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The MOTOR BOAT and
42
YACHTING
The M
Dunkirk Cruise
"Sea Roamer's" Work in the Evacuation
By J. E. W. Wheatley
TIN-HAC lifebelt, and harnessed into a Mae West pneu-
the inflation tube of which hung out
comically in front, I stood on the after trunking of
43-ft. cruiser "Sea Roamer," leaned on the wheelhouse my
roof and contemplated the dull red glow on the horizon
astic Lieut. R.N.V.R.
that was Dunkirk. Beside me stood a young and enthusi-
It was 10.30 and we had an urgent appointment
could the B.E.F. make at midnight. With less than 12 miles to with
it easily. There was no moon but the go we
sky was ablaze with stars. From astern came a summer
extra-large lighted for identification. stars, moving through the sky-British group planes, of
A destroyer loomed past at about 30 knots, her
knocked more. We bucked and dived in the wash followed
wave by several shooting out like twin fountains. She was bow
from up and took some water down the forward they
snug way, Lewis which the cover had been torn to hatch-
along. It gun emplacement. But Sea Roamer make plugged a
That was no new thing for her to be in the
Dunkirk's pall broken tafrail. behind-
round afternoon, in a South Coast harbour, the Navy.
gone on this that none but 18-knot craft would be order had
claim for Sunday night show, so, for the first time, I allowed
-high speed. Sea Roamer a virtue that she does not possess had to
between Leaving them and And and and and and and a And and and and and and a sheet of w f
over matter Even
The author (centre) with two of the French soldiers rescued
by Sea Roamer.
phone every fow We a the be like
still in
flame, derricks stretching for miles, against which the
lised on the mole and inner harbours stood cranes and
silhouette. Above the flames and rolling to out the in trel
reservoirs. The green light on the end of the mole, prob-
ward hung a black pall of smoke from the burning west oil
as ably supplied by a portable gas bottle, was still gleaming,
more. were had probably ranged properly the the desultory she but targets during them the a t
Channel. were several buoys in the roadstead and the Dunkirk
Roamer's starshells and from
As we turned eastward and came the mouth of
the harbour a destroyer was just gliding across in to take off her
load of French troops lined up on the Suddenly her
observing to the Germans in a were few rounds. on no
Bren guns spouted streams of coloured quay. tracer bullets into
invisible to us, followed suit and in a minute or so the sky
the sky. A second later all the ships in the vicinity,
B.E.F. decided Two gave and to up a search head half hope miles popped the of wre find
was pierced with a shower of golden rain like firework
night hear at Henley, In the noise and darkness I could neither
nor see the enemy plane, but better trained than
she dropped her bombs.
through the wheelhouse and rattled our doors told when
mine had found her and the whoof of hot air that eyes pushed
THE Anglais against her Anglais against ha A voice
A grim view through the wheelhouse window.
Four Naval ratings, in charge of the Lieut., fixed up
the tions wrecks that encumbered the roadstead. way Our instruc-
In the light of the flames we picked our between
her machine gun, stowed the ammunition and rations and
impede east bigger ships, and to go to the beach the we north-
were to keep out of the harbour, where might
hitched a suitable boat astern. Soon, with relief, we slipped
out of the harbour beyond recall.
plan and locate and take off troops there. Following to this
before.sen They by the the last enem of ag
After the destroyers had passed I am afraid we looked
the beach we passed the mole, turned in as close as possible to
crossed-eyed at the official route instructions for deeper-
tide and crawled eastward towards La Panne. The
draught craft and shaped a course of our own, directly
was able was high, and Sea Roamer," drawing only 4 ft.,
THE next. said:
THE days ha
across the shallows and the west end of the Breedt Bank,
starshell to get within 50 yards of the A German
So we left the fleet of French fishermen, Dutch schuits,
scene. hung for minutes in the sky, lighting shore. up the whole
trawlers and other vessels to follow the deeper channels.
To the north-east we could hear the crump, crump, of
megaphone, Any more for the Mudlark?" yelled through the
heavy gun fire and hoped it was the Navy shelling the
There Any more for Blighty?" we
ing up on us.
German advance, The sight of Dunkirk, as we approached,
was truly unforgettable. The whole place was a wall of
above recognized the Casino and the beach at all. road
I was no sign of life upon the
the beach. As I looked an incendiary Kursaal on shell the burst
opere being
about the fathom mega- light,