Contrary to popular belief the second Ostend Raid – on 9th/10th May – achieved a fair measure of success, although the cost was high. However the planning was not nearly as precise as it had been for Zeebrugge. An example of this was the fact that there was initially no experienced navigator on the Vindictive. Lieutenant Sir John Alleyne, then serving on the monitor the Lord Clive, realised the deficiency and as he himself had an excellent knowledge of the area, volunteered for the post. As a navigator on a monitor which was accustomed to station itself off the Belgian coast while it bombarded the interior, Lieutenant Alleyne had become well-versed in the ways of the tides, the shoals and the Germans. He was allowed to volunteer but then Rear-Admiral Boyle, who was Admiral Keyes’ Chief of Staff, ordered that Alleyne should be dropped off at Dunkirk. Alleyne, who contrived not to receive the order (knowing it was pending) kept out of the way until Vindictive set off.
He was astonished to find that Vindictive’s gyro compass was out-of-date, there was no up-to-date sounding apparatus on board either, and that no one else had adequate experience in navigation. Lacking the proper apparatus, he had to time his progress up the coast by his own watch. He still owns it – but it stopped when he fell into the sea after he had been wounded. However, timing progress in this way alerted him to the fact that the Germans had altered the buoys. Apparently it was a common practice by both sides during the naval war and he fully expected it. Unfortunately no one had expected it on the first Ostend raid.
However, in spite of all these problems Alleyne brought the Vindictive right into the harbour. As they were within a few feet of the harbour wall, on which the Germans had heavy machine-guns, the decks of the Vindictive were swept by constant streams of bullets. It was also subject to heavier bombardment. Alleyne was wounded and pulled back into the conning tower by Godsal and Crutchley. (A ship may be steered from bridge, conning tower, or aft.) The bridge was no longer useable and Godsal stepped outside the conning tower to take a look at the scene and was instantly killed. Vindictive had reached the vital part of the channel and was blocking as much as one ship could. Unfortunately her sister ship Sappho was not there to block the other side as she had fallen out through engine trouble. Nevertheless, as mentioned earlier, Vindictive was left in a position where she would cause the maximum inconvenience to the Germans.
As soon as Crutchley and Bury had blown the charges on Vindictive and she had settled down into her place, abandon ship was ordered and a most difficult evacuation then took place. CPO Reed carried the wounded Alleyne and put him into a skiff were there were already two other wounded men. ML 254 then came alongside Vindictive. She was commanded by Lieutenant G. H. Drummond whose thigh was promptly broken by the German fire which was still landing on Vindictive. Drummond stayed at his post, even after being wounded twice more while Vindictive was searched for survivors. None were found. With her cargo of dead and wounded picked up before she limped out through the fog. There she was picked up by Admiral Keyes’ flagship, the destroyer Warwick. Hardly were the complement of the battered ML transferred to Warwick than the latter hit a mine. Fortunately she was not badly holed enough to make her sink and lashed to Velox and towed by Whirlwind she too limped back to Dover.
Meanwhile two other MLs were still searching the area for possible survivors. One was ML 276 under Lieutenant Bourke. It came in close to Vindictive and there found the skiff, which had now capsized in the swell, but still had Alleyne and the other two wounded men grimly clinging to it. ML 276 was hit by yet another shell as she crawled out, full of bullet holes, and with many wounded on board. She was eventually taken in tow by the monitor Prince Eugene. Bourke, together with Drummond and Crutchley, received the VC.
*
From Captain R. D. King-Harman DSO, DSC: The ‘Vindictive’ at Ostend
I missed your letter in the Telegraph, but am glad to hear from your letter to me received today you are undertaking the writing of a book on Zeebrugge. There is plenty of room for an account such as you propose of what I still regard as among the greatest feats of arms of the Royal Navy.
I am sorry to disappoint you in adding anything to your book. My ship was one of the destroyer escorts and as such we really played only an onlooker’s role. I do not feel I can tell you anything of much interest or value. I do not know if your book will include anything about the second and successful attack on Ostend, the first blocking attempt at the same time as the Zeebrugge one having failed. The Zeebrugge affair has always had the limelight and rather obscured the second Ostend operation when the harbour there was successfully blocked by the Vindictive. Most people at the time thought it was suicide to try and repeat the blocking only three weeks later. If your account does happen to include Ostend, I think you could get something of interest out of a friend of mine, then Lieutenant Sir John Alleyne, now Captain Sir John Alleyne DSO. He volunteered for the job of navigator and got the ship right into the desired spot between the piers before he was badly wounded and unable to move. The captain, whose name I forget, was killed and the only other surviving officer, Lieutenant Crutchley, got the surviving men together with Alleyne, into the motor launch detailed for the job. Crutchley, now Admiral Sir Victor Crutchley VC, was given the VC.
If the operation is being dealt with by you, Jack Alleyne could give you some very interesting details of it, if he could be induced to talk, which I rather doubt.
I saw him last year, when he was active and hearty at the age of 87, when he told me that he had been obliged to give up hunting at 86 because he had become too blind to see the fences. Crutchley is still going, but I do not know his address. He is a nice chap and if you wanted any information from him I am sure he would give it to you.
*
From Lieutenant Commander J. H. McGivering: Drummond VC
I was very interested in your letter in the Daily Telegraph today, as my late father John McGivering (1884–1971) was in the RNVR in the 1914 war and at one time commanded HM ML 339.
He and my mother knew Lieutenant Commander G. H. Drummond VC, and all that I can recall of their activities is the story that he (Drummond) had beautiful manners and played the piano like an angel: the more he drank, the better his manners became, until he would say to father, ‘I say. Mac. old man, I wonder if you would be so kind as to give me a hand to my cabin – I fear I cannot walk!’
When Drummond went to get his VC, from King George V the King asked what he did in civilian life. Drummond said, ‘I was a professional invalid, Sir!’ which caused the King to roar with laughter, much to the horror of the courtiers. That is the essence of father’s stories, and he used to say that Drummond had fallen out of his pram as a child and broken or dislocated his neck, with the result that he was unable to turn it, and was obliged to turn his whole body to see left or right.
I served under Captain Sir John Alleyne, Bart, at Freetown in about 1943 and occasionally met him on business but did not discover that he went aboard Vindictive to swing compasses (he was navigator of a ship that now escapes me,* but it is in the Despatches) and stowed away (if I remember rightly) and went on the raid.
Gordon S. Maxwell was a poet when he was not dropping smoke-floats from ML 314 and gave father a copy of his The Rhymes of A Motor Launch in 1927, published by Dent in 1919. It is on the table beside me now and contains many items sung or recited at a concert in HMS Arrogant at Dover the night before they sailed for the raid.
My mother, 90 last October, used to say that she and my late sister went aboard either Iris or Daffodil at Portsmouth after they returned from the raid, and they saw sand on the decks to soak up the blood but I fear she does not now remember the incident.
Father was at Wick at the time of the raid, but knew most of the officers in MLs. We still have the coloured print of Wilkinson’s ML 193 over the fireplace in the sitting-room and a (dirty) white Ensign that flew in 339.
Lieutenant-Commander Drummond was specially promoted at Zeebrugge for his work as leader of a smoke unit, and won the VC at Ostend. Lieutenant Gordon Maxwell was mentioned in despatches.
*
From F. M. Macfarlane: the fate of ‘ML 254’
The Distinguished Service Medal was awarded to my father for service on the MB 549 but my father was also on the ML 254. After the crew of the Vindictive were taken off, the ML 254 had to be sunk as she was in a bad state and would have fallen into enemy hands. She was charged with explosives but before leaving her my father nipped down to the engine room to rescue his pipe and tobacco and also snatched a family photograph on his way up.
He carried a wounded officer to safety and was three times mentioned in despatches. All he received from the raid was a splinter in his thumb.
Chief Motor Mechanic A. M. Macfarlane was awarded the DSM at Ostend on 9th/10th May. He was mentioned in despatches for specially distinguished service; he had volunteered for dangerous rescue work. It was largely due to the magnificent manner in which he and his fellow shipmates carried out their duties that so many of the officers and men of the Vindictive were rescued.
*
From E. M. Selway: ‘left for dead’ (Ostend)
My father, Thomas Henry Knowles, was a member of the Royal Marine party which sank the Vindictive across the harbour. He is now dead, but I remember his account of the action.
He told me that he was one of a party of Marine volunteers which took part. After the ship was sunk he and the others were stranded on a mole, being shelled by gun emplacements on the other moles. He was very badly wounded, and was put in the hold of the rescue ship with the bodies of those who had been killed, as he also was thought to be dead. On his return the King and Queen visited him in hospital.
The commander of the operation demanded the VC for all those taking part, but King George V would not accede to this, and so my father and his comrades took part in a ballot for one VC and he did not get it.
*
From J. Lambert: an interesting point about the change in the wind
My father Rawsthorne Procter took part in the raid as a lieutenant in command of a ML (No 556).
Unfortunately I can give you very little information – my father died in 1946 – and my father never told us a great deal about it – apart from the fact that he made the smoke screen. He used to wax indignant about others occupied in the same task, they failed to notice the change in direction of the wind or to correct their position for laying the smoke screen accordingly.
He was awarded the DSC for his efforts – he never missed the annual St George’s day dinner.
Lieutenant Proctor’s citation read: ‘This officer was in charge of a section of motor launches screening monitors during the bombardment of the Ostend shore batteries. He exhibited conspicuous ability and initiative under heavy fire and materially contributed to the success of the operation.’
* The monitor, The Lord Clive.