Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/264/1 - 1914 - 1938 - Part 9

(3)
Manoeuvre "to Seattes"
Sounds allright but I cant say that
it is allright. I don't think he is
right as to Zepp's height. I believe
height is given in official acct.
The Bomb dropping
The narrative here is very well put
together.  It makes me begin to
doubt whether I am right in suggesting
that Dq steered solely to get at
right angles to the Zepp & so take
advantage of her poor turning ^comparatively poor turning
powers.
I know at the time I thought Dq had
metaphorically "put his head in the
shot hole", but later we ascribed
to him than what we believed to be
the correct tactic. There is nothing
to prevent his having done both.
Movements of Obdurate
Don't think "Obdurate" got any bombs near
her, except prior to attack on "Sydney". (vide official acct)
Captain Cayley & the "troops" orders were given for
everyone not required for duty to go to the "tunnel"
to minimise loss of life if bombs hit us. But the
to "troops" were deadly keen to "see the fun"
"Swearing by Morse"
This may be true, but really dont think
the "eleventh bomb" part of it is correct - but
"Quien Sabe"?

(4)
2nd Zepp We had fired away
our entire allowance of AA Ammunition,
so it was desirable not to
have a 2^nd Zepp with bombs over
us:

Zeebrugge.
Feb. 1918 - volunteers withdrawn from Australia.
Avg. of block ship's (Four).
Under cover of smoke screen & blowing up
of bridge (connecting mole w mainland) which which was to
be blown up by submarines in/c of Lt Commndr Stanford
they were to steam in & sink themselves 
in the canal entrance. Iphigenia, Thetis,

and . . . . . . . . 
Vindictive carried storming pty, wh
ws to put the guns on end of mole out
of action.
Iris also had a storming pty, &
Daffodil (two cross the Mersey ferry boats - 

Livpl to Birkenhead) since renamed Royal

Iris & R. Daffodil. Being of shallow draft
they were suitable. Daffodil had to keep bowse V. in
alongside so tt scaling ladders cd be secured.
Ships were to be alongside at 12 m.n.
Before that there wd be an aerial attack
& smoke- screen to prevent their approach from

(2)
being seen. The object of the submarines
blowing up the wooden bridge was to
prevent rfts coming from mainland.
The obj of block boarding storming ships going
alongside was to place men on the
mole to scupper all Germs & prevent
them from operating their 5 in guns, of
which there were 3 (?) on the mole,
& a large arc, wh might have
prevented the blockships coming in.
All the Austlns were from Australia. There
had bn a call for volunteers & eleven were
chosen. They went from Aust. to Chatham -
Edgar ws in charge of the w fitting ^out of Iris
& Daffodil at Portsmouth - placing protective
mattresses, grappling hooks, & scaling ladders, &
fire extinguishing appliances, & other general
equipt as a naval unit.

(3)
The others were divided among the various
ships at Chatham. There was a course of
training & fitting of ships – which were
equipped & manned at Chatham, from
there proceeding to the Swinn (?) off Sheerness;
& thence they the expedition made 2 efforts to carry out
the attack.  The first was abandoned
thro' a change o / wind which blew
the smoke screen back, when ships were within
gun range.
The second abandoned 

thro' stress of weather (when abt half way).

[* Owing to surging of
Iris it ws not
possible to land /
whole o / storming
pty from Iris.
Consequently when she
pushed off she had
a large no. on
board, when casting
off, within a few
hundred yds
of the mole, She

came under heavy

fire.*]
On the third occasion the
ships ^left Swinn at 4 p.m. proceeded alongside acc. to programme.
Edgar was in Iris. Got alongside at 12 m.n.
When time was up they pushed off in acc.
w orders of senr offr, & came under heavy

fire within a few minutes. Searchlights

were on the ship & within 200 yards they 

4

were fired at point blank.
From this fire one shell carried away half of the
fore-bridge & damaged the funnel & boiler
mortally wounding Commdr. Valentine Gibbs (in/c
of Iris & S.O. of I. & Daffodil). Another 
shell exploded in the saloon killed
12 marines officers & privates of the marines.
One shell killed 24. Fired at for abt an hour.
Of abt. 250 the total cas. were 78 k., 10 d. of w.
on way to Dover, 102 wd were landed. (190)
Edgar was chief engr. in/c of engines &
on deck putting on smoke screen. He had
to switch on the screen as she left the mole.
Left the mole at 12.45 a.m. &
returned to Dover abt 4 p.m. following
afternoon - damage to engines & fatigue
of men, due to a who had had no rest for over 24 hours.
Most of our men were in the
blockships wh had to sink themselves in
the entrance. They were then picked up by
motor launches.

Sec /VW.

TELEPHONE:

CENTRAL 4780

No. 14425

COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

MELBOURNE. 

21^st September, 1926.
Dear Bean,
In reply to your 1385 of 10th September, I
am enclosing herewith particulars obtained from the Navy
Office in regard to the R.A.N. men serving on the occasion
of the Zeebrugge attack. Engineer Lieut. Commander Edgar
is now serving at Garden Island, and I would suggest that
you might get in touch with him. - Mr. Watt, Secretary to
the establishment at Garden Island would arrange the matter
for you.
Yours faithfully,
[W. A.?] Newman
C.E.W. Bean Esq.
Official Historian,
Victoria Barracks,
SYDNEY.

Extract from . . . 104th . . . Report of the Naval Representative,
dated . . . 30.4.1918 . . . Docket No. Confl. 18/013.

I have the honour to report, for the information
of the Naval Board, that as indicated in my telegram No.
15131 of the 25th April, the undermentioned Officer and
ratings of H.M.A.S. "AUSTRALIA" were selected from amongst
numerous volunteers to take part in the raid on the Belgian
Coast:-
Mr. Wm. H. Edgar,     ...  Art. Eng. R.A.N.   ∅
George Bush              ...  L.S.
x Wm. J. Bourke         ...  Stok.

John W. Carter           ...   Stok

Henry Gillard               ...  A.B.
x Reginald Hopkins   ...  Stok. [*Reliable*]
x Godfrey J. Lockard  ...  Stok.
x Norbert J. McCrory  ...  Stok.
Leopold Newland       ...  A.B.
Dalmarton J.O. Rudd ...  L.S. [*Reliable*]
[* Dead.*] x George E. Staples     ...  A.B.
James Strong               ... Stok. 
So far as I am able to understand, all with the exception
of John W. Carter participated in the raid, and those marked
with a cross served in H.M.S. "Thetis", which vessel led the
way into the Harbour of Zeebrugge. She, however, fouled the
Torpedo Boom Defence, and in so doing her port propeller
became completely fouled, and whilst in this position the
vessel became the target of a large portion of the Harbour
Defences. She smashed through the Boom, however, and took
the ground close outside the entrance to the Bruges Canal. I
gather that the casualties in this vessel were 5 killed and
12 wounded out of a complement of 50, and I am glad to say that
none of the Australian Naval ratings were injured. Of the remainder, 

all with the exception of Mr. William Edgar were in
"Vindictive" 

[*This is wrong-

they were

split up.

Mostly in

blockships*] 

and took part in the attack on the Mole, and by some
extraordinary good luck not one of them was touched, in spite
of the very heavy action that took place on the Mole. Mr. W.
Edgar I understand was on board the "Iris", which vessel
suffered very heavy casualties - perhaps proportionately almost
more than those on the Mole. Mr. Edgar also, I am glad to say, escaped

[* ∅ Edgar

now 
Engineer Lieut-Commander

at present

H.M.A.S Penguin

Depot ship

Garden Island

Sydney.*]

-2-
escaped injury.
2. The raid itself as regards Zeebrugge was most
undoubtedly a great success. It is, however, understood
that the raid on Ostend itself was not so entirely successful
owing largely to a shift of wind which completely upset the
smoke-screen. The whole Action is classified universally as
having been most admirably thought out, and splendidly
executed.
3. I, of course, was aware that a 1imited number
of Australian ratings and Mr. Edgar had been selected for this
special service, but it was quite impossible for me to have
given any earlier information of the service for which they
were required, secrecy being absolutely essential to any
possible success.

COPY. (Extract from "Herald" - Friday
26th July, 1918).

HONORS FOR AUSTRALLANS FOR PART IN ZEEBRUGGE RAID
AWARDS FOR SEAMEN
(United Service Special Cable).
LONDON. Thursday.
Awards as follow have been made to members of the
Australian Navy who were detailed for service in the recent
raid on Zeebrugge:-
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS.
Artificer-Engineer W.H. EDGAR.
DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDAL.
Leading-Seaman G.J. BUSH.
Leading Seaman-D.J. RUDD. [*Reliable*]
[*Dead?*] Able-Seaman C. STAPLES.
Able-Seaman H. Gillard, Able-Seaman Leopold Newland,
and Stoker Norbert M'Corry have been mentioned in despatches.