A Dangerous Enterprise by Tim Spicer

Writing Uncommon Courage was sometimes a frustratingly selective exercise. It made me all too aware of the histories I didn’t cover and the extraordinary experiences that were beyond the scope of that book. It was hard sometimes to stick to my brief of showing the progress of the war through the contributions of the yachtsmen volunteers. Occasionally I cheated – including, for instance, part of the story of David Birkin RNVR, a volunteer who emphatically did not become a yachtsman, despite his navigational skill.

It's a great pleasure therefore to have come across Tim Spicer’s account of the activities of the 15th MGB Flotilla based at HMS Cicala in Dartmouth – the more so because Spicer goes much further that I could allow myself, in telling some of the remarkable stories of the agents transported by the flotilla and the resistance networks passing information or ‘parcels’ of downed aircrew or escapees. This book is a gripping read, reminding one yet again of the particular horror of living in occupied France (or Norway) and the bravery and cruelties that make one gasp. As Spicer says ‘It must also be remembered that while the officers and men of the 15th Motor Gun Boat Flotilla showed exceptional courage and fortitude, they could at least return home to Dartmouth to the relative safety of a free country. The brave men and women of Brittany lived with the constant 24 hours a day, seven days a week threat of discovery torture and death from which they had no respite from 1940-1944.’

For the historians of the RNVR and Coastal Forces, however, the main interest in Spicer’s book lies in its focus on a single flotilla – comprising just a handful of boats and people. Some begin to feel like old friends: MASB 36, the first boat permanently allocated to the flotilla, MGB 314, scuttled after St Nazaire, MGB 318 which took her place as the workhorse of the flotilla, MGBs 502 and 503, built later and faster, but I found I knew much less about the activities of MGB 718, usually commanded by Ronnie Seddon and I hadn’t followed her Northern assignments. Neither did I know about the extraordinarily sad end of 502, redesignated MGB 2002 and sent on a special courtesy mission to Sweden just a few days after VE Day and lost with only two survivors. An index entry covering the separate vessels would have enabled one to follow their individual careers but an enthusiast will not find it hard to manage such a reconstruction. The book’s list of sources is very helpful and the quantity of maps and photos included makes me frankly envious.

A Dangerous Enterprise: secret war at sea by Tim Spicer is published by Barbreck £18.99

A Dangerous Enterprise is notable for its access to papers of David Birkin, Ronnie Seddon, Stephen Mackenzie and the Slocum family archives. Spicer (or his researchers) have also made good use of material held by Dartmouth Museum, though it’s surprising that Laura Quigley’s South West Secret Agents is not included in the credits. There will always omissions, however, as I know too well myself - cf Geoffrey Kirk’s memoir which has additional detail on the adventures of Guy Hamilton when on MGB 673. It’s an on-going tragedy that the National Archives disposed of all the individual small boat logbooks entrusted to them after the war. Apparently they couldn’t cope with the quantity - but what stories have been lost.

WW2 RNVR officers mentioned in A Dangerous Enterprise include David Birkin, Dunstan Curtis, Ian Fleming, Guy Hamilton, Gerry Holdsworth, Stephen Mackenzie, Charles Martion, Jan McQuiod Mason, Michael Pollard, Francis Brooks Richards, Ronnie Seddon, Bevil Warrington-Smyth, Patrick Whinney, Peter Williams