It was on Monday night, the eve of St. George's
Day, that the Navy made its raid on Zeebrugge and Ostend, under the direction of Vice-Admiral Roger Keyes, commanding at Dover. The p!an was to sink five obsolete cruisers loaded with concrete in the entrances to the Bruges ship-canal and the port of Ostend. Two of the block-ships were run aground and blown up just outside
Ostend ; one of them, according to our airmen, obstructs the fairway between the piers. At Zeebrugge, the chief objective, the operations began with an hour's intense bom- bardment by the Monitors, which were covered by British and French destroyers. The old cruiser Vindictive,' attended by the two converted Mersey ferry-boats ' Iris' and Daffodil,' then ran alongside the head of the Mole, and opened fire. The Vindictive' was equipped with Stokes mortars and flame- throwers, and with " brows " or movable gangways, presumably similar to those which the Romans used in the Punic Wars, so that her storming parties, all volunteers from the Grand Fleet, might land quickly and attack the enemy's battery, depots, and seaplane base on the Mole. In this most hazardous attempt the ' Vin- dictive'e ' brave crew succeeded, and did great damage to the enemy, despite his murderous fire. More than an hour later they re- embarked and the old ship steamed away home.
