TNA ADM 234 360

THE EVACUATION FROM DUNKIRK
CHAP. V
the Vega and the Polish Blyskawica two were destroyers diverted from them to the
On patrol this day with these and eleven A/S trawlers². were the
A/S Thomas Chief 4 Widgeon, survivors. Owing trawler Skipper Bartlett, to Sheldrake, Thuringia a D. misunderstanding which W. Shearwater L. were was Simpson, sunk in company, by the D.S.C., a LL mine carried trawlers D.S.M., early out in R.N.R., Our the a sweep Bairns, a was in not Dunkirk Inverforth among Captain, and the instead of sweeping the war channel. These to vessels were shelled off Calais; roads ran on to a British minefield, and, striking 1017, sank with the guns, loss and the Thomas Bartlett, while endeavouring a mine get at out of range of the of 8 of her crew³.
During the night of 28th/29th May, to strengthen this patrol, all available
M.T.B.'s of the Nore and Dover Commands were ordered to patrol north-east of the line Wandelaar L/V and Whistle Buoy.
Summary of troops landed in England
The figures for May 28th gave grounds for hope. 17,804 troops were transported to England⁴ (of which 11,835 were transported by destroyers). Of these, 11,874 were lifted from Dunkirk east pier, and 5,930 from the beaches.
(See Table 2).
Ships lost or damaged on 28th May
LOST
DAMAGED
The A/S trawler Thuringia
The destroyer Windsor.
The drifter Ocean Reward
The M/S Brighton Belle
LL trawler Thomas Bartlett
P/V Queen of the Channel
The skoot Alice
The H/C Isle of Thanet
Stella 2 Dorado, Wyke, Kingston Alalite, being damaged Galena, Saon, Spurs,
I 2 The The Windsor Cayton had returned to Dover after in an air attack at 1145.
4 D.R. Report gives by Westella, C.M.S., 14,409, Dover Blackburn (R.O. Rovers, II, p.498). Kingston Lady Philomena Andalusite, and Kingston Thuringia.
disembarked by the various but this ships, figure as shown is not in confirmed Tables See also 2 and by Appx. the 3. recorded J.12 numbers of troops
34

WEDNESDAY, 29TH MAY
CHAP. VI
out because of the men in the water. By the time the Lydd had picked up
10 survivors, the destroyer Grafton, loaded with about 800 troops from Bray beach, also arrived and ordered the Lydd to circle round her. The Gossamer went on to Dover.
In the meantime, the Comfort had reached the stern portion of the wreck of the Wakeful, and finding that it had fallen over¹, went alongside the Grafton to warn her of the danger of torpedoes. It was then about 0240, and the
Grafton having first sighted a small darkened vessel about 3 cables on the port quarter, signalled it to pick up survivors. Almost at once a torpedo hit the
Grafton's port side and exploded; a second explosion followed, thought to be a shell or grenade hit, which wrecked the Grafton's bridge killing her Captain,
Cdr. C. E. C. Robinson, R.N., and 3 others. The torpedo blew off. the Grafton's stern, abaft the after magazine bulkhead, and broke her back, but she still floated on an even keel. A German submarine, U.69 had fired the torpedo.
The torpedo explosion almost swamped the Comfort; she rose, and Cdr.
Fisher was washed overboard. He seized a rope's end, but with the Comfort going full speed ahead soon had to let go. The Comfort came round in a wide circle until within about 50 yards of the stricken Grafton, whereupon the
Grafton and Lydd, mistaking her in the darkness for an E-boat, opened a heavy raking fire with 4-inch and Lewis guns.²
Comfort cut in half
When the firing ceased Cdr. Fisher, who had reached the bow of the Comfort, endeavoured to get abord; but the Lydd, having circled round to finish off the supposed E-boat, bore down at full speed and, ramming the Comfort amidships (it was then about 0307), cut her in half. Some of the Comfort's crew attempted to spring aboard the Lydd, but the Lydd, mistaking them for boarders, opened up with rifle fire. Two men were, however, taken off the rammed vessel and it was then discovered that she was the Comfort. Altogether, the number saved from this most tragic occurrence, shrouded in the darkness of the night, were only 5, of which 4 were survivors from the Wakeful. As the Grafton then appeared able to look after herself, the Lydd set course for Ramsgate.
When the Comfort went down Cdr. Fisher again sank, but he came to the surface and, after swimming about until 0515, was picked up by a boat lowered from the Norwegian S.S. Hird, which was en route from Dunkirk to England with about 3,500 troops and refugees on board.
Grafton sunk
In the meantime, at 0400, the personnel ship Malines, which was returning empty from Dunkirk, heard S OS signals; she placed herself alongside the torpedoed Grafton and transferred the destroyer's 800 troops. "The Master handled his ship with extreme skill," reported the acting Captain of the Grafton,
Lieut. H. C. J. McRea, R.N.
It was now 0430, just before sunrise, and the destroyers Javelin, Icarus,
Vanquisher, Intrepid and Ivanhoe, en route from Dover to Dunkirk, sighted the sinking Grafton. The Ivanhoe went to her assistance and embarked the
I On the 30th May the corvette Sheldrake was ordered to destroy the Wakeful's asdic apparatus. She found the Wakeful completely capsized with her stern resting on the bottom. As, by then, information was received that the area had been mined, the Sheldrake, to minimise the risk, sank the wreck by gunfire and a pattern of depth charges.
2 Later the Grafton's fire was shifted to another vessel further away on the port quarter, which was observed to blow up with a bright flash. This may well have been the E-boat.
37

FRIDAY, 31ST MAY
CHAP. VIII
Cyclone, was on her way to Dunkirk when, apparently between T buoy and the
West Hinder, the track of a torpedo was seen at 0121 crossing from port to starboard 10 yards ahead; a minute later another track was seen to port, and although avoiding action was taken the torpedo struck forward and considerably damaged her, but the Cyclone was still able to steam and she proceeded back to Dover at 4 knots escorted by an English vessel; later, the
French torpedo boat Bouclier and then the French minesweeper Arras took over the duty of escort. The Cyclone reached Dover at 1600, having transferred two serious casualties to an English M/B while on passage. She took no further part in "Dynamo".
Siroco sunk
At 0145, some 20 minutes after this attack, the French destroyer Siroco, on her way to Dover with 770 troops from Dunkirk, was hit near T buoy by 2
torpedoes fired by an E-boat which had stopped and was unseen in the darkness; the destroyer Vega, on patrol 4 miles to the south-east, saw a column of flame 200 feet high. The Siroco capsized shortly after. Survivors to the number of 252 were picked up, 50 by the trawler Wolves, 21 by the trawler
Stella Dorado, 166 by the corvette Widgeon and 15 by the Polish destroyer
Blyskawica.
At 0700, the Vega, which had been on patrol since noon 28th May, was relieved by the destroyer Jackal.
It was on this morning that clear evidence of the presence of enemy submarines was obtained, for the Vimy, en route to Dunkirk, sighted the periscope and conning tower of one between the North Goodwin buoy and the North-
West Goodwin buoy. A depth charge was dropped, and a hunt began in which the trawlers Westella and Spurs, the corvette Sheldrake, and the Jackal joined, but without success.
Conditions on the beaches
Meanwhile, conditions on the beaches were by no means favourable. Already at 0400 a lop had started. At about 0600 the R.N.L.I. life boat Lord Southborough was ferrying troops to the destroyer Icarus off Bray. 'There was a nasty surf," said the coxswain of the life boat. "Troops were rushing out to us from all directions and were being drowned close to us and we could not get to them it seemed to me we were doing more harm [than good] by drawing the men off the shore, as with their heavy clothing, the surf was knocking them over and they were unable to get up.
The whaler from the destroyer.
was swamped, so was the motor pinnace that was working with the whaler, and so it was all along the sands as far as I could see, both sides of us, and there was not a boat left afloat".
At 0600 also, Lt. Col. R. L. Hutchins, M.C., Grenadier Guards, in command of the War Department motor launch Swallow, arrived off Dunkirk, and described the situation as follows: Dunkirk was under a pall of smoke from fires which appeared to be mainly to the south and west of the port. There were numerous wrecks outside the harbour, and along the beaches. There were large numbers of troops on the shore as far as it was possible to see to the eastward, and the beach was strewn with all forms of motor transport. Along the foreshore were a very large number of pulling boats, aground, capsized or damaged, and abandoned. There were also a considerable number of motor
I Appendix J.2.
69

SATURDAY, 1ST JUNE
CHAP. IX
boiler and engine rooms badly holed, the steering gear jammed with the rudder hard over, the ship took a heavy list to port. The crew of the pom-pom were all killed or knocked out except Acting Leading Seaman Ronald Thirlwall, who, although shockingly badly wounded in at least four places, kept the one undamaged barrel firing until ammunition was exhausted. The 0.5" gun aft was also kept in action by Able Seaman C. A. L. Hirschfield, who went aft and brought the gun into action single handed after all the crew were wounded.
With water pouring into the ship, the Mosquito was abandoned, the survivors being picked up by the Rapid and two drifters. Among the killed was the executive officer Lieutenant A. H. Mainwaring, R.N.
Fifth and sixth air attacks, 1500 and 1610
Between 1230 and about 1500 there was a lull in the air attacks on shipping, and when attacks were renewed at the latter hour R.A.F. and Coastal Command patrols were operating and no damage occurred.
About 1600 the French minesweeping trawlers Président Briand, Denis
Papin, Moussaillon and Vénus, were approaching Dunk'rk after landing troops in England, when gunfire from a shore battery opposite 6 W buoy caused the two former, who were ahead, to turn back. Ten minutes later, a formation of
9 enemy aircraft dived cn them, directing their bombs on the Vénus and the
Denis Papin. The latter apparently sank immediately with total loss of her crew, and the Vénus in four minutes, after a direct hit. Whilst the other two trawlers were engaged in rescuing the survivors of the Vénus, the Moussaillon was hit and sank within a minute.
Losses from mines
On this black day mines were also taking their toll of shipping. Enemy aircraft had been mining the inshore channels during the night 31st May-1st
June, and at 0313 Vice-Admiral Dover informed the Admiralty that he was allowing ships evacuating troops to use Route Y as well as Route X. In the early hours the corvette Sheldrake after a night spent in dodging M.T.B.
torpedoes", was skilfully directed by aircraft to a position between the West
Hinder and Kwint buoys, where she found wreckage with men clinging to it.
This was the remains of the trawler St. Achilleus which had been mined on patrol. The Sheldrake rescued 11 men, but 4 of them died before they could be got to harbour. About the same time, i.e. at 0330, the little Thames Estuary cockle bawley boat Renown was blown to pieces with her crew of 3, on the way back from Dunkirk.
The third ship to be sunk on this day was the F.A.A. training yacht Grive a vessel which, on account of her untiring activity, could ill be spared. Having disembarked 374 troops at Dover at 0100 on the 1st June the Grive sailed again two hours later for Dunkirk without waiting to replenish ammunition, of which she had only 5 rounds per gun remaining. On the way in to the harbour she lent assistance to the Ivanhoe after the latter was bombed and damaged, went alongside the jetty and embarked troops under heavy bombing. At 0800 she left again. On the way out, she passed the sinking destroyer Havant with the
Ivanhoe's troops and survivors of the crew on board; these she transferred, and arrived at Dover with 785 persons about 1300. Three hours later, her indefatigable Captain (Capt. the Hon. L. J. O. Lambart, D.S.O., R.N. (Retired)
sailed once more for Dunkirk. But he never arrived, for at about 2230, when a mile or so outside the harbour, the Grive was blown to pieces by a mine.
Nineteen survivors were picked up, but her Captain was not among them.
93