TNA / MT 40 36 Pt 2

TNA MT 40 36 Pt 2

Collection details

TNA MT 40 36 Pt 2

A second digitised section of MT 40/36: Ministry of Transport papers on the Dynamo small-craft pool, special-service planning and claims procedure.

Holding archive: TNA
Collection reference: MT 40 36 Pt 2

View the archive catalogue entry ↗

Source: The National Archives, Kew, MT 40/36 Pt 2. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Showing only pages tagged with the vessel name Viking. Tags are exact matches from this collection’s OCR tag index. Clear vessel filter ×

Showing only document page 199. Show all matching pages ×

1 matching pages. OCR may contain transcription errors.

List page 1 of 1 Showing document pages 199–199 of this collection

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Page	Image	OCR text	OCR tags
199	Log in to enlarge	DUNKIRK her EM CERBERA E HTT 190 THE SOUTHEND STANDARD, JUNE 13, 1940. WAKERING BARGE RESCUES MANY MEN. 92 SOUTHEND ENGINEER'S EXPERIENCES Her bows torn apart. her rudder cracked and her engines disabled. a converted coasting barge, Viking. limped back to Millhead Creek. Great Wakering. this week, after taking part in the evacuation of the British forces from Dunkirk. She is owned by Mr. Tranter. the manager of Great Wakering brickfields. and is ideally suited for work in shoal waters, drawing only 4ft. 6in. of water. She weighs about a hundred and sixty tons. Her master, Mr. Dick Gregory: of Mill Head Villas, Great Wakering, was very laconic about his experiences. "It was a new experience." he said. ** I'd never been that way before. If need be I'd go again to-morrow." His nephew. Mr. William H. Back in the quiet peace of home waters, after helping with Gregory, jun., also of Mill Head Villas. the evacuation from Dunkirk, the converted coasting barge Viking accompanied him on the trip. is at her old mooring. One of the crew of the Viking was Mr. G. Ratchiffe, a garage. proprietor. of 51. Glenhurst Road, Southchurch. I missed much of the excitement," he said. regretfully. " because. as engineer. I was below most of the time. On the way to Dunkirk I went on deck for a breath of air: Depth charges were dropped continually, and in the distance I saw a dog fight between R.A.F. fighters and German bombers. The first trip was accomplished without incident, but on the second we became stranded on the beach. German bombers left us alone at first, thinking we were derelict, but when we attempted to refloat the boat about thirty German 'planes bombed and machine-gunned us. The only casualty was a soldier-tucked away in the most inaccessible part of the boat-who was hit on a leg. The effort of refloating damaged her bows and put the forward gears of the engines out of action. We had to make our way back to the warships in reverse! Mr. Ratcliffe said he discovered a silver threepenny bit on the boat, and kept it as a lucky charm. He estimated that nearly a thousand men were rescued by the Viking some whence of she the was requistioned) passage to Ramsgate, from Chichester in the (from Log, remarks contained therein may be of interest hope that to you. Yours Faithfully, Enc. after taking On no About 10.30 a.m., we arrived at Southend Pier and were asked to take the vessel to Dunkirk as there were not sufficient Naval Ratings available. Provisions for three days and more petrol were taken aboard, and we were -1-	Boat Em Viking Barge Dick Gregory Head May Ratcliffe

Raw OCR

Unformatted machine-generated OCR for document page 199.

DUNKIRK
her
EM
CERBERA
E
HTT
190
THE SOUTHEND STANDARD, JUNE 13, 1940.
WAKERING BARGE RESCUES
MANY MEN.
92
SOUTHEND ENGINEER'S EXPERIENCES
Her bows torn apart. her rudder
cracked and her engines disabled. a
converted coasting barge, Viking. limped
back to Millhead Creek. Great Wakering.
this week, after taking part in the
evacuation of the British forces from
Dunkirk.
She is owned by Mr. Tranter. the
manager of Great Wakering brickfields.
and is ideally suited for work in shoal
waters, drawing only 4ft. 6in. of water.
She weighs about a hundred and sixty
tons.
Her master, Mr. Dick Gregory: of Mill
Head Villas, Great Wakering, was very
laconic about his experiences. "It was a
new experience." he said. ** I'd never been
that way before. If need be I'd go again
to-morrow." His nephew. Mr. William H.
Back in the quiet peace of home waters, after helping with
Gregory, jun., also of Mill Head Villas.
the evacuation from Dunkirk, the converted coasting barge Viking
accompanied him on the trip.
is at her old mooring.
One of the crew of the Viking was Mr.
G. Ratchiffe, a garage. proprietor. of 51.
Glenhurst Road, Southchurch. I missed
much of the excitement," he said. regret-
fully. " because. as engineer. I was below
most of the time. On the way to Dunkirk
I went on deck for a breath of air: Depth
charges were dropped continually, and in
the distance I saw a dog fight between
R.A.F. fighters and German bombers. The
first trip was accomplished without
incident, but on the second we became
stranded on the beach. German bombers
left us alone at first, thinking we were dere-
lict, but when we attempted to refloat the
boat about thirty German 'planes bombed
and machine-gunned us. The only
casualty was a soldier-tucked away in the
most inaccessible part of the boat-who
was hit on a leg. The effort of refloat-
ing damaged her bows and put the forward
gears of the engines out of action. We
had to make our way back to the warships
in reverse!
Mr. Ratcliffe said he discovered a silver
threepenny bit on the boat, and kept it as
a lucky charm. He estimated that nearly
a thousand men were rescued by the
Viking
some whence of she the was requistioned) passage to Ramsgate, from Chichester in the (from Log,
remarks contained therein may be of interest hope that to you.
Yours Faithfully,
Enc.
after taking On
no
About 10.30 a.m., we arrived at Southend Pier and
were asked to take the vessel to Dunkirk as there were
not sufficient Naval Ratings available. Provisions for
three days and more petrol were taken aboard, and we were
-1-