t the thirty-foot high concrete side of the mole, let go her
anchor and signaled to the _Daffodil_ to shove her stern in.

"The _Iris_ went ahead and endeavored to get alongside likewise. The
fire was intense, while the ships plunged and rolled beside the mole in
the seas, the _Vindictive_ with her greater draught jarring against the
foundations of the mole with every lunge. They were swept diagonally
by machine-gun fire from both ends of the mole and by the heavy
batteries on shore.

"Commander (now Captain) Carpenter commanded the _Vindictive_ from the
open bridge until her stern was laid in, when he took up his position
in the flame thrower hut on the port side. It is marvelous that any
occupant should have survived a minute in this hut, so riddled and
shattered is it.

"The officers of the _Iris_, which was in trouble ahead of the
_Vindictive_, describe Captain Carpenter as handling her like a picket
boat. The _Vindictive_ was fitted along her port side with a high
false deck, from which ran eighteen brows or gangways by which the
storming and demolition parties were to land.

"The men gathered in readiness on the main lower decks, while Colonel
Elliott, who was to lead the marines waited on the false deck just
abaft of the bridge. Captain Halahan, who commanded the blue-jackets,
was amidships. The gangways were lowered, and they scraped and
rebounded upon the high parapet of the mole as the _Vindictive_ rolled
in the seaway.

"The word for the assault had not yet been given when both leaders were
killed, Colonel Elliott by a shell and Captain Halahan by machine-gun
fire which swept the decks. The same shell that killed Colonel Elliott
also did fearful execution in the forward Stokes mortar battery. The
men were magnificent; every officer bears the same testimony.

"The mere landing on the mole was a perilous business. It involved a
passage across the crashing and splintering gangways, a drop over the
parapet into the field of fire of the German machine guns which swept
its length, and a further drop of some sixteen feet to the surface of
the mole itself. Many were killed and more wounded as they crowded up
the gangways, but nothing hindered the orderly and speedy landing by
every gangway.

"Lieutenant H. T. C. Walker had his arm shot away by shell on the upper
deck, and lay in darkness while the storming parties trod him under.
He was recognized and dragged aside by the commander. He raised his