My hometown of Fleetwood has a page on FB. One of the member's mothers wrote down a memory of Dunkirk which her son has shared. I have his permission to post on WW2talk. More information on the trawlers can be found at The Bosun's Watch S.T. Gava FD380 : The Bosun's Watch and S.T. Jacinta FD235 : The Bosun's Watch
Dunkirk revisited bears this out... http://www.dunkirk-revisited.co.uk/Dunkirk Revisited - Chapter IV.pdf Young sailors aboard Gava rescued three nearly-drowned men from the water – for which they were rightly awarded. I heard earlier their claim that they were from the Foudroyant. But the Gava Report positions the incident three miles upstream against the tidal stream, and very near the Scotia. The drowning men could not have drifted there from the Foudroyant. Because the Scotia and the Brighton Queen were carrying French troops, this seems to have led a number – including perhaps Lightoller – to confuse their wreckage with the Foudroyant. The Gava Report consists of two documents with very considerable discrepancies between them. and Dunkirk ships, June 1940 French destroyer FOUDROYANT, which departed Dover at 0800/1st, was sunk in German air bombing off Dunkirk. One hundred and fifty survivors were picked up by French trawler BERNADETTE (302grt), and patrol trawler GAVA (256grt) and motor yacht NAIAD ERRANT also rescued a number of survivors. A total of one hundred and thirty seven crew and eighty three soldiers were rescued. and TRAWLERS GO TO WAR The armed fishing trawler Gava, her crew not yet Patrol Service men but still civilians, had just landed her catch at Fleetwood, when she was told to steam for Ramsgate and there received naval orders to make for Dunkirk. Gunner Amos Sunmer: 'It wasn't until we pulled nearer the bigger ships anchored outside that we felt the atmosphere of war. The noise of battle was loud and there was a lot of shouting. Our naval lieutenant ordered us into the harbour. There was a slight lull in the fighting as we went in, which was most uncanny. There were bodies floating all around among the debris. 'We tied up alongside the jetty and had begun to take on board the remnants of a French tank corps when suddenly there was a loud humming. We looked up and the sky seemed black with Stukas. While we were still loading the Frenchmen the planes began to dive‑bomb us. It seemed a hopeless task but we kept blasting away with our old 12‑pounder for all it was worth. 'I was only a lad and I was scared, and I certainly wasn't alone. Fortunately the Stukas didn't dive too low, and they took it in turns to run over us rather than coming down in force. Eventually they gave up, luckily for us, as we were getting flash‑blind from the continual pounding of the gun. We were both surprised and delighted to learn afterwards that we had actually shot down three of the planes. 'We managed to rescue 376 French soldiers, but one French officer refused to sail with us. Nobody really knew why, it seemed he felt it more patriotic to remain on French soil. He stood to attention on the quayside and saluted his comrades as we sailed away. 'Outside Dunkirk we picked up the crew of a French destroyer which had been dive‑bombed. Several troops aboard her fell into the water when the destroyer sank and three of our crew unhesitatingly dived in and saved them, a brave rescue for which each of them received the OBE. We finally steamed for Ramsgate well down in the water, carrying more than 500 troops and survivors ‑ there was hardly any room to move in the old ship. One of the French soldiers we'd pulled out of the sea appeared to be dead, so we covered him with a tarpaulin. On our arrival outside Ramsgate someone accidentally stood on him; he gave one big moan and sat up ‑ what a shock!' It has no mention of Jacinta, though, perhaps due to www.thamestugs.co.uk 1st June 1940: Java took off 150 allied troops from the Trawler "Jacinta" which was stranded on the wreck of the "Merl" near the North Goodwin Light vessel and landed them at Ramsgate. D.S.M. awarded to seaman H Griffiths. Mentioned in dispatches Mr V Smith Mate JACINTA. Fleetwood trawler, owners J. Marr and Sons. Bit confusing to have a Java and a Gava!
I’ve only just found this forum. My grandfather Frederick Charles Day was the skipper of the S.T. Gava. I never met him as he died only shortly after my mother and father started courting. Unfortunately my father never spoke about his dad much and I’m not sure how much my dad knew about the operation as so many people in that era kept much to themselves. A very poignant and memorable time in this country’s history
