Santiago in 1898. The Japanese had thrice attempted to block Port Arthur in 1004. None of these attempts had been wholly successful. Let us glance for a moment at the conditions under which the attack was to be made. The distance from Dover to Zeebrugge was 63 miles. This meant that the expedition must start in daylight to be off the port by midnight. The night must be dark and the wind on shore.
Twice the force was assembled and twice unfavourable conditions supervened. On the night of April 11-12, it was within 13 m. of its rallying point. Finally the night of April 22-23 w ^s fixed for the attack. The main force started at 4:53 P.M. on Monday, April 22. The bombardment was to begin at 11:20 P.M., simultaneously at Zeebrugge and Ostend. The smoke screen was to start at 1 1 =40 P.M. The " Vindictive " was to reach the mole at midnight. The " Thetis " was to pass the end of the mole 25 minutes later. The last point of departure was at a point called G in lat. 51 27' N., long. 2 50' E. This and other points on the route were marked by buoys laid after careful triangulation by Capt. H. P. Douglas and Lt.-Comm. Francis E. Haselfoot. It was here, some 12 m. off Zeebrugge and Ostend, that the vessels took up their formation for attack. The " Vindictive," which had been towing the " Iris II." and " Daffodil," cast them off. The " Sirius " and " Brilliant " shaped course for Ostend, the " Thetis " and her companions eased down. The host of small craft dispersed for their various tasks. The night was overcast, with a light wind from the N.E., and a thick column of smoke soon began to roll down the coast, hiding everything.
An image should appear at this position in the text. A high-res raw scan of the page is available. To use it as-is, as a placeholder, edit this page and replace "{{missing image}}" with "{{raw image|EB1922 - Volume 32.djvu/1170}}". If it needs to be edited first (e.g. cropped or rotated), you can do so by clicking on the image and following the guidance provided. [Show image]  | |
PLAN A
OSTEND
APRIL 22-!" 1318
ffl/VOfli Bank Boty
PLAN B
As they approached the shore about 11:40 P.M. a great star shell soared into the sky, which was soon thick with them shining dimly through the eddies of the smoke. They were close to the
harbour when a great disappointment overtook them. The wind, which had died away, shifted to the southward, greatly reducing the efficiency of the screen. The searchlights fastened on the vessels. At 1 1 :s6 the " Vindictive " emerged out of the smoke into the full glare of their beams. The mole could be seen 300 yd. on the port bow. Capt. Carpenter increased to full speed and approached it at an angle of 45. A heavy fire was opened on her and she replied with her port 6-in. battery, the upper deck pompoms and the guns in the fore top. The storming parties drawn up ready to rush ashore lost both their leaders at this point. Col. Bertram Elliot, waiting to lead the Royals just abaft the bridge, was struck down by a shell which did fearful execution forward. Capt. H. C. Halahan at the head of the bluejackets amidships was killed by machine-gun fire.
At one minute past midnight, the ship came alongside the mole. It was intended to do this 300 yd. from the lighthouse abreast of the 4-in. battery, but the starboard anchor was hung up with a strong tide sluicing down the mole, and the ship was carried some 700 yd. from the lighthouse or nearly 400 yd. to landward of the intended spot. The port anchor was dropped and bowsed to with only a shackle (75 ft.) out. A further difficulty now arose. The rush of the 3-knot tide between the ship and mole created a heavy swell which threw the ship off the mole; only two of the 18 brows could reach the parapet, and the ship could not be kept into the mole. Swaying upward with the roll of the ship the two foremost brows came down scraping and grinding along the mole. The naval storming parties led by Lt.-Comm. Bryan Adams ran out along them, followed closely by the Royal Marines led by Capt. and Adj. A. R. Chater. As the seamen got to the wall they leapt down and tried to make the mole grapnels fast (for hauling the ship into the mole), but only one was got in place and a heavy roll broke it up.
This was a critical time, and it was four minutes past midnight when the little " Daffodil " came up and pushed the ship bodily into the mole. Two more brows were got into place and the landing parties got ashore! The " Vindictive's " guns had suffered heavily. The marine crew of the foremost 7'5-in. howitzer had all been killed or wounded. A naval crew from one of the 6-in. guns, which took its place, was almost entirely swept away. In the foretop the Royal Marines under Lt. Chas. Rigby had kept up a continuous fire with their pompoms and Lewis guns till two heavy shells got home on it, killing or disabling everyone there except Sergt. Norman Finch, who though severely wounded continued to fight his gun singlehanded till the top was wrecked by another shell. The " Iris II." with the Chatham company of Royal Marines and D company of seamen had suffered even more severely. She had gone alongside the mole about 150 yd. ahead of the " Vindictive." The swell broke up the scaling ladders. Lt. Claude Hawkings (" Erin "), who led the way, made a grapnel fast and was shot down on the mole. Lt.-Comm. G. N. Bradford (" Orion ") got to the top of a derrick with a grapnel, leapt on to the mole, secured it and fell back shot into the water. Comm. Val. Gibbs feh 1 , with both legs shot away. The grapnels tore away, and the "Iris II.," slipping her cable, dropped alongside the " Vindictive " to land her men across her. Here she again suffered heavily. A big shell went through the upper deck and burst just where 56 marines were waiting to charge up the gangways, killing 49 and wounding seven. Another shell in the wardroom killed 4 officers and 26 men. The heavy swell made it difficult to get alongside the " Vindictive," and only a few men had got across when the siren sounded the retire.
To return to the landing on the mole. The 400 yd. or so by which the " Vindictive " overran her position had a considerable effect on the plan. The seamen, instead of dropping down on the battery, had to go back to it 400 yd. along the mole. The " fortified zone," instead of being between the " Vindictive " and the shore, was now between the " Vindictive " and the battery on the mole, increasing the difficulty of an assault.
The seamen of A and B companies under Lt.-Comm. B. F. Adams, got ashore, and dropping on to the ledge below the parapet made their way toward the lighthouse. They came to
