TNA MT 40 36 Pt 2

"ADVANCE"
DUNK IRK.
4.
1300 hrs. Approached a large merchant ship (on fire) with a
Destroyer alongside, for more detailed instructions. Told to get as many men as possible from the beach to the waiting ships.
Proceeded to do so.
Took 'Advance' as close in as seemed safe, Piercy and McGuffie away in whaler. Whaler broached to and swamped on reaching beach;
as two men only, not enough to handle her in slight surf caused by other ships wash and bombs.
The troops at this time rather disorganised, not only units, but nationalities being mixed. Saw a French Officer, on a horse, making great efforts to obtain order, (later "The Frenchman on the Horse"
seemed to become almost a landmark).
10
Eventually Piercy and McGuffie, assisted by a French Interpreter
Officer (Capt. de Gailis) succeeded in getting whaler partially emptied of water, loaded and under way. Taken in tow by Dick in
'Advance'.
Proceeded alongside Destroyer, and troops embarked therein.
Returned to beach for more. Shortly after we left this
Destroyer appeared to be hit by one or more bombs.
Troops in rather better order by now, so got second boat-load off without much trouble.
On third trip managed to get 'Advance' close enough in for men to wade or swim out, in addition to those picked up by whaler. (Some
Naval Ratings in this party). On the way out, the whaler fouled some submerged obstruction, was holed, overturned and sank. Picked up all but three men, who were rescued by a motor pontoon.
Took our men out to a drifter. (Two Ratings remaining with us).
On the way back to the beach, picked up another whaler, empty and abandoned, but apparently intact. Piercy and two ratings took it in, filled up, and returned. Took it in tow and went alongside a
Destroyer to unload.
While we were there, and troops were climbing up nettings hung over her side, aircraft dived from behind clouds, and the Destroyer suddenly went ahead, presumably on orders, carrying away our lines and also the whalers tow rope. Three or four men were seen to fall over-board, some being crushed between the Destroyer's side and
'Advance' port quarter.
After getting 'Advance' under control again we could only see one
Cio
VIID
120 in their pockets was
The medical men, attention. whom they transferred to a French on cue
J
a that day's day, so they Daylight returned prevented to England, them reaching Dunkirk but were rest. unable to Following this they again and went were to allowed to England. there were none on the beach, as, owing so they to shelling returned and bombing, remove any troops Dunkirk

CONSTANCE
22
29
WESTFIEL RODNEY NYMPH
ROAD,
40
REGISTR 6 A.M.
11/1/21/11
NEW
Constant Nymph malden 1461
little Club
T.O. 9144/STN.
in. 8/5/40
20/9/40
onfirm that my
Dunkish Operations
2ª hours' notice.
M.C. Constant Nymph
35
have to get up
Dear Sir so go to the boat.
as requested, I enclose copy of a rough diary of ont to Isleworth my own experiences which was made on my return to town.
2 10.00 and 11.00.
I be required as
I had given up Constant "mph" for lat but she huoy, and my ss, I found at the was found later at Broadstairs, badly damaged in the the would issue supers tructure rgutted of everything movemble, but quite
S in the same yard.
sound in hull.
There was no widence of damage by enemy action to think there was go down together, but much widence of bad handling flooting noon so that I
When found she had no sope on her propeller&
others did not a certain amount of petrol in her tank, and a local inhabitant said she had been brought ova by some to" as I felt might at least soldiers who had been left on the beach at Dunkirk.
rhess. Luckily
When I left her, she certainly had sope on her ings that he propeller mo petrol left, 20 the naval drifter had e H111 to Islowo be waiting for the cirdantly dealt with her sprobably used her again, as a
was intended- why she should have been abandoned the Naval Contro later on the other side in a fit condition to cross ander is to anchor 017
her run power is beyond me.
be allowed to io
Both British Freuch soldies had been on her since we had found n the 28th May
I lift her, as small items of dis carded equipment were was not worth found in her which rouch for one opecimen of each army have to keep at least.
"Coustant hymph is a 24' cabin cruiser built by Kris chor and proceeder
Crisers hld at I alworth with Watermota engine, built 1939, around there collect, repert she is on the British Register as 4.78 tons.
yours truly Babinate near the dockyni all present by informed that WI
now for what required, although 1 had been told by the pleasant voiced man who spoke to me from the Admiralty that it was dangerous.
Of the boats which had come down from Isleworth mine WILL
3
the only one in charge of its owner so far as I know, and that time we had rather got the point of view that there as nothing very urgent in the wind and most of the men who had brought boats down from up river had done so without any previous knowledge that they would be doing so and had had n opportunity of making arrangements with employers, etc. so that few of them folt able to sign on for a month and voni back to town very regretfully by train.
The opportunity of playing boats for a month with or seemed to me too good to miss in any case, and I had bued e
able to warn my partners that I should be away for a bitthe but there was same difficulty in getting signed on and IMC
toured Sheerness Dockyard interviewing mumerous people 18
late in the afternoon and by about 17.00 had formed a we was accurate 1dea what the job was and was quite determinedo that to be put off, so appealed to the Commodore himself visa a few supervising the fuel and victualling of the motor be at the basin. Within half-an-hour of explaining to night's

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could not get anybody to sign me on I was signed on and back at the basin and by about 18.00 was making my way out of the basin with a crew ar two young ratings, a full tank and deck cargo of petrol, water breaker and enough provisions to last my little gang for about a week, including of large lump of raw beef, and two small sacks of potatoes - raw. The boat seemed very overcrowded.
As we passed out of the basin the Commodore hailed us Romszate and told me that we had got to tow a navy cutter to Sheerness.
These were brand now boats, fully souipped and weighing pretty nearly as much as my own little craft and had very thick new tow ropes. I must admit that I regarded this idea with considerable misgivings and was truly grateful for the fact that my boat had Samson p O sts and not leats.
Orders being orders we took the cutter in tow and dug out for Ramsgate, having our own chart of the Estuary and trusting to luck for the rest. The faster boats, which were also the bigger and less burdened by their cutters, got out of sight about dusk and another motor cruiser about the same size as my own and an open launch were the only vessels left in sight. The launch was having continuous engine trouble but the other motor cruiser was having a little trouble so I
turned back and closed them so that we could keep together.
Before 1t became quite dark a drifter turned up from Sheerness and informed us that she had been sent out to look after the motor boats. Hor Captain decided to anchor for the night and we tacked on to him. The occupants of the open launch went on board the drifter for the night but my crew and myself remained on my boat and slept between the intervals of popping up on deck to be sick, as 16 was by no means a comfortable lie for a 24 foot boat under five tons in weight.
We got under way early In the morning of the 29th and, the drifter kindly suggesting that she should take the three cutters and the defective launch in tow, the other motor eru and mine sailed independontly but keeping more or less in the reason these company with the drifter until off the Foreland, when we word ahead a bit as the course was clear and there was plenty of has never been explained bright auggestions shipping to indicate safe channels. The mber of bury little drifters about was amazing, one stopped us and suggested we should go to Belgium but could not supply the potrol for the to me, but it was very trip, so we continued on our way until another stopped us and nice weather anybox.
suggested we should go to Holland and offered to take us in tow, and provide petrol from somewhere later. As this appeared to be an order from a superior officer we accepted their tom ropes and were towed some miles in the direction of Hol land when a Destroyer had an "Aldis" conversation with the Drifter, after which the latter informed us in a kindly manner that be was really a mine-sweeper and had got to go and sweep mines, so we had better double back to Ramsgate on our own and gave us a course. We arrived at Ramsgate and got tied up 10 the outer harbour in time for a late lunch and I then made about the job in hand.
I found that the course to Dunkirk then in operation 1
grown to be a round trip of 140-150 miles and as such a to would take me the best part of 24 hours, as I could not 00
on doing maximum speed and should have to consider petrol or any case, 1t seemed to me that a mere dash over to resoue e
15 mon, all my boat would hold, was not good business. The
Commander whom I saw on the point, like all the Naval Office with whom we had any dealings, was just as helpful as was possible and agreed with me that the best use for my boat was to go over with two Navy rowing boats in tow to a ship DO that we could operate on the beach and fill the ship. After a few enquiries I was told to rendez-vous outside the harbour at
09.50 on Thursday, 30th May, and accordingly had a good night's

Uson
I took him aboard, went back and picked up the full cutter and whaler, and took them all back to the ship, reported to the Captain of Jutland that the British were further up the beach and that I was going there, a big fire just in-shore was my leading mark as the British were just to the east of this. From then on we worked to this point and the French came down the beach and mingled with the
British; Jutland was filled roughly half and half British and French.
39.
After we had been going to this point for about three or four trips, a German bomber most inconsiderately dropped a large bomb on our large fire and blew it out like a candle, this did not matter very much then as I had other leading marks and the mass of troops had increased so that they were quite visible on the beach.
By about03.00, 31st May, Jutland was full and she sailed at once to avoid the dawn bombing, Jerry was trying to bomb the ships as they left loaded and thus get the ships and the men, but his efforts throughout the 10 - 11 hours that I was working on the beach were very poorly rewarded.
Jerry also had some big guns for which aeroplanes were spotting, and they dropped verey lights over the ships, but here again Jerry wasted ammunition without hitting anything that I saw. One of the crumps came as a nasty shock as the at least two bombs explosion actually stopped my boat for a split second, and I
shook the boatbut thought I had grounded as she quivered all over but in the none stopped it.
next moment she went on again and the noise of the crump followed the air push so that I know it was nothing serious.
On Jutland leaving about03.00 on the 31st May I turned over with the cutter and whaler to Laudania and by about08. she handania wasfolled too was full, making a total of about 900 men brought off. By about 3/4 British this time I had used up all my deck cargo of petrol and the engine wanted more oil and the grease cups refilled, also
+1/4 Tranch there was a certain amount of rotten rope round the propeller shaft, this I had not been able to cut in time. My two crew were both stoker ratings of four months' service in the Navy only and being stokers were not issued with clasp knives, on my stern-man shouting to me that an odd rope was getting round our propeller, I had to leave the wheel and out it with my own sheadknife, if he had had a clasp knife he could have done it in time, I was a moment too late.
The cutter had gone aground under a stranded lighter on the windward side of same, a W.wind having got up a bit in the morning, and as I could not get near enough to get the cutter Off and the crew, also their young sailors, did not% how to get off, I rescued the crew and brought them off to Laudania had probably Engine due to sope, been statting in accordance with the Captain's instructions. My boat only just managed to Laudania with the last whaler load that she could take and the Captain ordered me off with my self starter now crew and the crew of the whaler, the crew of the outter being refused service already on board, and turned over my boat and the whaler to &
Naval drifter which was said to have petrol and mechanies on board so that they could be of use further.
The whole of us who had been on the beach work then had our first stand-bysy since 21.30 the day before and my crew and myself had not had anything to eat since 17.30 the day before and nothing to drink since 15.30, and had been continuously employed, as had the two Naval ratings who remained on each of the naval rowing boats during the tow across.
Jerry started his usual effort when the ship left at
08.30 to09.00 on the S1st, but with no results and plenty of hot tea and bread and butter and Jam and a chance to light a pipe had made me perfectly indifferent to anything Jerry did.

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On the way back to England we avoided a drifting mine, but the two Officers' pistols and the A.A.Lewis guns were unable to pop it,so we informed another ship that was outward bound and it was duly popped in due course.
The troops on board Laudania evinced no interest whatsoever in the nor the popping of it, it was first sighted on our starboard buby and as the tide was running that way we sheered off and passed behind it, the troops evidently regarded this as entirely a naval matter and I do not think any of them oven got up to see what happened to it.
40
the whole course
Off the Foreland we enquired of the local Policeman, a from Ramsgate like to gentleman in his shirt-sãeeves on a drifter, as to which port
Dunkink was would take us and were sent to Margate. Three other ships and a
main street in two destroyers also had loads for Margate and we eventually a busy town.
tied up outside two destroyers and landed the whole issue haffer, several across each ether about 17.30 may.
abreast joing each
I reported to the Naval Office with my crew of two and we way.
were promptly put in a taxi and sent back to our own port at
Ramsgate, a matter of a few minutes which might have been a dreary journey by train. As throughout, there was no red tape in the Navy at all, they had ready everything that was necessary and our general instructions were that if we were in any sort of trouble we could close any ship we saw as it would be one of ours.
at
On arrival at Ramsgate I reported to the Commander of the
Naval Office and within five minutes my crew had been taken off to the temporary barracks established by the Harbour and I was on my way to getting a bed for the night inaan Hotel.
On Saturday, 1st June, I reported at Pier Head about09.
and asked for another boat and before lunch time had taken over one which had only been brought into Ramsgate that morning and put her into commission with a new crew. This boat was an old german Admiral's barge from the last war, to which the only conversion of any importance seemed to be that the steam engine had been taken out and a petrol engine substituted, a dummy funnel being fitted where the original funnel existed. The engine was a fourcylinder engine with cylinders of enormous size, it had no self-starter and worked with a clutch, being in fact a lorry engine. The engine was a brute to start and the gear lever required a strong man to put it into any position, but the engine was started and run over for a few minutes by the man who stated that he had brought the ship round from the Thames and he assured me that it was good for 12 knots without undue pressing.
my new crew had
As we were all anxious to go over again, but I did not relish not yet been over the idea of being towed any more, the prospect of being able to in fact.
go over under my own steam at 12 knots and so make the journey in about six hours each way was very welcome, and I decided that on this occasion we would do what most of the larger motor boats had been doing, namely run over under our own steam, pick up a boat-load and come back with them. I was informed that the new boat only drew 3'2" so that it would be quite sible for the troops to get to the boat without swimming. This still did not strike me as being a very efficient method of getting the troops off but I felt that some real work had been done with Constant
Nymph and I had been informed that morning that 187, were already off so that I felt justified in indulging in something boat could more in the nature of & pienic, especially as cigarettes and have taken 35
other little comforts had been provided on the boat by the mou I should owner for the rescued troops. LWe had already victualled the boat and obtained our water supplies and directly after lunch we cast off to go across the Harbour and get petrol, having as
& quite unauthorised passenger an old member of my own Club who

ILA
-8-
in spite of a bit of rope round her port propeller, there was far too much rope at Dunkirk, made excellent headway.
There was a north easterly breeze blowing which raised a bit of a lop which was on our starboard baby on the course to the
Foreland, this was just where it was not wanted under the circumstances.
43
Most of the battens carried away and the canvas patching was flapping loose at the bottom over the main damage but she was still only making water in very small quantities as the bad damag above water line and she would have been as dry as a chip an reasonably smooth water.
We calculated that we could get round the Foreland without shipping too much and that we should then have the wind and water pretty well astern, and this proved to be the case so that we shipped no more water after that though there was a fair amount of motion for a time.
We had & chart, but no compass, owing to the bomb splinter at Dunkirk, but it was a sunny day and a course just outside the angle of the light on the water sommed about right. In point of fact we picked up every buoy directly on our course.
We had no dividers on board but using a piece of string to measure the distance on the chart between two buoys and comparing this with the tatitude scale on the bottom of the chart, found that we were doing approximately 15 knots and she must have averaged about 12 knots for the trip although we had to go a bit easy before we had rounded the Foreland.
Soon after we had got through the boom one of the usual busy drifters came pounding after us, flicking her signal lamp which, as usual, we could not read, but we eased up to let her come nearer and, as was off to our starboard a bit, we gave Cairngorm a bit of a sheer to starboard, which gave the drifter a fine view of our flapping patch, this seemed to tell the drifter all he wanted to know about us ur.
and he just waved a hand and turned back.
ned
We tied up in the motor boat basin, landed our crew and reported about 20.00. As soon as we had reported to the
1.
Commander in charge of the motor boats, he enquired if we had dined yet, and finding this was not so, book us into the of
Mess for dinner at once.
air
We slept on board Cairegorn that night, and on Friday the 7th June I was duly examined by the Medical Officer and chased about to two or three different individuals and eventually signed off, as from the date of expiration of my three days'
O
Dunkirk leave.
For this extremely pleasant outing, in the best of good company, I was paid at the magnificent rate of £23 a month and all found as Master of a vessel.
These temporary employees of the navy, signed on under naval discipline, achort periods are not provided with any uniform, and are not bound to wear any uniform, so one saw the
10 And south-east England, and a heap of people who had just come
Club caps and jackets of nearly every Yacht Club in the Thames,
/lub town as they were. As I always keep my ship clothes, including cap and reefer on board, I wore them the whole time and commissions in the R.N.V.R.
net several other members of the Club who had got their
Basipo ng me em,