Description
Object description
Scenes on board the trawler Maid Honor probably prior to Operation Postmaster, the seizure of enemy vessels from the neutral Spanish colony Fernando Po in January 1942; other scenes of SOE weapons tests.
Full description
I. General shots of Maid Honor in Poole harbour, with three members of Maid Honor Force visible: Captain Gus March-Phillipps, Lieutenant Geoffrey Appleyard and Maître André Desgranges. The crew prepare spigot mortars. Two small rowing boats are seen in an estuary; Maid Honor is filmed from a small boat - splashes are seen from fire from Maid Honor. Pan around the deck of Maid Honor shows several men and one woman. Primitive spigot mortars are shown installed on the side of the ship. Various shots show crew preparing to fire the mortars and resulting splashes in the water near a target.
Full description
II. Two brief shots of metal plate used for test firings.
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III. Limpet mines ('soup plate' and Type 6 versions) are placed on the side of a merchant ship. Various shots show the lines attached to the devices as the ship is underway and another improvised limpet mine attached to part of the superstructure. The film shows the ship at sea in fairly rough conditions and other nearby shipping.
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IV. In a small open boat four metal objects (not all the same - depth charges/mines/containers?) apparently linked by rope to each other and to weights are shown. Naval and army personnel are on board. One of the objects is seen being lowered over the side. A man takes a compass bearing. There are views of a loch (?) and of a sailing vessel (not Maid Honor but similar). The object(s?) are retrieved from the water.
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V. (In colour) shots taken from the cockpit of an RAF bomber in flight showing the ground.
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VI. Brief shot of an RAF Coastal Command Liberator flying overhead (as in MGH 4322 qv).
Physical description
16mm