TNA ADM 199 792

CONFIDENTIAL.
154
Page 35.
156
Operation "DYNAMO" - Narrative of Events.
Inshore Flotillæsand Naval Shore Parties (continued)
boats which had been cast away by the soldiers on disembarkation.
106. By the night of the 30th/31st a considerable number of collapsible boats and pontoons had been received from the Royal Engineers of the B.E.F. These were of great assistance and paddled off about 10 men in each trip, but again, in spite of all efforts, in the vast majority of cases, the soldiers left these craft when they arrived at the offshore ship.
107. Much of the most meritorious work of lifting off the beaches was done by the offshore warships' own boats, who were tireless in their efforts. All small pulling boats and small power boats were lowered and were lent from ship to ship when their own parent ship left the coast to unload at a United Kingdom port. In addition, H.M. ships seized drifting and abandoned boats as opportunity offered and manned them up with boat keepers. Owing to the physical exhaustion of these boats' crews after hours of work, relief crews of stokers were frequently provided from amongst the many volunteers that came forth.
108. A typical example of dogged work by a ship's boat was afforded by the action of JAVELIN's and JAGUAR's boats off Bray beach in the afternoon of 28/5. When their two motor cutters and two whalers first grounded offshore they were rushed and swamped by soldiers. Order being restored the boats had to be baled out and the wet engines restarted, following which) 700 troops were embarked by these few boats in a short time during continuous bombing attacks.
109. Of the power boats available by far the most useful and suitable were the A.L.Cs., M.L.Cs. and the small type of R.N.L.I. life-boat. The high speed service motor boats such as DOLPHIN's and EXCELLENT's boats and the R.A.F.
Seaplane tenders proved unsuitable for work in shallow waters on a lee shore owing to the vulnerability of their propellers and rudders and their poor manoeuvring powers at low speeds.
110. Of the civilian manned craft one of the best performances was that of the London Fire Brigade fire float
MASSEY SHAW. All the volunteer crew were members of the
London Fire Brigade or Auxiliary Fire Service and succeeded in doing 4 round trips to the beaches in their well-found craft. In contrast to this performance and that also of the R.N.L.I. crews of the Ramsgate and Margate life-boats, who took their boats over to Dunkirk, no volunteers, except for the coxswain and engineer of the Dover life-boat, were forthcoming from the R.N.L.I. crews of the other life-boats, which were accordingly manned by R.N. crews. Also it must be noted that civilian craft of such flotillas as the Rye fishing fleet did not relish the idea of carrying out ferrying work off the Flanders coast. Fishing boats and pleasure boats from as far along the south coast as Brixham and
Dartmouth arrived at various times up to p.m. 30/5, but again the civilian crews were not prepared to proceed to Dunkirk.
Accordingly, the most suitable of such boats as could be manned by the Naval personnel available were taken up, but the remainder took no part in the operations.
111./

CONFIDENTIAL.
Page 35,
Operation "DYNAMO" - Narrative of Events,
Inshore Flotillasand Naval Shore Parties (continued)
boats which had been cast away by the soldiers on disembarkation.
106. By the night of the 30th/31st a considerable number of collapsible boats and pontoons had been received from the Royal Engineers of the B.E.F. These were of great assistance and paddled off about 10 men in each trip, but again, in spite of all efforts, in the vast majority of cases, the soldiers left these craft when they arrived at the offshore ship.
107. Much of the most meritorious work of lifting off the beaches was done by the offshore warships' own boats, who were tireless in their efforts. All small pulling boats and small power boats were lowered and were lent from ship to ship when their own parent ship left the coast to unload at a United Kingdom port. In addition, H.M. ships seized drifting and abandoned boats as opportunity offered and manned them up with boat keepers. Owing to the physical exhaustion of these boats' crews after hours of work, relief crews of stokers were frequently provided from amongst the many volunteers that came forth.
108. A typical example of dogged work by a ship's boat was afforded by the action of JAVELIN's and JAGUAR's boats off Bray beach in the afternoon of 28/5. When their two motor cutters and two whalers first grounded offshore they were rushed and swamped by soldiers. Order being restored the boats had to be baled out and the wet engines restarted, following which 700 troops were embarked by these few boats in a short time during continuous bombing attacks.
109. Of the power boats available by far the most useful and suitable were the A.L.Cs., M.L.Cs. and the small type of R.N.L.I. life-boat. The high speed service motor boats such as DOLPHIN's and EXCELLENT's boats and the R.A.F.
Seaplane tenders proved unsuitable for work in shallow waters on a lee shore owing to the vulnerability of their propellers and rudders and their poor manoeuvring powers at low speeds.
110. Of the civilian manned craft one of the best performances was that of the London Fire Brigade fire float
MASSEY SHAW. All the volunteer crew were members of the
London Fire Brigade or Auxiliary Fire Service and succeeded in doing 4 round trips to the beaches in their well-found craft. In contrast to this performance and that also of the R.N.L.I. crews of the Ramsgate and Margate life-boats, who took their boats over to Dunkirk, no volunteers, except for the coxswain and engineer of the Dover life-boat, were forthcoming from the R.N.L.I. crews of the other life-boats, which were accordingly manned by R.N. crews. Also it must be noted that civilian craft of such flotillas as the Rye fishing fleet did not relish the idea of carrying out ferrying work off the Flanders coast. Fishing boats and pleasure boats from as far along the south coast as Brixham and
Dartmouth arrived at various times up to p.m. 30/5, but again the civilian crews were not prepared to proceed to Dunkirk.
Accordingly, the most suitable of such boats as could be manned by the Naval personnel available were taken up, but the remainder took no part in the operations.
111./