TNA ADM 334 83

Collection details

TNA ADM 334 83

Little Ships Club correspondence and personal accounts relating to the Dunkirk evacuation, covering 1940–1941.

Holding archive: TNA
Collection reference: ADM 334 83

View the archive catalogue entry ↗

Source: The National Archives, Kew, ADM 334/83. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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Page	Image	OCR text	OCR tags
21	Log in to enlarge	5 I explained that we were magnetic M/S and had come to clear the harbour. or so I supposed. The 4 or 5 officers present looked sleepily at each other & then at me, and relapsed again into silence as though they were too weary to try & raise their voices above the chaotic din of aerial bombardment. Something I felt should be done so I told of my encounter with "Vivacious" and said he wanted troops brought outr. For various reasons already outlined I did not wish to press the minesweeping business, as I could not but think it would seriously hamper the already colossal task of getting the troops away. However it seemed we should have to do our best, for the Commander asked everyone in general: "Where did those mines drop?" The small assembly of 5 or 6 each indicated a slightly different direction and the Commander - striking the mean - pointed North-east & said: "You better sweep out by that wreck"(5 wrecks in sight on line of bearing indicated) "I fancy there were some dropped there." It would have been unkind apart from insubordinate to explain that we were not fitted with wheels, and mines where he indicated could not possibly have troubled anything larger than a rowing boat. I asked if we should take troops out on our way and transfer them to destroyers. To this suggestion the Commander agreed and with a smart "Aye, aye Sir" I saluted and with a relief which I did my best to conceal, I again set off for the ship. I found both ships already practically full of troops and after outlining Smith the situation to Heckstall- and another Commander who was on the quay in charge of embarkation, we let go and sailed. It is of course unnecessary to say that despite continuous activity in te the air there was no suggestion of disorder. The embarkation was carried out smoothly & quickly and the naval officers and ratings who were on the quay and actually assisted in making fast the ships, letting go ropes & putting ladders aboard etc. were amongst the best chaps I ever wish to s/o/ 8/10 1186 6/4	Boat Vivacious Smith

Raw OCR

Unformatted machine-generated OCR for document page 21.

5
I explained that we were magnetic M/S and had come to clear the harbour.
or so I supposed. The 4 or 5 officers present looked sleepily at each
other & then at me, and relapsed again into silence as though they were
too weary to try & raise their voices above the chaotic din of aerial
bombardment. Something I felt should be done so I told of my encounter
with "Vivacious" and said he wanted troops brought outr. For various rea-
sons already outlined I did not wish to press the minesweeping business,
as I could not but think it would seriously hamper the already colossal
task of getting the troops away. However it seemed we should have to do
our best, for the Commander asked everyone in general: "Where did those
mines drop?" The small assembly of 5 or 6 each indicated a slightly
different direction and the Commander - striking the mean - pointed
North-east & said: "You better sweep out by that wreck"(5 wrecks in
sight on line of bearing indicated) "I fancy there were some dropped
there." It would have been unkind apart from insubordinate to explain
that we were not fitted with wheels, and mines where he indicated could
not possibly have troubled anything larger than a rowing boat. I asked
if we should take troops out on our way and transfer them to destroyers.
To this suggestion the Commander agreed and with a smart "Aye, aye Sir"
I saluted and with a relief which I did my best to conceal, I again set
off for the ship.
I found both ships already practically full of troops and after outlining
Smith
the situation to Heckstall- and another Commander who was on the quay in
charge of embarkation, we let go and sailed.
It is of course unnecessary to say that despite continuous activity in te
the air there was no suggestion of disorder. The embarkation was carried
out smoothly & quickly and the naval officers and ratings who were on the
quay and actually assisted in making fast the ships, letting go ropes &
putting ladders aboard etc. were amongst the best chaps I ever wish to
s/o/
8/10
1186
6/4