LOG BOOK GLEANINGS

Evening Star, Issue 23451, 16 December 1939, Page 8

LOG BOOK GLEANINGS

" FULL AHEAD " EVANS'S SLOGAN EXPLOITS OF DOVER PATROL [By First Mate.] In the Great War it was only natural that the Straits of Dover should be of vital importance., This was the shortest route for Gennan'\ships, especially submarines, to the Channel or Atlantic. It was while Admiral Bacon was in command of the Dover Patrol that these events occurred. It was to him that fell the responsibility of frustrating the enemy, With the Flanders coast in German hands, a dark night was an ideal opportunity for fast torpedo craft to dash into the Straits, attack shipping in the Downs, and bombard the coastal • defences of Britain’s seaports. Admiral Bacon had in his coijimand the Swift and the Broke, flotilla leaders. They had high speed and were better-armed than ordinary destroyers. Captain of the Swift was Commander Ambrose Peck, and in the Broke was Commander E. R. 6. R. Evans (now Sir Edward Evans), a man who had already made his name in the service. Evans took part, as second-in-command, in the famous Scott expedition to the Antarctic, when Captain Scott reached the South Pole and died with his party on the way back. The fine, dark night of April 20, 1917, gave the Germans their opportunity. A flotilla of destroyers left the German base after dark, some to attack Calais and the others Dover. The Swift, the senior ship, was leading the Brbke, and both were about seven miles off Dover when suddenly a dark object was seen a few hundred yards off on the port bow. It was soon realised in the British ships that there were several enemy ships present. It was no time for an artillery action, as the British would be hopelessly outnumbered; And, in any case, night gun action was greatly a matter of luck. Pock tried tb ram the nearest destroyer, but missed, and dashed between the enemy lines at top speed, shells bursting all afduhd him. As she passed the enemy she calmly fired a torpedo at them. Evans gave order? for a torpedo to be fired as he, turned to ram one of the enemy, but as he approached her he saw her struck fight amidships by a torpedo, either his or the Swift’s, or both. He then turned at high speed t,o ram the next in the line. “Full ahead”, at somebody was typical of Evans. The men on the deck of the Broke" could see by the sparks of the enemy ships that the Germans were stoking up with the utmost fury to try to escape—but it was too late. LIKE A ROARING LION.

Amidst shot and shell the Broke tore like a roaring lion fit the enemy; with a tremendous crash she steamed right into destroyer G 42, and the two locked together. The German had a bad hole in her, and the Broke had crushed in her bows. G 42 was carried on the ram of the Broke. In the meantime the next German destroyer in the line passed ahead of the Broke—the following one astern of her. Both shelled the Broke heavily as they passed. Evans was busy clearing himself from the wreckage of G 42, apd when clear went to rejoin the Swift, which was chasing the retreating enemy. But the Broke’s speed was by this time greatly reduced, as a shell had exploded in one of the boiler rooms and damaged the main steam pipe. Evans, full of dash as ever,’still wanted to go on after the enemy, hut steam -was growing less and less, and his. ship was gradually coming to a standstill. Further pursuit wag out of the question. He decided to turn found and see what had become of the damaged enemy ships. The (fire guided him to them; both were in a helpless condition, one sinking and the other in flames. But they showed no signs of surrender. One, in a sort of last gasp, opened fire on the Broke. Evans at once ordered the fire to be silenced,, an order promptly carried out. Suddenly a destroyer was seen coming but of the darkness. At first Evans had been unable to reply to the challenge, made by flashlight, as all the Broke’s electric circuits had been destroyed, but the signalman, not lacking resource, found an electric torch, which did the trick. As the destroyer, or as she was officially classed, flotilla leader turned out to be the Swift, all was well. The action was now over, and ■in spite of the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, two had been sunk and the remainder put to flight.