GALLANT DOVER PATROL.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 115, 21 May 1918, Page 8

GALLANT DOVER PATROL.

DEEDS THAT BEAT THE HUNS

In cold official language a special supplement of 'the London Gazette describes some deeds of courage and devotion of the Dover pb.+*-nl -when, tenemy destro\ ers attempted on the night ofFebruarv 14" to.. break. our Üboat ship barrage across .the Channel. live men get the distinguished Service Cross and two others a bar to the -Cross. Engr.-Lieut. J. A- Eu-k----fcam saved his ship, holed below the ■water-line, bv keeping the pump going as long as "steam lasted. Eventually another vessel lowed her stern first inio Dover Harbour. The trawler James Pond was eet on fire and Chief Skipper A. E. Berry, D.S.C, wounded iu the legs by a shell •which exploded in his cabin.. Berrymade his men lie down till the firing ceased. Meanwhile hi and Skipper H. Bennett tried unsuccessfully to cope -with theffi e and also to bring up ammunition. Then the chief skipper gave orders to abandon ship, but nimBelf refused to leave until convinced that she was doomed. Though fche boat falls had =bee n shot away the boat, was launched and the crew .landed on the 'French, coast. Berry gets a bar to his dross and Bennett the Cross. , iLieut. Alexander Duff Thomson aiso receives a bar to his Cross. Surviving the wrecking of the cabin by a sheu •which also killed the officer of the Watch, he coolly directed his vessel through the action and. then, his wiredoss out of action, he managed to get an S.O.S. to Folkestone. Then he examined his vessel and found that «he was settling down by the head, having been holed below (the waterline. Another vessel arrived and towed her stern first to Dover. Three other skippers won the Cross —Skipper J. Mair. of the drifter W. Elliott; Skipper S. A. Head, of the drifter Vera Creina, for keeping his ship afloat bv plugging holes made by 4in Bhella with beds and blankets; and Skipper J. Turreil. of the drifter Golden Rule, who was still cool and courageous after having 10 of his 13 men killed and ibeing himself badly injured. ~,* For saving their- ship, the drifter Violet May, Enginemeii J. Ewing and ] A:-"..■ Noble " are awarded the Contepicu- j Ous gallantry medal. Their ship was on fire, only two other members of the crew' alive/but baaiy wounded. Ewiny and Noble cleared the -wreckage of - the boom from 'the ' small boat, put their.;two wounded" shipmates in, 4n>i launched the boat.. Finding that their ship did not- sink, they refcuro'ed tr» her, put out the fire, though small-arm anrnhinition was exploding about 'them a.V they worked. -and then got the wounded men aboard- again and made them comfortable. Then they burned flares of, old clothes soaked in-paraffin Until they were picked up. "Their great gallantry and devotion to duty—and,- I Would add, their simple modesty—entitles them to very special consideration."" writes .the Vice-Admiral, Dover' Patrol, of Ewing and Noble.