Page 4 Murchison Baron Of Han

Almost from the start of the occupation the Little Ships moved daily along the narrow channels seeking targets as far away as eight miles from the river. And at night, from their anchorage at Fork, they harassed the enemy. Some nights they fired two or three times, others they bombarded every 15 to 30 minutes. This was a war of nerves as well as shells, a war which made men jittery and bad tempered, a war of attrition by night and by day.

At first the Chinese took no counter-action, apart from sending patrols and snipers to the river and occasionally firing a few rounds from their 75's and then quickly withdrawing to the hills. But everyone on the Han knew this could not last, that the Communists must eventually dispute Allied control of the river. The occupation was damaging and disruptive. It was also bad for Chinese morale.

The first real attempt came at the end of September 1951. The second, when the Chinese took another hammering, came two days later. And it was Murchison which was responsible for checking these counter-moves, for Lieutenant-Commander Dollard had been expecting trouble and his ship and crew were ready for it.

Little Ships Operations in the Han Estuary 1951-52

Allen Nelson Dollard had his 34th birthday in the Han. He is a slight fair balding man with blue-grey eyes and a boyish sensitive face. He could easily, on first sight, be a university lecturer. But there is a resolute directness about him which suggests that he is more at home with facts and decisions than with abstract theories. His men liked and admired this captain of theirs who never got rattled and never showed fear. They regarded him as "a hell of a good bloke", a high compliment from Australians whose naive native characteristic is to criticize but seldom praise. They knew they served a man who had guts as well as efficiency, who would take them into trouble and get them out of it—if he could. But as Dollard took Murchison out of Fork that hot still afternoon of Friday, 28 September 1951, he hoped he wouldn't run into too much trouble because of the "Brass" travelling with him. This trip was supposed to be a Cook's Tour of the Han estuary. He had with him that day the Commander of the Korean Escort and Blockade Group (Rear-Admiral G. C. Dyer, U.S.N.) and two senior Royal Navy men under Dyer's command—Captain G. A. F. Norfolk and Commander D. G. C. Elder. Enough brass, as someone on board said, to upset any Gunnery Officer's gunnery.

With Dollard on the Compass Platform as they moved west along Lambeth channel was Lieutenant-Commander W. 0. C. Roberts, the First Lieutenant, who was to win his D.S.C. later on his second trip to Korea in H.M.A.S. Anzac, Lieutenant Pete Martin, who directed the Bofors fire; Lieutenant Maxwell "Ned" Kelly who had only just taken over from Lieutenant Pete Rees, Murchison's Navigator in the original entrance to the Han who did much of the fine survey work in the boats before being transferred. Lieutenant John Snow, a casual bearded giant with the face of a cheerful infant, was in the Operations Room; Commissioned Gunner Frank Smith, red faced and ever cheerful, was "Guns" in the Director Tower behind and above the bridge, with Leading Seaman Jock Chalmers and Able Seamen "Chris" Christison; Lieutenant Jack Scott-Holland, the Cable Officer, was on the forecastle; Senior Commissioned Engineer Officer Benny Martin was in the most important part of the ship, as every engineer knows; and at the stern, in command of the after twin four-inch, was Petty Officer Farrington—the "Buffer" who was to do mighty work in the next few hours and days. He was not the only one, for Chief Yeoman Terrey was to spot and report enemy activity with remarkable speed, and the coxswain, Chief Petty Officer Rowell, was to steer the ship with what officers called "immaculate precision".

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