Used most famously in December 1942, when a small group of ten men in five canoes were dropped off by submarine 80 miles from the inland port of Bordeaux. Taking a couple of days to get to Bordeaux, the men laid limpit mines on a series of German ships, sinking one and seriously damaging others. These men became the Cockeshell heroes, named after the canoes they sailed in. But the story of the Cockleshells is more than that of this dozen brave men, most of whom died in what was a suicide mission. Over 4000 canoes were made and the contribution they made to the war was immense, but has remained untold until now. In this new work, Quentin Rees, lucky owner of two of the Cockles, tells the story of the development and use of these 4,000 canoes, from Combined Operations to SOE.
By:
Quentin Rees Imprint: Amberley Publishing Country of Publication: United Kingdom Dimensions:
Height: 248mm,
Width: 172mm,
Spine: 19mm
Weight: 789g ISBN:9781848680654 ISBN 10: 1848680651 Pages: 256 Publication Date:01 January 2020 Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format:Paperback Publisher's Status: Unspecified
Quentin Rees, owner of two cockleshell canoes, has researched the history of the vessels for over twenty years. His cockle canoe has been on display in the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth for the past two years. He lives in Torbay.