M.L. 282 had steamed straight into the canal and stopped between the two sunken blockships. She came under heavy machine-gun fire from close range, {233} but was not in the least deterred from the work of rescuing the blockships' survivors. The fact that this motor launch was not sunk and that the crew survived was little short of a miracle. Lieutenant Deane, with his precious cargo, turned his boat round as soon as he was clear of the canal. Owing to the steering gear having been damaged, he was forced to steer by means of working the engines at unequal speeds. He passed as near to the Mole as was possible to escape the gun-fire from that direction--the reverse of the usual procedure being necessary under the peculiar circumstances in which they found themselves. After passing the Mole the launch was steered to the north-westward and fell in with the Vice-Admiral's vessel, H.M.S. _Warwick_. Many casualties had been sustained as a result of the continual fire which she had experienced. [Sidenote: Rescue of the Crews] M.L. 526 had steamed into the sunken blockships in the canal, embarking many of _Intrepid's_ men from a cutter, and then proceeded to _Thetis_, where all the survivors from that vessel were also embarked from a cutter. The motor launch had come under heavy fire from the shore guns and her escape added one more item to the long list of miracles which took place that night. With sixty-five survivors Lieutenant Littleton steamed out to sea past the Mole and made the entire passage to Dover under her own steam, in spite of the gruelling which his frail vessel had gone through. The rescue work, as carried out by these two motor launches, compels admiration. Their chances of success had seemed to be exceedingly remote. Yet, in spite of all the difficulties, they had rescued no less {234} than one hundred and sixty-six men from right under the enemy's batteries. It will be remembered that _Intrepid_ had not disembarked her surplus crew at position D on the passage across, with the result that she carried no fewer than eighty-seven officers and men into the canal. Of these, every single officer and man was brought back to Dover, although one petty officer had been killed and one officer mortally wounded whilst being rescued. Of the crew of M.L. 282 one officer and two men (out of four) laid down their lives in this splendid achievement. Of all the blockships' officers and men not a single living soul fell into the hands of the enemy. In a subsequent chapter I shall give a more detailed description of the results of the actual blocking.