The shore end of the Mole consists of a jetty, and here an old
submarine, commanded by Lieutenant R.D. Sandford, R.N., loaded with
explosives, was run into the piles and touched off, her crew getting
away in a boat to where the usual launch awaited them.
[Sidenote: An old submarine is blown up.]
Officers describe the explosion as the greatest they ever witnessed--a
huge roaring spout of flame that tore the jetty in half and left a gap
of over 100 feet. The claim of another launch to have sunk a
torpedo-boat alongside the jetty is supported by many observers,
including officers of the _Vindictive_, who had seen her mast and funnel
across the Mole and noticed them disappear.
[Sidenote: The splendid heroism of men and officers.]
Where every moment had its deed and every deed its hero, a recital of
acts of valor becomes a mere catalogue. "The men were magnificent," say
the officers; the men's opinion of their leaders expresses itself in the
manner in which they followed them, in their cheers, in their demeanor
to-day while they tidy up their battered ships, setting aside the
inevitable souvenirs, from the bullet-torn engines to great chunks of
Zeebrugge Mole dragged down and still hanging in the fenders of the
_Vindictive_. The motor launch from the canal cleared the end of the
Mole and there beheld, trim and ready, the shape of the _Warwick_, with
the great silk flag presented to the Admiral by the officers of his old
ship, the _Centurion_.
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