TNA ADM 199 792

Raw OCR

Unformatted machine-generated OCR for document page 549.

CONFIDENTIAL.
Page 36
Operation "DYNAMO" - Narrative of Events.
Inshore Flottllas and Naval Shore Parties (continued).
111. Locally, at both Ramsgate and Dover a number of civi-
lian volunteers came forward to man the boats and to drive
their engines. These men did good work.
112. At both Rams ate and Dover when the business of
manning these civilian power boats was set about the same
difficulties were experienced:-
(i) of obtaining drivers with knowledge of the very
varied types of internal combustion engines;
(ii) of making the engines of these boats run, most of
them having been laid up since the previous summer.
Throughout the operation all engines continued to
give trouble. Many engines were old and almost all were of
different types. Several boats could not be used as they had
diesel engines and no stokers or civilians trained in these
were available. Each engine, especially the older ones,
required careful nursing, and signs of distress from the
engines were not understood. These difficulties were partly
overcome by obtaining engine drivers from Chatham and by the
provision of cadet ratings, and Sub-Lieutenants, R.N.V.R.
from KING ALFRED who claimed knowledge of I.C. engines, but
many engines were of types unknown even to these.
These difficulties would never have arisen had the
civilian crews, or even their drivers, been willing to take
their boats across to Dunkirk.
113. Fresh water for the motor boats was difficult to
supply in sufficient quantity, owing to lack of water tanks
in most boats, especially those of the open type. Large
supplies were required as the troops were reported to be
suffering severely om thirst, Both at Ramsgate and Dover
the Base Staff prov. .ed as many galvanized iron cylinders and
tanks as could be found and made serviceable, and these
proved most satisfactory.
114. On two occasions skoots and small boats approaching
the coast were turned back through false information. On
the first occasion on the afternoon of 28th May, at least 6
skoots, who were without definite orders where to proceed,
encountered a returning shoot when about 10 miles off the
coast. This skoot stated that Dunkirk had already fallen into
German hands and that the evacuation had ceased. It is
believed that this report originated from an Army officer
embarked in the skoot. He had stated, consequent on the
capitulation of Belgian troops that the Germans would be
advancing along the coast that evening. As a result of this
ill-judged comment, the arrival of at least 6 shoots was
delayed at over 24 hours, until this situation had been clear-
ed up.
The second occasion occurred during the night of 1st
June and has been referred to in paragraph 76 of the
narrative. On this occasion although the services of a
number of small craft were lost to the coast, it transpired
that sufficient were already there to cope with the troops
available,
115./