CIVILIAN NAVY •
By PAMELA HINKSON First vision of the boats and the size of them opens the civilian eyes to the size of this epic of courage. The absence of protection, the exposed gun turrets ; the " bridge " might be a pleasure launch deck with walls. They tell of Lieutenant-Commander Hichens, D.S.O., R.N.V.R., an ace and pioneer of this warfare, that he was never known to duck and that once he pulled a ducking member of his crew up by the back of the neck. Once a party of men joining this service from previous service on cruisers and the like and being shown round, looked over the pier, saw the little boats and stared. " Blimey ! " one exclaimed. " Go to sea in those things ! We'd hoist them up on board my last ship ! " Men have gone to sea " in those things " since 1940, through fair weather and foul, facing unimaginable perils of sea warfare in addition to the sufficient hazards of the sea.
The story began then with the Germans occupying the French coast, their air power too great and dangerous for our large ships, and E-boats for ever going for our convoys. So this " private navy " started off " rather amateurishly," inspired by that Lieutenant- Commander Hichens of famous name (who was killed in 1943 by a stray shot at the end of an action), as light Coastal Forces. The method was first set when Hichens started going over to the Dutch coast to lie in wait for E-boats off their lairs and did tremendous damage to them. Through the following years the force developed, working in Combined Operations with the R.A.F. Lieutenant- Commander Peter Dickens—another famous name—brought attacks on enemy convoys to a fine art while M.T.B.'s of various types were being built and training schools established. The German methods and ours contrasted—their E-boats making quick dashes across at our shipping, while ours would lie off the continental coast for six or eight hours. So to D Day, when Coastal Forces played a great part in the protection of the initial assault and assault area during the build-up and Sought at least eighty per cent. of the actions fought. Since, they have been mainly occupied in successfully preventing very determined enemy efforts to break our communication lines with the continent.
The men. A young man's service. The tall, sensitive-faced civilian doctor in uniform, who was glad that his job was healing instead. of killing men, spoke of the tremendous physical strain of manning the boats, with their immense speed, of their corkscrew action, of men coming back in rough weather black and blue, some having been thrown up in the air and back on deck. Ordinarily all actions: took place at night. They called an officer who could see before anyone else the " plume " of rising water marking the target—,slightly phosphorous in these waters, brilliant in the Mediterranean—" cat's-eyes," as the R.A.F. speak of pilots who see enemy planes before anyone else. Action reports tell of boats slipping within the screen of an enemy convoy, lit up by rockets and tracer shells on a sea light as day, of one which joined the convoy, passing.for a while as part of it ; of one set on fire and its companion standink by under every hell of fire to pick up survivors ; of fires extinguished in such circumstances and boats brought home.
" We are amateurs," said the Captain, a business director with achting as a recreation in private life. Others spoke of his brilliance in this command. Other officers present or spoken of were artists, musicians, stockbrokers, lawyers, publishers. I heard of an artist
" with a girlish sensitive face and tong arms " who was a superb Captain ; of a Flotilla Commander who had commanded a submarine in the last war, grown coffee and run a garage in Kenya between. A young Lieutenant-Commander with three years American business career behind him spoke of the unfailing loyalty and support of the regular Naval men of all ages to the R.N.V.R. officers. Of the crews most were young. Boys of nineteen or so stood it best, enjoying the adventure. At twenty-five a man needed a good deal more character to face and stand it—men proved in this service went on and on, generally out every other night, some at sea for many nights running. The sick-bay attendant had served in motor boats in the last war and now noted " an entirely new technique." It made a big difference when a man married, especially if his wife lived near the base, to hear the boats go off and wait for their return, listening for the familiar engine—as with the wives of airmen.
I had seen a party go out, splashing through the golden evening sea like gallant swimming terriers. The engines running beforehand had made a noise like plane engines, making me look up at the empty sky, where earlier a squadron of American Fortresses had flown back from Germany. Men had come across the pier wearing thick jerseys ; on the boats they had been putting on oilskins and the green life- belts which made lovely colour against the grey-blue and white. I had thought of the cold as it must be in winter, and was told of one man who wore seven jerseys, their variegated borders making a rainbow.
They spoke of the officers—of men of thirty-five and over, feeling the strain, especially as then they would have other anxieties, the welfare of wives and children and businesses ; of the importance of success in a man's morale ; of different men who had gone out to action from this base. They told of a former shop-walker who became a Chief Motor Mechanic and rose to Command rank, wore a pointed beard and never lost his refuied speech. The sick-bay attendant observed that it took a long time to make a good seaman and that twelve years' service was ageing in a sailor's life. A young Lieutenant- Commander, sensitive imagination in his face, had asked me if I had read Lord Moran's " The Anatomy of Courage," and spoke of the high degree of courage exacted from the Navy. I knew that he was conveying to me something that all of us should know.
That Yorkshire sick-bay attendant had started life in the coal mines. His father and grandfather had been colliers and he knew no other possibility, and began, screening coal on the surface at half a crown a day, getting a bit tired, he remembered, " standing first On one foOt and then on the other," working in company with other boys, and men too old for mining, some crippled by mine accidents. " There were no pensions then, so they had to go on working." Wanting more money, he went underground. Then some time, because " I didn't like to see my fellow men suffer," he had joined the St. John Ambulance Brigade, had served this way through the last war and after it in mine rescue.
The Shipwright Lieutenant-Commander came of a family that has given a shipwright to the Royal Navy in each generation for several hundred years. An ancestor worked on Nelson's Victory, he himself on the Valiant and Rodney. A man with the lined face of a craftsman, humour as well as wisdom marking it, his thin body suggesting a pliability formed by much bending over and managing the ins and outs of ships, he was reputed to be unforthcoming of words. But he took me out to the hangars where his boats were being repaired—scarred and shabby in contrast with those in the harbour—showed me the neat patches on them and talked of them as if they were his children. He talked of " bringing them home," and : " I don't like to see them get pranged. Some of these young gentlemen," he said it kindly, " they treat them a bit rough." Of himself—he had been growing radishes at Wembley when this war came, and looked forward to doing that again.
An R.A.F. pilot had said here : " We never think of danger until it comes. But you have always the hazards of the sea . . . " adding that an airman got out of his plane and was then free, but men getting out of these boats had then their maintenance to see to. A Flotilla CoMmander had the responsibility of his boats and crew all the time, and often couldn't sleep after his job.
Now the E-boats have come to harbour, with surrender-flags flying, and Coastal Forces' job is done.
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