The men were magnificent: landing on the mole from HMS Vindictive. The story of the landing on Zeebrugge Mole was vividly told in the account issued by the Admiralty, "it involved a passage across the crashing, splintering gangways, a drop over the parapet into the field of fire of the German machine guns, and a further drop of 16 feet to the surface of the Mole itself. Many were killed and more were wounded." The men were laden with Stokes guns and wore steel helmets and gas masks.