12.
To-Day in the Past
The barracks after the bombardment. They were empty at the time,.
By Coastguardsman JAMES WALSH
(who ious on duty at the Admiralty Signal Station at Scarborough Castle during
the bombardment). AWN
was
its mast above the hut, An uneom= fortable. icy, penetrating characteristic of November December on the Yorkshire "Frosthaigh" they call it.
THE
·HONGKONG TELEGRAPH. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1936,
The German battle-cruiser Yon der Tann, which took part in the rald."
The
Bombardment of Scarborough
almost up to her forecastle.
Below I could only just make out than usual during war time for hear it slurring monotonously
Grey and grim. I could ment the personnel at the Admir-
the sc.
the shingly foreshors.
to lift:
could
name's
shattering fulminations.
Uncanny Silence.
channel to which I have referred.
THE bombardment of Scarborough and Hartlepool by a German naval force brought home to the British people, perhaps more than anything else, the real meaning of the war.
On December 16, 1914, six German, warships crept up to within a few miles of the British coast and ramed shells on the two towns. During the raid they killed 137 inhabitants. injured 592 and did great damage to property.
council chamber. Another hit the authoritles to see over the town undér lighthouse at the harbour entrance, the guidance of a local historian. badly damaging it.
The request was granted, and The hospital was hit, although, during the tour of inspection both fortunately, no one was injured. the barracks and Castle were
At St. Martin's Church on South visited." Cliff morning Mass was being held
Every one in the German party when the bombardinent started.
was armed with a camera, and I One shell hit the tower. Naturally recall that at the time particular the congregation showed some con- Interest in the Castle and Its place cern,
but after a few reassuring in the military scheme of things words from the officiating archdeacon was exhibited by several the service was resumed.
members, who asked a great num- Private houses and their occupants ber of searching questions. in widely scattered areas suffered But whatever the significance of tremendous
this incident, there is certainly no 40ct there is a house doubt that on December 15, 1914, In that has since always been known as the commanders of those
The
House
Tragedy. or
A young battleships were by no means lack- soldier home on
leave way
New
shells
nt
his
Permissible
its
German
What they did not know was that the barracks had not been occupied since the beginning of the war and that the military authorities had not decerned it necessary to take defensive precautions beyond a twelve-strong guard to fortify the Castic, siner Scarborough lind .never
really seriously been considered a mark for the enemy on account of its essen- tially residential character.
Her speed was churning the water to be in the midst of one of those mines as she went along the Inshore calm h's terrified other trying in knowledge that Scarborough over the house, when one pene- had both a Castle and barracks an
its headland. called to my companiona. Successive crashes told us that the A few minutes Inter she was fol- trated the wall and exploded in the,
The deliberate and confident way mist, They were Harry Holding, next in Castle and the barraties were crum- lowed by the two larger vessels, room where they were. It killed her,
and rank to myself, and a police con- bling before the terrible onslaught. which skilfully manoeuvred past their the soldier, and two young boys, one there stoomed to a pelut opposite these two edifices and look aim was oast, stable, Harry Hunter.
own mines, firing as they went.
aged nine, the other five. All three ships then steamed at
well
remember another tragic ample manifestation. local police force to supple-
fuil speed in the direction of Whitby, episode of the bombardment. A bosiman, Alfred Beal by name, was Would it never crise? Surely it which they next bombarded. over alty signal stations dotted round the had already lasted hours. I looked In Scarborough the parle caused delivering the morning letters
coust will constables-mainly as a at my watch. It was twenty minutes by this unexpected attack of the houses on South Clim
one of the past eight.
chemy on an unprotected town was better-class roads of Scarborough, A few minutes later the mist Legan safeguard against espionage.
"There's
strange ship over
And then suddenly there was a lull. terriffe,
when the ships started firing. there I said. "And as sure as my An uncanny, enveloping silence.
When they had recovered frum He pluckily continued on Suddenly to the north 1
Walsh Jimmie
she's spreading dimly discern an approaching vessel. German."
A cock crowed in the distaner. their astonishment many of the rounds. He reached a house known Just a blurred shape such as one
There were the faint sounds of dogs population had run distractedly into as "Dunoille" and rang the bell. over the North Sea.
Even
as I spoke I saw two more
the streets, regardless of the chilli- He had a birthday present for the Would
see through a badly focusext I had watched' it for the telescope. It was travelling inside ezzels loom out of the haze at her barking agitatedly in the town below. ness of the morning and the fact that muldservant. She
I scrambled to my feet.
Answered the port side.
There were now three ships in the they were only in thei night clothes, door,
li w past twenty minutes split- the swept channel that ran down
Even as he handed her the package practically the whole length of the
bay. They looked gigantic, It seem-
fact, this rush into the
a few feet of
If the Germans bad thought, as ting up the darkness of the East Coust and extended three miles the men and oficers of the meter marvellous to me that they did streets-impelled, no doubt, by an a shell burst within
out to sea, and which was used by cottages adjacent to the Castle.
not run aground; they must have
urge
both blown to to fly from danger them. They were
they evidently had, that the Castle long and dreary night.
responsible for a good many pieces, been extremely well acquainted with deaths from flying pieces of shell. all merchant shipping as a safeguard I told Holding to warn the coast- the waters outside Scarborough.
and the barracks were of military In all 200 properties were hit by importance, their bombardment of against mines,
Hundreds raced towards the rail- the 489 shells fred; eighteen people these was a permissible, war-time guard, who had their quarters lower Probably one of the Carron Line, down the elft. vessels that were constantly passing
way station, and the authorities had were killed und eighty-four injured.
operation. Now I could clearly see that the
a harassing morning coping with the Many times since the bombardment But the effect of the bombardment along the channel with malls and leading vessel was a worship. A
vost and sudden exodus. merchandise on their way to and two-funnelled
I have thought it a significant fact on recruiting figures throughout that some eighteen months before the country, trom Leith and London. I took a cruiser.
the war a congress of German medi- Yorkshire was a testimony to the and particularly. In second look.
cal men was held at Scarborough, strong feeling that the attack had. and that during its stay one doctor raised In the beasts of the British made a polite request to the elvic nation.
D
Never before had my vigil from the look-out station that topped a promontory overlook, ing Scarborough Bay dragged on so interminably.
A Strange Vessel
I glanced at my watch. It showed 7.50. Thank goodness 1 had only ten minutes more duty. My relief. Bob Barnes, would already be climbing the steep hill that wound up from the town of Scarborough to the suminit of the cliff.
1 stretched my timbs and walked lo the door.
A sticky chillness enveloped me ast I opened it and went outside on to the strip of grass that lay between the hut and elit edge.
A heavy haze hung over the sea, Wisps of it drifted across the cliffs. The turf was saturated. It gave beneath my tread. It glossed" my boots to the sheen of patent leather. Thy White Ensign sagged sadly on
was 11
I shouted to Hunter to call out guard, who had their
I
An bnc.
enemy
I noticed that two of the vessels were now swinging round and re- versing their course,
rising town.
Instinctive that was
In
Hotel Target
The guns to port side were now being trained on to the town, ^'
shudder passed through me. Flash And A Roar I hardly know what prompted my
Scarborough was not an early Special trains were put on many next nelion. Perhaps 11
In a moment its sleep- people arrived at, places so far in- She was quite close in the shore. slight unfamiliarity about the design I could make out figures crowding ing inhabitants would be roused to innd as Malton and York in dressing- of the boat.
in the bridge. I could also see a an unbearable agony. I waited in a gowns and bedroom slippers.
fearful suspense I was helpless. Others drove to friends who had Maybe it was fecause the guard gun being trained on to the Castle. at Scarborough Castle that lay
Thirty seconds later there was a houses inland in every kind of con- I sprang to the telephone. At al barely three hundred yards im- cost
close flash and af, explosion and a salvo veyance--motor-cars, traps, the wireless must inform mediately behind the signal station station at the back of the town. W lung into the midst of Ure Many blcyeled out of the town
with the thickly populated sheets below me. in direct touch Admiralty. I began the message, Again and stain wire those light
ning flashies followed by explosions "Enemy At any rate, I re-entered the hut
battleships approaching
that quivered the air and terminated 1. spoke juustily. and rang up Whitby signal station from the north,"
crushes that seemed to reverberate the next round the const northwards. They are about to bom
Inquired if any vessel of the
The message was never finished. "gainst the cliffside a thousand times, description of the approaching one There was a brilliant Bash, A
Dodged Own Mines had passed their station earlier. sonorous roar. A shell tore over the hut, taking. with it the tele- None had.
had the night before unexpectedly It was bom doubled.
My suspicions were now definitely phone wires. It burst ha the strip of headland between the rear of aroused.
the hut and the Castle.
The suspect was drawing nearer, She was travelling of a great rate.
OUR BRITISH CROSSWORDS
180
118
16
17
ACRO88
1 Characteristic of a nation of shopkeepers, to include an old English kingdom.
7 Describes that crossword fish.
That is to come.
11 Quite washed out
13 Own up that it's let in
13 This page will cause a strike,
Nel 1 can see.
Pr
10 Fish that helps in the choir.
17 He shows derision though ten-
der to.n degree.
19 What Mordeeni was to Hamen.
21 Drudge.
23 Cutepaw.
#4 Bow.
25 She took the "repentant teur"
to Heaven's gate.
28 An arrear of work in the
Lewisham district.
20 Kitchen menial.
10 Although completely ambiguouts
It contains one term.
quite definite
"DOWN!
(2) A bird that is full of oil and
3 Why sulk? Kundreds open
shority!
4 This is to by reen in inculiaeval
halls and churches with a red. centrepiece..die meer te
5 Clericul praise of a high order.
6 Befool. Sh
7 Describes u novel Journey,
120
13
19 Piano or text (anag), 110 They have their points, cut up. 114 Frilly bow or wooden shoe.
15 tot sir (anag.).
T
4
The earth trembled.
At the same moment my relief, Bob Barnes, white and breathless," dashed into the hut.
"My God, the papers, quick," he "This is going to be a gathered up all the confiden= tial books and documents, and flew to an old disused well at the back. of the hut. Bob Barnes followed with a can of paraffin.
Now a second terrible resonant rear out at the sea, the whine of a shell, and the hut we had just vacated was no more.
Nothing but a wooden platform that had formed the floor, and a tangled heap of smoking rubbish. With feverish haste Burnes fore of the
the cap of the paraffin can and poured its contents on to the books and popers that I had laid in a heap on the grass.
21
greal
Another shell. We saw cloud of dust rise from a row of empty barrucks adjacent to the Castle. A long, goping Assure shows d from roof to floor of its brickwork front
With trembling fingers Barnes struck a match, and as the flames devoured the little pile I pushed the smouldering masa into the well.
of
Shell after shell was Ared into the town at close range.
with
:1
few personal belongings hurriedly placed in a knapsack slung over the handlebars.
The damage to houses and public buildings in the streets was consider- able. The two top floors of the
Grand Hotel were shattered their en- tire length and breadth. The hotel lund made a first-class target and stands high up on the cliffs in the
centre of the bay,
Meanwhile the smaller vessel was ne shell passed through the side returning northward again, laying of the town hall and lodged in the.
M
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M
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nl detonated with fearful plosions all around us.
We lay at on our stomachs in the grozs, At any moment we expected
CONSIGNEES' NOTICES.
SERVICES CONTRACTUELS DES
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18 Simply a poem in fruit, Some The Steamship,
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26 Nat full-blooded,
mustn't be without It,
but onc
127 As arranged, according to this.
Yesterday's Solation.
FISI
"D'ARTAGNAN"
No. 2 A/37
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Consignees are
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