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Many of these tales have been collected into a 160-page hardbackbook with over 200 black-and-white archive photographs - 'Tresco Times - The Last Piece of England'.
You can order it here on-line via our secure server at the special price of £25, with subsidised shipping to all parts of the world. |
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| We watched a piece of naval history - and some brave men being homoured here today..... |
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On 1 July 2000, a small group of Special Forces veterans from the Second World War stood in silence as former Sub-Lieutenant Paul O'Brien unveiled a plaque commemorating their activities on Tresco.
General Sir Michael Rose, Mr Robert Crawford (Director General of the Imperial War Museum), Sir Brooks Richards and several other dignitaries watched.
As a young RNVR Sub-Lieutenant, Paul O'Brien took part in many Special Forces operations out of Tresco during World War II. On 1 July this year he came back to unveil a plaque commemorating their achievements.
Here he tells us about a close shave in the 'Angele Rouge' - a French fishing boat on the outside, but in fact a high-speed Laurent Giles designed launch, built to pick up Secret Agents off the Brittany coast. |
"I cannot thank you enough for helping to make our days in Tresco unforgettably enjoyable. Tresco was as beautiful as ever, but somehow more elegant - well manicured - than when we last saw her. The weather was not unkind, and the accommodation, food, and warm friendliness of everyone could not have been bettered.
"The events themselves meant a great deal to me, Ninon Lomenech and Ursula Townsend, while adding a little to the island's history - nearly 60 years after the events! I am very grateful.
"The enclosed photograph shows 'Les Deux Anges' alongside N51, which had sailed from Tresco, in November 1942. We were offloading an agent -and a great deal of mail - with even more heavy stuff coming aboard for England.
"The other photograph shows the crew of 'Angele Rouge' - our secret high-speed launch designed to look like a French fishing boat. Both this photo and one of myself were snapped by JJ just before we set off on an operation in mid-September. Note the dummy wooden 'gallows'.....
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"I mention the 'gallows' because it was on this trip that we were nearly rumbled. We were on our way home with two agents, and were off the Raz du Seine on a day of intense heat and unimaginable glassy calm when every sound seemed to carry for miles. We were meandering along at a couple of knots, purportedly fishing, but our net and trawl doors were just two buckets slung from said 'gallows'.
"To the agents' disgust, and ours, a convoy of two submarines and several escorting heavy patrol boats - rather like scaled-down destroyers - appeared dead ahead and steamed quite meaningfully towards us.
"As we were trawling, to have altered course more than a little would have been a give-away to an alert observer, so we had to grin and bear it as they closed on us and passed no more than 200 yards off our starboard beam. A few minutes before this, there was a goose-pimply moment which pricked the euphoria of the agents we had just recovered. A flight of Junkers-88s swooped over us and released some shiny objects! Recognition signals for the subs, I hoped. So they proved, but the agents thought otherwise and dived under the nets secured along the gunwales. JJ advised them to stay there!
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"As the ships passed, they were so close that we could see the faces of the crew, leaning over the rails, listening to some lugubrious German love-song. I was observing all this from the forrard hatch, partly hidden by the coaming. Good, I thought, they can't leave the convoy to ask us for some fish - always a big worry because 'Angele Rouge's' buckets were a dead loss. This time, though, we had bought a deckload of fish from Newlyn, stowed in ice.
"Just then, JJ in the wheelhouse suddenly put 'Angele Rouge' hard astern. There were literally clouds of smoke from the Hall-Scott's carefully hidden exhausts - not to mention churned-up white water and spray! Surely, I thought, this is curtains. They can't ignore that - but they did. They must have had a good lunch. It turned out that JJ had spotted, just in time, a large Seine net only 50 yards ahead - and he had to keep our twin props clear of that, or else!
"Ever so slowly, it seemed, the convoy drew away and a few hours later in the fading light we were on our way at a rate of knots.
"The agents were still aggrieved. They had expected us to run for it - which would have been fatal. But JJ had done the right thing, and we were there to prove it. When some years later he gave me the photo no wonder he had written on the back "Wot, no fish?".
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"These memories were just one of the many reasons I was so keen to remember him at Braiden Rock."
Paul O'Brien's words on unveiling the plaque at Braiden Rock on 2 July 2000.....
"Dear Friends and Scillonians
"This is a great day - and a memorable moment - for the families of the officers and crews of N51, A04 and 2023 'Angle Rouge'. It is thus a great joy to have with us Ninon Lomenech and Ursula Townsend and their families.
"Sadly, Julia Garnett and Jean-Jacques Tremayne could not join us, but I do know that they are very proud of John and Jean-Jacques. JJ was Commanding Officer of 2023 for several operations. He was a very brave man and a splendid seaman - and I commend him to you.
"Of course, the many missions would not have been possible without our marvellous crews. They were nearly all fishermen, and they were not only sea salts, but the salt of the earth as well. You could not fault any of them. I know that both Damiel (Lomenech) and Richard (Townsend) would like me to remember and savour especially Jasper Lawn, Ralph Hockney (their two Coxswains) and Cookie Nash who kept us all alive with his amazing meals, come hell or high water.
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"If we could not have managed without these men, nor could we have coped without our back-up team, of whom, first of all, was Captain Frank Slocum - DDODI, a Director of the SIS. His brilliant staff officer and immaculate planner Steven Mackenzie, and Nigel Warrington-Smyth, Senior Officer Inshore Patrol. This was our nomme de plume - or nomme de guerre - and he kept us hard at it, as well as at our other activities.
"Our dear late friend Captain Tommy Tucker of the Royal Corps of Signals was our radio king who fitted us out with some remarkable radio equipment, and among many unheralded people serving on Sunbeam 11 in Helford was her Wireless Officer, David Herbert, who kept watch for us with unswerving commitment.
"If Braiden Rock marked our departure, it was also our point of return to the genuine warmth, hospitality and kindness of the people of Tresco. Above all, we would like to thank and salute them for keeping 'mum' for so long, and so successfully!
"I know the crews would have liked me to mention without fail John Williams of the New Inn and his wife who did so much to sustain their morale!
"Thus the plaque I will now unveil - it is not only for the ships, but will be a lasting memento and symbol of the continuing bond between us, our friends here, and all Scillonians".
Vive La France!
Vive les Bretons!
Vive Grand Bretagne!
(Sir Brooks Richards' book 'Secret Flotillas' about Special Forces operations from Tresco will be re-published soon.
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Many of these tales have been collected into a 160-page hardbackbook with over 200 black-and-white archive photographs - 'Tresco Times - The Last Piece of England'.
You can order it here on-line via our secure server at the special price of £25, with subsidised shipping to all parts of the world.
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