REMOVAL OF THE NORTH SEA MINE BARRAGE 



129 



BY SETTING THE STAYSAILS, IT FREQUENTLY WAS POSSIBLE TO ADD A KNOT OR TWO 

 TO THE SPEED MADE GOOD IN EVEN THE WORST OF WEATHER 



drained the Admiralty of all that they 

 could spare, and still the supply was in- 

 sufficient. 



The two repair ships, Black Hawk and 

 Panther, therefore, had to lay aside the 

 construction and repair work for the 

 sweepers and chasers and devote their 

 energy to the manufacture of kites, to 

 enable the sweepers to continue operat- 

 ing. 



Throughout the entire sweeping of the 

 barrage we never had sufficient gear at 

 any time to equip fully all sweepers for 

 their contemplated stay at sea, and so it 

 frequently was necessary after the day's 

 work was over for one vessel, whose ex- 

 penditures had been comparatively light, 



to go alongside one less fortunate and 

 divide the supply of kites and sweep- wire 

 that remained. 



A TASK FOR IRON CONSTITUTIONS 



Buoys, too, for marking the new fields 

 were equally in demand, and, in order 

 not to lose any of the valuable hours of 

 daylight which could be used for locating 

 the positions of the markers, it frequently 

 was necessary for the Buoy-laying Squad- 

 ron to spend the entire night in going 

 from one sweeper to another to gather 

 up the buoys which had been weighed 

 after the sweeping of a group had been 

 completed. 



Think of the physical endurance this 



