TNA ADM 234 360

THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
CHAP. VII
heavy craft, nor even by small craft similar in a pier lop, was it was invaluable ing troops into small boats. A was completed and commenced in use on the morning of later for embarkthe 30th May at La Panne, and by the the same day the the same same d the morning day the morning day
(See p. 47).
2 or 3 motor yachts and paddlers to
Bray; none proceeded east of the Bray pier, where the
Captain Howson goes on to say that arrived in the and afternoon anchored one Fortwo skoots and the weskoots and waited many hours patiently. One tried or two without destroyers or sloops passed from had the westward to La Panne, and he he success with a lamp to
Admiral Wake-Walker asking him to arrange for this. Captain Howson also them to anchor off the pier. Eventually managed to get a signal to Rear- tell sent an officer to Dunkirk to represent learned the urgent need for destroyers off Bray.
It was not until 2 days later that he that all the destroyers, etc., had been given specific instructions as to which beach they were to anchor off.
Later a certain number of destroyers, sloops and skoots anchored off Bray and the embarkation proceeded satisfactorily. Unfortunately, time after time, owing to a lack of naval ratings, he saw a procession of boats going off loaded with troops, only to be cast adrift and left floating empty out to seaward¹.
Later that evening Captain Howson got in touch with Rear-Admiral Wake-
Walker, then in the Worcester, and obtained permission to embark the following day in a motor boat off the beaches SO as to prevent a recurrence of this waste of beaching craft².
In spite of the difficulties and shortcomings emphasised in the above reports great progress was being made. In fact, beach evacuation reached its peak on this day; 29,500 troops were lifted from the beaches (as against 24,300
from the harbour); and some 50 ships, including destroyers, minesweepers, skoots, trawlers, drifters, personnel and special service vessels, were engaged continuously in the arduous work.
The armada grows, but service of ships to Dunkirk is slowed up
Meanwhile the build-up of ships continued, and some 31 additional craft reached of Dunkirk and the beaches this day. They included two minesweepers of the 8th M.S.F.³, the Fleet Air Arm training vessel Grive, 4 yachts and a drifter the Dover M/S Command4, the corvette Kingfisher, (with the ex-Belgian canal the boat Sambre in tow), the Yarmouth Examination Service yacht Laroc, and M/V Scottish Co-operator, the S/M tender Dwarf, the drifters Fair Breeze minesweeper barge Skipjack), the motor coasters Seine and Sheila, (in the coasting
Ocean Breeze, the ex-Belgian canal boats Ambleve and Escaut tow of the the Viking, the ex-Dutch eel-boat Johanna (in tow Lady of the skoot Jutland), water, and (R.N.L.I.) lifeboat Prudential (towing barges 7 Sark and with fresh
Ramsgate sailing barge Beatrice Maud, and the dumb Shetland. hopper The the oyster dredging smacks Seasalter and Vanguard, the steam W.24, borough, the punt Carama), and the Margate wherries loaded Lord Southwherries. were The manned by their own crews, but (R.N.L.I.) naval lifeboat manned the appeared on the scene. and picked up 244 troops. Another A/S patrol, to
Bray beach in error trawler Olvina, which should have been on ratings went
I At long last a dozen of the long awaited important motor contingent boats
R.O.III, p.396.
2 R.O.III, p.397.
4 3 The The Glen Avon and Glen Gower.
and 5 The the danlaying danlaying Constant yachts drifter Gulzar and Sargasso, the echo and Conidaw
Triton, Silver Pauleter Adventuress, and sounding Ma Black Joie. yachts Arrow, Chico Sunshine, Reda,
60

THE NIGHT 2ND-3RD JUNE
CHAP. XI
Teteghem, the event this was postponed 2000 and when it took place some on a front of two miles. The until French intended to counter-attack at
There was no movement in the port. Later Admiral was in the hands of the enemy, but they had not advanced beyond. Further attacks were expected by the French this day, when the situation regarding munitions might become critical.
Sailing of the night flight from England
The movement from England towards Dunkirk commenced at 1700. The armada consisted of 13 personnel vessels, 2 large store carriers, 11 destroyers,
5 paddle minesweepers, 9 fleet sweepers, 1 special service vessel, 9 drifters,
6 skoots, 2 armed yachts, 1 gunboat, a large number of tugs, lifeboats, etc., formed either in organised tows or proceeding individually. For various reasons, however, not all of these ships evacuated troops.¹
The composition of the French contingent was not known at Dover. Actually,
3 French torpedo boats, two minesweeping trawlers, two patrol vessels, and
17 trawlers and motor fishing vessels landed troops in England on the 3rd June.
One Belgian patrol boat and 16 or 17 trawlers brought troops.
B.E.F. evacuated, 2330/2
The first destroyers to reach Dunkirk were the Sabre and Shikari, which sailed together from Dover at 1845. As the latter ship rounded No. 6 W buoy enemy shore batteries opened fire, but caused no damage. Berthing was carried out by an officer with a loud speaker at the pier head. Both destroyers sailed again at 2200, the Sabre with 500 and the Shikari with 700 troops. The
Venomous, which arrived at 2150, had difficulty in going alongside the East Pier.
This was not a solid jetty, but was built of concrete piles through which the west-going tide set. This, coupled with a fresh easterly wind, made it very
I The following ships (other than those on patrol which picked up survivors and landed them) landed troops in England on 3rd June, (numbers in brackets):-
BRITISH Destroyers - Codrington (44), Esk (500), Sabre (500), Shikari (700), Vanquisher (37),
Venomous (1500), Whitshed (82), Winchelsea (152), Windsor (1022);
Gunboat Locust (800)
Minesweepers - Albury (200), Duchess of Fife (300), Dundalk (399), Gossamer (490),
Halcyon (416), Kellett (364), Marmion (198), Medway Queen (481), Niger (430),
Oriole (750), Pangbourne (47), Speedwell (300), Westward-Ho (48);
Special Service Ship Golden Eagle (1);
Drifters - Forecast (108), Golden Sunbeam (163), Lord Howard (100), Midas (43),
Netsukis (119), Starlight Rays (319), Ut Prosim (49), Yorkshire Lass (103)
Trawler Cayton Wyke (300);
Skoot Doggersbank (50);
Yacht Sargasso (252);
Personnel ships - Côte d'Argent (955), King George V (1460), Newhaven (396),
Lady of Mann (18), Rouen (1286), Royal Sovereign (1500), St. Helier (2000),
Tynwald (1200) H.M.S. Nelson's M.B. (27)
Tugs - St. Olaves (200), Sun X (211), Sun XI (188), War Dept. M.Ls. (69)
Sailing barge Glenway (213)
R.N.L.I. Lifeboats Cecil & Lilian Philpot (51), Michael Stephens (52):
3 motor boats and launches (300).
FRENCH Torpedo boats - Bouclier (340), La Flore (410);
Destroyer Léopard (19);
S/M Chaser 6 (50, apparently disembarked at Havre);
M/S trawlers - Ste. Bernadette de Lourdes (79), Ste. Denise Louise (78);
Patrol vessels - Lucien Gougy (78), Reine des Flots (500);
17 trawlers and M.F.V's. (1663).
BELGIAN Patrol boat A.5 (229);
17 trawlers (1583).
107

THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
CHAP. XI
difficult for ships to get alongside until the tide turned, about 2300. Rear-
Admiral Wake-Walker, who was afloat in M.A/S.B. 10 used the latter to harbour was now filled with numbers of small French craft of every sort, size the Venomous in and tried to get other small craft to do likewise. The narrow push and description. At this moment a defect Venomous developed in the M.A /S.B's clutch, apparently her from going as the astern result and of down pushing made on turning her the from a most both alongside, directions. hazardous which adventure prevented with boats of all sorts bearing The was away again in half an hour, with 1,500
Alexander and his staff who had been taken on
Admiral Wake-Walker and transferred to the had difficulty in getting alongside but managed to clear the harbour with 1,022
troops, one minute before the next destroyer was due to enter. The stream of
British troops was evidently diminishing in volume now, for the Winchelsea, which arrived at the pier at 2300, embarked only 152. The gunboat Locust, however, which sailed two minutes later, carried 800 troops, a proportion of whom were French.
Eight drifters disembarked 1,004 men in England, the Starlight Rays bringing
319 of these. The yacht Sargasso brought 252. Only two personnel vessels lifted British troops from the East Pier; the King George V embarked 1,460
in 27 minutes and sailed at 2225 and the St. Helier embarked 2,000 and sailed at 2330 for England.
This completed the evacuation of the British rearguard.
At 2330 Captain Tennant made the welcome signal "B.E.F. evacuated."
He embarked in M.T.B. 102, together with the demolition party and left for
Dover.
A pause in the embarkation
After the last of the B.E.F. were clear there was a long pause. French troops should have followed the British rearguard on the East Pier, but they did not appear. The West Quay, however, was crowded with French in their distinctive helmets, though there seemed a scarcity of ships on that side of the harbour. The personnel ship Royal Sovereign, which had been joined that afternoon by Commander L.P. Skipwith as adviser to the Master, Captain T.
Aldis, went alongside the West Quay at 2130, handled magnificently, turning and going alongside bows out", as Rear-Admiral Wake-Walker reported. She embarked 1,500 French troops and sailed at 2205 for Margate. The Rear-
Admiral also sent the personnel ship Rouen, a French cross-channel steamer, to the West Quay. In getting away she got broadside on to the wind and grounded just to the westward of the quay, where she lay, on a falling tide, showing up clearly against an oil fuel fire behind her. A tug was sent to help her but drew too much water and could not get near. However, the ship remained unhit throughout the shelling, and she floated off with the next tide in daylight and reached England safely with 1,286 men.
Rear-Admiral Wake-Walker was unable to discover the reason for the cessation of the flow of French troops to the East Pier; it was apparently caused make a counter-attack, for the counter-attack which was to have been made by the necessity either of repelling a German attack or holding them up to at 1500 to restore the line east of Bergues was postponed until 2000. With destroyers waiting to be filled the situation was most exasperating. Five destroyers had to be sent back to England for lack of to fill them. The she Vanquisher was ordered to return to Dover to 0230, taking troops only 37 troops which embarked from a small boat while lying off the harbour. The Codrington
108

INDEX
Royal Air Command, 64, 83-4, 4, 88 (evacuated (fired from France), 17, 20, 30,
(attacks 38 all that was asked of them, concentrated 123. at dawn and dusk): 100,
(patrols Stren batteries); 99 (patrols on by own ships), 89, 93, 99
Royal Daffodil, 20, 25, 100-1. 29, 54n, 62, 102, 110 (damaged).
110-111, 115; did
Royal Royal Sovereign, 29n, 54n, 64n, 107n, 108-9, 114n, 115, 117.
Eagle, 42, 81,
95 (sunk).
Royally,114n,
Sabre, 23, 27, 44, 47n, 49 (takes across with beach parties), 53, 54n, 55, 62n, 64 (damaged), 86,
97, 101, 107, 114n, 118 (crosses compass damaged).
St. Abbs, 71n, 90 (sunk).
Achilleus, sunk, 93.
St. St. Andrew, Shelled, 18: bombed, 20; last trip, 87.
Ste. Bernadette de Lourdes, 107n.
St. Clears, 32, 46.
St. David, damaged, 38, 95.
Ste. Denise Louise, 107n.
St. Fagan, 71n, 88 (sunk).
St. Helier, 20, 25, 64n, 94, 98-9, 108-9.
Ste. Isabelle, 74.
St. Julien, shelled, 17 bombed, 20, 43; crew supplemented, 48n; last trip, 87.
St. Olaves, 107n.
St. Patrick, 75n.
St. Seiriol, 22, 24, 29, 43, 48 (damaged).
Saladin, 44-5 (damaged).
Salamander, 28n, 31, 42, 47, 86 (damaged), 89-90.
Saltash, 91-2.
Sambre, 60.
Sandown, 23n, 27, 31, 42, 105 (forbidden to sail).
Santosy, lost, 117.
Saon, 34n, 110.
Sargasso, 60n, 107n, 108.
Sark, 60.
Saturn, 114n, 118.
S.C.6 (French), 107n.
Sceneshifter, rushed and sunk by French troops, 53.
Schuyts. see skoots.
Scimitar, 20n, 28n, 54n, 55, 62n, 91.
Scotia, 29n, 54n, 83 (in collision), 92 (sunk), 118 (record lift).
Scottish Co-operator, 60.
Sea Falcon, 75n.
Seaplane Tender 243, 71n, 75n, 110 (sunk).
Seaplane Tender 254, 71n.
Seaplane Tender 276, 71n, 110.
Seaplane Tender 291, 71n, 75 (damaged).
Seasalter, 60.
Sea Transport Officials, serve in personnel ships, 48; in Dynamo Room, 74.
Secrecy, effect on supply of small craft, 15.
Seine, 31n, 60, 102.
Sequacity, 19, 28.
Seriola, 71n.
Shamrock, lost, 53.
Sharpshooter, 28n, 54n, 97.
Shearwater, 34, 88, 99.
Sheldvake, 34, 37n, 69 (hunts S/M.), 93.
Shell fire (German): causes serious interruption to shipping, 19; Route Y under fire, 48;
La Panne beach shelled, 60, 76; interrupts sailings of personal ships, 70; danger of, magnified at Dover, 98.
Sherfield, 72n, 90.
Shelland, 60.
Shikari, 20n, 28n, 47n, 54n, 55, 97, 102, 107, 114n, 119-20 (in Operation CK), 127.
Shipmates, 23n.
Signalling, see Communications.
Silver Dawn, 32n, 51n.
205