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I had great difficulty in manoeuvring alongside and this
difficulty was made worse by the attitude of a few of the
French soldiers who had become panicky and kept shouting
"Au Secours" and shouting at me to hurry up and get them
alongside! Only a small section of the soldiers took this
attitude which was formulated by a soldier (Heaven knows
what rank or capacity) who looked at least sixty, having
a pointed grey beard! I found it so difficult to get the
boats alongside while we were secured together that I decided
to cast off the HAIG and left Cadet Rating Price on board
her with orders that I would come back to the HAIG as soon
as the French soldiers were on board the cruiser.
We were very close to X440 and I was alongside her in
about two minutes. The French troops scrambled aboard her
and I spoke to a French Naval Officer and asked him to
wireless Dover that I had the W.D. craft in tow, that we
were in difficulties and needed assistance. He promised
to do this and also told me the course we should follow
from our present position. I noticed that while the French
troops were boarding X440, the HAIG had drifted alongside
X440 further aft and I noticed Price talking to the French
sailors but do not recall seeing him go aboard X440.
As soon as the troops were aboard I shoved off and
X440 went ahead. HAIG was now astern of X440 and I went
alongside her at once. To my amazement there was no sign
of Price, who must either have fallen overboard or else
boarded the X440 and had not been able to get back aboard
HAIG before X440 went ahead. There was no sign of anyone
in the water.
I was now left with Worsall and Smith to manage both
the HAIG and LADY CABLE. There was no chance of the HAIG
towing the LADY CABLE owing to the fact that only HAIG's
port engine was working and this would have made steering
very difficult and also it would not have been possible to
prevent the water from rising forward as there were no spare
hands to pump. I decided then to try and tow HAIG alongside
LADY CABLE. First I stopped HAIG's engine there was no
object in leaving it running. It took us quite & while to
discover how to stop the engine!
Efforts at towing alongside were unsuccessful - the lines
kept parting and the bollard aft in LADY CABLE was not up
to the strain. The only possible chance left of towing
HAIG was astern but this meant that the tow rope would have
to be secured forward around the mast of LADY CABLE and led
aft along the deck. We could not secure the tow rope aft
efforts at towing HAIG alongside.
owing to the bollards having been carried away by our previous
I realised that there was a considerable risk towing
from forward that the tow rope might jump over the engine
room cabin housing and I took every care to watch for this
happening. We managed to make a little progress but
several times the tow rope nearly jumped the cabin and
unfortunately this finally happened when our engine had almost
stopped and the HAIG yawed away to port. I went overboard
like a shot from a gun and felt the screw of LADY CABLE touch
my left foot. Luckily I caught hold of a fender alongside
HAIG. Worsall quickly got on board HAIG and he and Smith
(who was already abord HAIG) were able to pull me out of
the water. After this episode I decided reluctantly that
any further efforts at towing HAIG were impossible,
especially/