/