On 23 April 1918 British naval forces carried out a blocking raid at Zeebrugge with 3 cruisers (“Thetis”, “Intrepid” and “Iphigenia”) filled with concrete. Royal Marines were also carried to the Zeebrugge Mole by the old cruiser “Vindictive” and two Mersey River passenger ferries, the “Daffodil” and “Iris II”. A simultaneous raid at Ostend with the two blocking ships “Brilliant” and “Sirius” did not find their objective.
A second attempt was made on 10 May 1918 at Ostend and “Vindictive” was grounded at the eastern pier at a 25 degree angle
source see Zeebrugge details and map also Ostend map
The scene that had to be cleared by the Admiralty Salvage Section is best described by Commodore Frederick Young's son Desmond Young:
"Before sailing I had spent a week in Belgium. The Admiralty had undertaken to dear the ports of Ostend and Zeebruggt for the Belgian Government and my father, as Head of the Salvage Section, was to be in charge of the operations. Having served throughout the war as a civilian in a blue suit, he now blossomed out in gold braid as a Commodore R.N.R. Though all the difficulties were not yet apparent the amount of work to be done was plainly enormous. In the first place, when the Navy blocked the mouth of the Bruges canal with the lphigenia and Intrepid, and a few days later Ostend with the Vindictioe, the idea was that they should remain blocked. As the Director of Naval Construction wrote on a docket on October l0th, 1918:
'In reply to your query as to the feasibility of salving the Zeebrugge ships, it is observed that when arranging the alterations required to convert them into blockships special attention was paid to a point raised by D. of P. viz. introducing every possible obstruction to salvage.
'Besides the four large charges that were blown in the bottom, small charges were intended to be blown on certain bulkheads in order to render the· mutilation of all watertight partitions as extensive as possible.
'Nothing is known in this Department as to what arrangements were actually carried out, nor how the ships are placed, nor what steps have hitherto been taken by the enemy towards removing them. Even if, however, they could originally have been salved, it is considered very unlikely that the enemy, when withdrawing from the coast, will leave them in such a condition.
'In the second place, D.N.C.'s assumption was quite correct. The enemy had no intention of making things easy for us when withdrawing from the coast'. In Ostend he had so effectually closed the entrance that only small boats could get in and out. In line with Vindictive and across the harbour he sank the passenger steamer La Flandre and then rammed a large armoured trawler into her and sank it. Further up the harbour he sank a bucket dredger and capsized another one on the top of her. (The buckets naturally fell down and prevented the lifting wires being swept under.) In the middle of the channel he capsized another large dredger and sank a number of small craft across the inner harbour. All the lock gates to the canal entrance were blown up, and across one canal a dredger was capsized in such a position that nothing could get in or out. The cranes on the quays were also blown up and dropped into the water alongside and all railway and other bridges had been destroyed.
At Zeebrugge, though the third cruiser, Thetis, with a net entangled in her propellers, had run ashore on a sandbank on the famous night in April, the other two blockships had done their work perfectly under terrific gunfire from every battery that would bear, and were well and truly in position. An attempt made by the Germans themselves to float the lphigenia had failed. With a good many days to work in the Germans set out to improve on what the navy had already done. Coming downwards from Bruges they blew everything to pieces in Bruges docks and sunk every craft there. On the Bruges side of the first lock a number of small barges were sunk and between the locks three or four larger ones. All bridges and gates were destroyed and dropped into the canal. The channels which had been dredged on either side of the Iphigenia and Intrepid to allow the passage of small vessels at high water were closed by sinking two small steamers, after running them up the embankment and capsizing them. Another small steamer was sunk in the main channel near the Thetis and another further down the channel. The outer entrance to the port was closed by the defence nets which extended right across the shallow water on the port hand, and the main channel was sealed by sinking the Brussels, Captain Fryatt's captured ship, in it. Ahead of her was a large dredger, ahead of that again two dredgers capsized and several large hopper barges. All of these wcre well down in the mud. Alongside the mole, and so close to it as to give an infinity of trouble, was a large dredger capsized, while every crane was blown up and dropped into the water together with all available railway trucks. The whole was well sprinkled with a seasoning of mines." from Ship Ashore, Adventures in Salvage by Desmond Young, Jonathan Cape 1932, p.174-6
The Navy List for May 1920 gives the following information about the Admiralty Salvage Section:
Lieut.-Com Guybon C. C. Damant (ret) 8 Dec 17 (Salvage Section.) p. 834
Paym. Lieut. R. N. R. Albert L. Newman 21 Feb 19 (Salvage Sec., Ostend.) p. 841
Commander George Davis DSC (act)12 Apr 17 (Salvage Officer, Ostend) p. 889
A.S. 58 Tug. Belgium Salvage Section, p. 1098
Corycia. S. Salvage Vessel. p. 1099a
L.C. 1 (Alligator). 630 Tons. Salvage Vessel. p.1102a
L.C 7 (Y.C. 96). Salvage Vessel. p.1102a
Mariner. Salvage Vessel late Sloop. 970 tons (Under Management of Liverpool Salvage Association.) p. 1103
Moonfleet. Salvage Vessel. p. 1108
Racer. Salvage Vessel. Late Sloop 970 tons. p. 1104
Reindeer. Salvage Vesse. Late Sloop. 970 tons. (Under Management of Liverpool Salvage Association.) p. 1104a
and in the Department of the Director of Naval Equipment p. 1820i lists the following
Naval Salvage Adviser - Hon. Captain Fred W. Young C.B.E. M.I.Mech.E., R.N.R ...28 jun18 (Commodore 2nd Class, R.N.R.
Salvage Officers - Commander R.N.R. George Davis (ac t.) 12 Apr 17
Salvage Officers - Lieut. R.N.V.R. Gilbert E. George - July 17
Salvage Officers - Lieut. R.N.V.R. Robert Brooks 25 Apr 18
Civil Staff. - Deputy Salvage Accounts Officer - G. Sudbury, Esq. (act.)
Civil Staff. - Assistant Salvage Accounts Officer - E. P. T. Rendall, Esq. (act.)
Report of the salvage operations on the Belgian Coast
"Embarks on Worlds Largest Salvage Job
British Experts Now Busy Clearing Ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge, Which Were Wrecked and Rendered Inaccessible and Useless by Germans Before They Evacuated
From Nieuport to the Dutch frontier, practically, the count of Belgium resembles a long line of fortifications moated In by tho sea. The world has never before eeen anything Itke It Probably It never will again, for the military engineering work* constructed hare by the Germans. With the aid of forced Belgian labor. are stupendous, considering- the brief time In which they were completed.
In this long array of concrete built, gun-studded, barbed wire protected redoubts there are Jost two gaps of any consequence, vis.. Ostend and Zeebrugge. During the war these were nests of piracy which gave much trouble to our fleet. As "sally ports" for making raids upon Allied shipping they were of untold value to the enemy. When he was forced to leave them he determined that they should be of no use to anybody elae for quite a while to come. And so he set about making ljobs for the salvage parties. One has to see a few specimens of his handiwork In that direction to really understand what an artist In destruction the German is. When first the British crept cautiously Into Ostend harbor In a small boat Just as the enemy was leaving it and had a look round at the damage he had done thwre It seemed as though the place could not be tidied up again under half a lifetime. The more closely they were investigated the worse matters ' looked.
As for Zeebrugge, that provoked only feelings of sadness and. despair, so broken up and depressing did it look. All the canals were choked and Bruges dock a settling place for nobody knows how many abandoned vessels. The enemy had made there a dumping ground for such submarines, destroyers, trawlers, etc. ss be could not get away. All of these were "seated" comfortably "on the mud." with a good few feet of water above them. There most of them remain. Putting the matter shortly, except for Antwerp, Belgium had no outlet to the sea, and her Internal waterways, which are the real highways of the oountry. were almost useless. Communications had been out with such diabolical cleverness that the whole canal system was thrown out of gear.
Now, Belgium wanted all sorts of things that could only reach her from the sea, and everything could not possibly go through Antwerp. So, upon the scene of ruthless sabotage before described, came Commodore F. W. Young. R.N.R., and the Admiralty Salvage Section, who forthwith proceeded to repair damages They are at this Job still, with much good work accompllshed already standing to their credit.
A Wonderful Engineer
The purpose of this article Is to tell something of what they had to do and how they did it. Commodore Young needs no introduction to shipping 'men'. As Capt. Young he had world-wide fame before the war. During the war his unique ability as a salvage engineer has been placed wholly at the disposal of the Admiralty as head of their Salvage Section. In giving Belgium once more her old access to the sea Commodore Young had to take In hand the biggest salvage undertaking ever embarked upon. The most powerful plant ever got together was placed under his directions for getting through this herculean task. Associated with the Salvage Section are the Royal Marine Englneers under Brigadier- General Sir Alexander Glbbs, who are doing much reconstruction work ashore. It being important that Ostend should be first reopened, operations were commenced there. The gallant old Vindictive Iies beside the east pier in such a position that she hinders navigation but little. But the Germans made her the foundation for a barrier that completely abut the port. Athwartways from her they sank the heavy paddle steamer La Flandre. Into which they drove the bows of an armed trawler for a distance of sixteen feet, then blew the trawler up. A little further along the channel a bucket dredger was sunk with another dredger on the top of. It. the stem lying close to the west pier. Yet further along a big dredger was capsized and en .uncountable number of small craft scuttled. Most of the local fishing fleet had been sent to the bottom In this way. Cranes, trucks, and much, other Impedimenta lay off the front of the quay, where It had been pitched hastily into the water by the retreating Germans, intent upon doing as much damage as possible before they left. Look gates were blown up, bridges broken down and the entrance to the Ostend-Bruges Canal sealed so tightly that breaking it open again seemed certain to be a long Job. The same story of malicious destruction could be read all about the big ship basin, with the addition that there exploelves were found tied to the columns In the warehouses. In short, neither the engineers nor the salvage parties ever knew at what moment they would spring some German trap. There were many risks as well as difficulties connected with the whole undertaking.
How He Did It So much for the condition of affairs at Ostend as left by the Germans. A word now about the manner In which this unholy disorder was reduced to ship-shape order, and Ostend made Into a working port once again. The first thing Commodore Young did was to have the bulwarks of the La Flandre cut away and her paddleboxes removed. Then he took away some piling and sliced off the stem of one of the sunken dredgers by means of acetylene. Out through the opening thus obtained her boilers and machinery were hauled. Attention was next given to the small craft One by one these were lifted until, much to the delight of the Ostend fishermen, Comodere Young was able to hand back their boats to them. As a result of these operations a six-foot channel at low water was made over the La Flandre—which it must be remembered, constituted the worst barrier against navigation —and a 56 foot wide channel made as far up as the quay of the Gare Maritime. Relief ships and small steamers carrying the .food and stores that Belgium so badly needed, were now able to get up and discharge.
The next step was to cut away the whole of the La Flandre's upper part, lift the trawler driven into her and beach it, and lift also the two dredgers piled one atop of the other. It should be borne in mind that these things were done In bad weather and In an exposed position that made continuous work extremely difficult to carry on. However, they were done. As. a result Ostend could, be used once more by the Belgian mall steamers, though only Just before and after high water, Still, that meant a big step ahead. Belgian repatriation could be carried on, and has, in fact, been continuing ever since, and the Ostend-Dover route reopened for the flrst time since August, 1914.
Preparations were then made for another stage. Two lock gates, each weighing 25 tons, which the Germans had smashed were lifted to the quay, where the Royal Marine Bnglneers repaired and replaced them. In the lock at the canal entranoe bpr the Leopold Bridge the enemy had set the salvage section a poser by sinking inside the look a dredger In such a position that lifting vesels could not get hold of it. The problem was solved finally by building sheerlegs on the quay and lifting away the dredger piece by piece until a lifting vessel was able to get over the top of the obstruction and haul It away. Once this was done the Bruges canal was reopened. Owing to the natural scour having been so much interrupted the salvors found a depth of about 30 feet of liquid mud. all over Ostend harbor, which meant for them extremely embarrassing working conditions. Divers had to hang suspended by their lifelines because they could find no firm foothold—and the mud clung with greedy tenacity to all things, big and little, sunk In it. The plant's aggregate lifting power of 8.000 tons was none too much for the hauling that had to be done. Ostend is not yet free of all obstruction, but on June 14 last It was reopened for traffic at all states of the tide, find quite naturally the Ostendlans celebrated the event in a becoming manner. Actually it meant that life was given back to the town after its four and a half years of enemy-ridden torpltude. As to the finishing touches, the most interesting will be the removal of the Vindictive, which has just been taken in hand. She must bo got out of the way to prevent her wreck from settling and blocking the harbor mouth for good and all. Much as one may regret It, there seems no chance of her coming away In any other fashion than in pieces. Six months ago she might have been salved; today that is out of the question as a practical proposition. We have watched her going to pieces. She has broken quite in half, and her interior presents a picture of lorn and hopeless desolation and decrepitude that grieves one to see remembering her ever glorious hlstory.
Commodore Young has now most of his staff and plant at Zeebrugge, Lying only about nine miles from Bruges, connected with It by canal and rail, this port is chiefly commercial. In pro-war days it achieved no great success, but it is understood that British money will now be applied to Its future development. Anyway, the port is there, and Belgium needs It for importing quite a lot of things which she must get from abroad, and most of which, at the moment, come from England. Zeebrugge Mole, famous from the St. George's Day fight upon it, is a surprisingly fine structure. It is claimed to be the largest mole In the world, and certainly it bids well for such a dlstinction. Eighty yards wide, the Mole contains a railway station, goods sheds, and much of the equipment of a well-stocked port. At present these are suffering from war experiences. The sheds are a wreck, so Is the station. Most of the cranes were "ditched,"- whilst pieces of German aeroplane mingle queerly with "gooseberries" of German barbed wire all over the place. On June 14 the Mole was once again Joined to the Belgian State Railway by the reopening of the new bridge, which the Royal Marine Bnglneers have thrown over the gap made by Submarine C3 in the Jetty connecting the Mole with the shore. Here. It may be remembered, she was blown up to cut communications —and did cut them most effectually, before Zeebrugge harbor Is cleared. Berths for merchant vessels have also been made by the salvage eectlon. It will, however, be a good while before Zeebrugge" harbor is cleared. The crucial operations are only just starting there. So far, moat of the lifting done has been picking up the wagons, cranes, eje, which the retreating Germans threw into the water to choke up the mooring places. A necessary preliminary, and as a result of Its having been done, other operations can be got on with whilst the trade of the port resumes.
Meet Move Fryatt's Ship
Amongst the vessels to be moved at Zeebrugge Is Capt. Fryatt's Brussels. She ties at right angles to the Male near the entrance, with a mass of nets strung out beyond her. The Brussels oocuples a very exposed position, with very little of her structure showing above water. As she weighs about 1,000 tons dead, lifting her wll be no easy feat. But one may expect to hear of its being done within the next few weeks. From various parts of the harbor sunken dredgers, trawlers and such like have to be recovered. The work is ticklish owing to the number of mines embedded on the bottom, one of whtch may be exploded at any moment, with bad results for the salvors and their gear. So far as can be seen, apart from the Brussels, the heaviest lifting work must be done in connection with taking the three blockships away from the canal mouth. Already one enemy obstruction has been removed from thence. It is a vessel whose design puzzled everybody until the lifting wires showed her to be a submarine salvage vessel of the same type as the Vulkan—that is double hulled.
What of the plant by means of which all this salvage Is being done? Well, at the head of it, as a sort of "flagship" of the salvage fleet, comes the Ranger ex Liverpool Salvage Association, and the best-known salvage vessel in the world. She is equipped with a very powerful pumping plant, and submersible electric pumps. Her pumping capacity is 5,000 tons per hour. She also has a complete range of workshops with air-compressing plant for working pneumatic tools under water, and submarine arc lamps. Of Admiralty lifting lighters there are four, with a capacity of 1,500 tons each, the wire cables used with these having a breaking strain of 250 tons. The lighters are laid alongside the hulk to be raised, wires passed under her, and made fast to the lighter's decks. and, as the tide rises, the lighters rise with it—and the wreck with them. By way of Increasing their lift the lighters are submerged by filling them with water, which Is then pumped out, giving them a greater buoyancy. A delightfully simple operation to describe, but a tough one to carry through. First, the wires have to be passed under the object to be raised, a thing not easily accomplished when there is thirty feet of mud to be traversed. This opponent was overcome by devising an ingenious method of passing the lifting wires by power of compressed air. And so It has been throughout. Always there is some problem cropping up that can only be solved by originality in procedure. One section of the salvage fleet consists of Admiralty craft with huge cranes In their foreparts. Each or these has a radius of 60 feet, and can lift SS tons direct, or 100 tons with a purohase over the bow. Every day when it Is possible all of these ships are busy. Divers, too are down. In one plane one sees two husky lighters wrestling a hulk away from the mud; in another crane ships and mud having a tug of war; in another pumps sending out big cascades of mud and water, and eome little distance off the tonlte explosions by means of which a diver Is dissecting a wreck. The Flanders mud, which proved such a sore trial to our soldiers in the trenches, is more than embarrassing to the engineers and salvors whom the Admiralty have told off to put Ostend and Zeebrugge straight again. from The Daily Colonist August 7, 1919 p. 15
Photographs of the work on the Belgian Coast from the Illustrated London News - Saturday 21 June 1919
IPHIGENIA
1919
from the Illustrated London News, June 21, 1919
HMS Vindictive
1920
Amongst H. W. Rowland's papers is this working salvage plan with details for floating HMS Vindictive. On a strip of oiled paper measuring 740mm x 125mmm, the Protective Deck plan has been marked up in pen indicating the layout of 15 x 4 inch, 4 x 6 inch and 1 x 8 inch pumps. A note on the right end indicates the salvage ships on which the pumps are located, Reindeer 2.5.6.7.8.9.20 and Mariner 1.3.4.10.18.19 .
H. W. Rowland's photographs of the Vindictive
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The wreck was raised on 16 August 1920 and subsequently broken up. The bow section has been preserved in Ostend harbour serving as a memorial. One of Vindictive's 7.5-inch howitzers was acquired and preserved by the Imperial War Museum
source
The following H. W. Rowland's photographs provide an insight into the salvage work on the Belgian coast and some of the pumping operations that as Senior Motor Engineer "was in full charge of all Salvage Internal Combustion, Electrical, Steam and Air Compressing Machinery".
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A lot of the photographs have no notes or title so what little is known is set out below reading from rows 1 to 5 left to right.
row 1 left - pumps and steel hawsers ship unknown
row 1 centre - salvage vessel Ranger with HMS Wrangler and HMS Reindeer in background
row 1 right - HMS Vindictive in foreground
row 2 left - 3 vessels unknown
row 2 centre - group photograph on deck, names unknown
row 2 right - salvage pumps at work, vessel unknown
row 3 left - salvage pumps at work
row 3 centre - vessel unknown
row 3 right - Iphigenia block ship at Zeebrugge
row 4 left - salvage pumps at work, vessel unknown
row 4 centre - damage to vessel unknown
row 4 right - reverse of previous card with 38'-6" by 26'
row 5 left - dredger sunk by Germans at Zeebrugge
row 5 centre - vessels unknown
row 5 right - vessels unknown
Will try to identify the above but would appreciate email from anyone that can help. Thankyou.