In attempting to take off, the starboard propeller was damaged by the mounting seas. Bishop attempted to taxi away but the enemy shore batteries opened fire each time he tried. Enemy fighters then appeared on the scene, but the Catalina's fighter escort managed to shoot down three before the amphibian was set on fire. So soon after being rescued, the two Beaufighter aircrew found themselves in the sea for the second time as they abandoned the blazing aircraft with the Catalina's six man crew, three of them wounded. They all took to the amphibian's large dinghy, which they soon discovered had been damaged by bullets.
The eight men fought to keep the half-submerged dinghy afloat as it drifted towards the enmy coast. For four hours they took it in turns to bale out the sea water and inflate the surviving chambers of the dinghy. They watched as battles continued to rage overhead, with P 38 fighters seeing off the enemy.
Shortly before this episode started to unfold, HSL 2595 of 254 ASRU left Bizerte to search for a US Warhawk pilot. Two hours into the search, the master, Flight Lieutenant James Lang, picked up a VHF radio call from one of the P 38 fighter escorts alerting him to the perilous situation of the eight men off the Sardinian coast. He immediately ordered his coxswain, Flight Sergeant John Edwards BEM, to head for the position. After two more hours they reached the scene and soon located the swamped dinghy, which had drifted nearer to the enemy coast. The high speed launch immediatelty came under heavy fire from coastal batteries and salvoes landed around it. Lang calmly directed the launch, and Edwards' expert handling in the difficult sea conditions allowed the survivors to be taken from the dinghy. The launch was just two miles off the coast when the fighter escort had to leave, short of fuel, just as the rescue was being completed. Throughout the 40-minute operation the launch was under constant enemy shellfire. Eventually HSL 2595 was able to wihdraw without sustaining damage. Six hours later it reached Bizerte after completing a round trip of 250 miles. Edwards remained at the wheel throughout the 14-hour operation, including the night passage back to port.
For their actions during this daylight rescue close to the enemy coast, Lang was awardeed the DSC...and Edwards was awarded the DSM...
I'm sure we've all heard something about this amazing rescue, when I first did I wondered if this most famous HSL (a Hants & Dorset famously nicknamed "Solitude", the subject of many plans and pictures) had survived the war and if so, what had become of her.
Also, for the last very many years, there has been an unidentified Hants & Dorset (or identical Battlefield HSTTL) here in Gibraltar, variously called Potemkin, Bulldog and now Adelheid and believed to be ex HSL 2554. This week, in a determined effort to confirm her ID, I searched from the stempost to the transom gunwhale (literally) to find her yard number which would finally give her the wartime ID she so desperately needed. I checked under all the floorboards too, but they were not the originals, and the very last place searched (due to having to pull the carpets aside) was the floor of the sickbay (now a very comfortable saloon). Sure enough, on the battens of first 4 of the floorboards I pulled and inverted, was the clearly stamped yard number 2055.
As you have by now guessed, this yard number relates to HSL 2595. She is this most famous of wartime veterans! Worth waiting for I'd say.
Her condition is frankly remarkable, I have poked my nose into all her bilges and I am truly impressed at just how sound she is. It is now the sad duty of the widow of her (ex-engineer) owner who so meticulously maintained her to find her a caring home, she has pegged the price at a very realistic EUR60K (about forty grand) for a quick sale as the boat will no longer be able to stay at her affordable mooring beyond the end of this month. |
