THE DOVER RAID.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 220, 27 April 1917, Page 5

THE DOVER RAID.

GREAT DEEDS BY BRITISH SAILORS. ANTARCTIC HERO’S MAGNIFICENT WORK. LONDON, April 25. The Press Bureau states: Details of th e recent raid on Dover show that six German destroyers participated. The British destroyers Swift and Broke, patrolling the Channel, sighteu the enemy at 12.40 in the morning steaming at high speed. The night was calm but intensely dark. The destroyers were within 600 yards when first seen. Simultaneously the German fire gongs sounded, and the Germans opened fire. The Swift instantly replied. Commander Peck decided to ram the leading destroyer. The Swift, everyone assembled on the bridge blinded by the flashes, drove down straight on the enemy. She missed her prey, but traversed the line of the enemies unscathed, turned hawklike on her quarry and, while turning, torpedoed another boat. Again the Swift dashed at the leadingenemy, which again eluded, and, without firing another shot, went off full speed in the darkness, the Swift pursuing.

Meantime the Broke, commanded by Commander Evans, was steaming astern the Swift. On the latter altering her course to ram th e leader of the Germans, the Broke torpedoed the second boat in the line and opened fire with every gun. Then, gathering speed for a blow, she swung to port and rammed the third German at full speed fair and square abreast the aft funnel. Thus locked, the boats fought desperately in a hand-to-hand conflict. The Broke swept the enemy’s decks at point blank range with every gun of the main armament down To rifles and pistols. The remaining destroyers in the German line poured a devastating fire on the Broke. The foremost guns’ crew was reduced from 18 to six. Midshipman Byles, in charge of the forecastle, though wounded in. : an eye, kept all the foremost guns in action, assisting the depleted crews to load. Meanwhile a number of frenzied Germans swarmed on to the Broke’s forecastle from the rammed destroyer, and, amid blinding flashes of the forecastle guns, rushed aft. Midshipman Byles, half-blinded with blood, met the rush single-handed with his revolver, which a German attempted to seize. Seaman Ingleson promptly bayonetted him. The remainder, except tw,o who feigned death and who were prisonered, were driven overboard. The Broke, two minutes after the ramming, wrenched herself free from her sinking adversary and attempted to ram the last boat of the line. She failed, but she hit the latter’s consort on the stern with a torpedo. The BVoke, hotly engaged with these two fleeing destroyers, followed the Swift, but a shell struck the Broke’s boiler-room, disabling the main engines. The enemy vanished in the darkness. The Broke next headed towards a destroyer which was heavily afire and whose crew were making loud appeals for mercy, and regardless of the danger of the enemy’s magazines exploding, the Broke moved slowly towards her. Th e cries were redoubled, when the German unexpectedly opened fire. The Broke, uncontrollable and unable to manoeuvre to extract herself, silenced the treachery with four rounds. Then, firing a torpedo, she hit the destroyer amidships.

Meanwhile, th e Swift, unable to maintain full speed owing to slight injury received earlier, abandoned the chase. Presently sh e sighted an outlying and stationary destroyer and heard confused voices. She warily approached with guns trained on the stranger. The latter was the sinking destroyer rammed by the Broke. The crew bellowed in unison, “We surrender.” Suspecting treachek}/, < the* Swift awaited developments. The German destroyer’s crew stopped shouting and the craft heeled slowly over and sank. The Swift, using her searchlight, rescued the survivors. ~ The Swift and Broke’s crews cheered each other in the darkness. The spirit of the wounded is epitomised in th e conduct of the Broke’s helmsman, Bowles, who, though hit four times by shell fragments, remained at the wheel throughout the action. He only betrayed his wounds by reporting to the captain. ,I T' am going off now, sir.” He then fainted.