TNA ADM 234 360

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THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
CHAP. VI
More Personnel ships feel the strain
personnel vessels (manned to by Dunkirk harbour in crews) the
In the early hours of 29th May Mercantile information Marine was received at Dover
difficulties caused encountered by the heavy en route to, and off, the entrance and the the
in making the entrance pall of smoke over
unable to sail and an On her return the ship R.N.R.) took
one round trip during officer, (Lt. A. R. MacKewn, of the St.
ing and shelling the previous 24 hours, the Captain
and and did sailed not at sail 1100. again. voyage was bombed and the damaged!
a hospital carrier² and boats.3
Parties to supplement to ships' various crews drifters were and lent motor to three personnel vessels and
port Officer at Dover during of Officers in says on two occasions Sea Trans-
Commodore E. G. de S. Jukes-Hughes, "Dynamo," R.N., that who was Principal Sea Trans-
port Officers took the place personnel ships and proceeded to
in them. "The effect of the carried personality his of the Master," he says, was sea
noticeable. A strong Master crew with him and imbued them with very
his spirit. A weak Master only succeeded in disturbing his crew."4
Surf. More ships sent to Dunkirk
S.N.O., Dunkirk, and other Senior Officers on the French coast reported
during the early hours of 29th May that surf on the beaches was retarding boat-
work⁵. At 0709 S.N.O., Dunkirk, reported that embarkation from Dunkirk
was going on at the rate of 2,000 an hour and asked for all ships to go to Dun-
kirk harbour⁶. An increased number of H.M. ships was therefore sent to the
harbour, in spite of the danger that an accumulation of ships alongside the east
pier at Dunkirk by day might well invite an intensive air attack - and, as has
been seen, it actually did so. In view, however, of the military situation the
limitations of Dunkirk harbour (with its narrow gangway along the east pier),
and the probability of the surf reducing as the tide rose, the Vice-Admiral,
Dover, continued to send a proportion of ships to the beaches.⁷
Route Y under gunfire
Meanwhile, at 1100, enemy troops were reported north-east of Nieuport,
and shortly after noon enemy shore batteries near Nieuport brought the
Zuydcoote Pass (on Route Y) under spasmodic gunfire. The southern Route
Z was already under fire from the guns at Calais and Gravelines, so that Route
X would soon be the only practicable daylight approach to Dunkirk and the
beaches. By 1606 Route X was fully swept, and all ships were ordered to use
it; ships from Dover, however, were instructed to use Route Z, provided the
passage between Calais Bell Buoy and Dunkirk could be made in darkness.
Route X passed some 26 miles to the south-west of the extreme north-east
point of Route Y, the locality in which E-boat attack threatened, and the
I Authority for this is V. A. Dover's M011882/40. No
apparently p.213, did not sail again because her crew Seiriol were mentions in an overwrought that
report by the officers or owners of the St. Report on Personnel Vessels, she was state, (R.O.III,
219).
$ Lady of Mann, Princess Maud St.Julien.
ROJIII, p.564. in charge of No. 3 Party (R.O.III, and the p.416). H/C
6 See Appendix 0.1.
Appendix 0.2.
D.R., p.s, para. 24.
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