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TNA / Unclassified 1

TNA Unclassified 1

TNA Unclassified 1
Collection details

TNA Unclassified 1

A working collection of Operation Dynamo source material whose definitive National Archives catalogue reference is still being identified.

Holding archive
TNA
Collection reference
Unclassified 1

Source: The National Archives, Kew, Unclassified 1. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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

2 matching pages. OCR may contain transcription errors.

List page 1 of 1 Showing document pages 242–244 of this collection
Page ImageOCR textOCR tags
242 Page 242 Log in to enlarge

st.of Officers and other ranks brought from Dunkirk by H.M.Y.
"Christobel II" June 1st 1940.
180
Varney. R.A.S.C.
I
3449762.
1/5 Battallion Lancs Fus.
-
laworth. it. Fus.
168
3450550.
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3451380.
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3445062.
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6018271.
2nd Essex regiment.
Taylor. Green. Fus.
3450323. 1st 5th. Lancashire Fus.
3446761.
1st 5th.
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If kelly. Fus.
G. Butler Fus.
3449109.
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IF
7339992.
R.A.S.C.
CPL. N.H. Colson.
B.Mc. Ewan.
T92456.
2nd Corps Amm Park. R.A.S.C.
T58067.
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CPL E. Betts.
3449949.
Dawson. Fus.
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3445064.
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3448391.
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3446130.
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3449797.
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Chadwick. Fus.
3445292.
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3444120.
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Q.M.S. John Armstrong.
ohn Oddie. Fus.
3449958.
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George Blagg.
S.M. John Henry Brown.
1714972.
2nd Corps Amm Park. R.A.S.C.
harles Belshaw. Pte.
807755.
5th Bit Northants Regt.
ack Trailing. Pte.
6141581.
1st 6th Btn East Surrey Regt.
amuel Penman. Fus.
3452270.
1st 5th Btn Lancs Fusiliers.
rederick Charles Clarke.
34471191.
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3448936.
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A.A. Warren.
6018483.
2nd Essex Regt.
Fielding. Fus.
3448122.
1st 5th Regt Lancs Fus.
3450197.
"
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Sherrington. Fus.
Dunn.
3452185.
Hurricanes have in sight and we saw no more of the Messerschmits
- **** 1000 range. a paw. areas HALLS - now OF was a after that.
Another day we were bombed by a large formation of
Heinkels flying miles up. At least I think it was our little ship they were after, unless it was one on the horison, in which case they missed by miles.
During the course of these operations we took off from the beaches upwards of 400 French soldiers. To our bitter disappointment we could find no British, others were luckier.
We also mislaid out ship for a few hours - she was on tow -
having one propeller completely tied up with bits of line and the other engine knooking hard. The tow rope broke and we could not find her though we cast about for a time. However back at Sheerness yesterday evening having babled from Ramsgate she turned up again next day - faithful thing. We arrived
5'
at 1200. An eventful trip. We borught back 2 "prises" - a nice
18ft

244 Page 244 Log in to enlarge

Dynomo 185
182
MOTOR YACHT "MARSAYRU"
170
6th.June 1960
SKIPPER.
G.D.OLIVIER.
SIGINEER
C.COGGINS.
CREW
Messrs.FORBES, HUMPHRIES and Leading Seaman BROWN.
I have the honour to report that I took over dommand of the Motor Yacht "Marsayru" on Wednesday 29th.May 1940.
Before commencing this report I tried to sort things out a bit but find that my recollection, regarding any particular date on which incidents occurred, is extremely hazy. I therefore hope that a general report on our doings will suffice.
We sailed from Sheerness on Friday 31st.May 1940 at
4 A.M., bound for Dunkirk, in company with X217 and 2 other drifters under the comand of ib.Lieutenant POOL,R.N. We steamed at 5 knots approximately. About 3 p.m. we name in sight of the coast, a long line of fires, smoke and explosions as far as the eye could see. About one hour later we contacted the
Naval forces engaged in evacuating the French soldiers from the beaches. I had a whaler and sent it to the beach; it was immediately stormed by about 50 Frenchmen and capsised at once.
My rating, Brown, had a job to prevent himself from being more or less forcibly drowned. I then withdrew my ship to review the position. Warps were everywhere, stuff that looked like
42", also smaller ropes which were the devil as I know that sooner or later we were bound to get our propellers in the way of one of them. However this did not happen as soon as I had feared. In our retreat p from the beach we managed to pick up a very nice naval cutter which we captured and used a little futther down channel where the French troops appeared to be a little calmer. We took off many boat-loads for some 5 hours, loading X217, S.S. "Foam Queen", S.S. "Jaba" and so on. On this first day we also managed to pull "Foam Queen" (about 2000 tons
I should say) off the mud, into which she had put her nose.
I thought this spoke well for the engines of "Marsayru" and
Mr. Coggins who attended them. Throughout this day and the days and nights that followed (it's all a complete jumble in my mind) we were of course under constant fire of various kinds, but I have the honour to report that the ship was not hit by anything. On one day - Sunday 2nd.June I think - we were singled out for attention (we were alone, nearest ship being about 2½ miles away) by 4 brave Messershimits who dived and machine-gunned us with much vigour but exceedingly poor aim for about half an hour. We had a Bren and 2 rifles but did not use them as the German pilots seemed disinolined to come nearer than 2000 feet and I had given orders to hold our fire to 1000 feet range. A pity. After half an hour of this 3
Hurricanes have in sight and we saw no more of the Messerschmits after that.
Another day we were bombed by a large formation of
Heinkels flying miles up. At least I think it was our little ship they were after, unless it was one on the horison, in which case they missed by miles.
During the course of these operations we took off from the beaches upwards of 400 French soldiers. To our bitter disappointment we could find no British, others were luckier.
He also mislaid owe ship for a few hours - she was on tow -
having one propeller completely tied up with bits of line and could not find her though we cast about for a time. However the other engine knocking hard. The tow rope broke and we back at Sheerness up yesterday evening having called from Ramsgate she turned again next day - faithful thing. No arrived at 1200. An eventful trip. We borught back 2 "prises" - a nice
18ft