ACROSS THE WATER, YOU MAY JUST BE ABLE TO MAKE OUT THE VILLAGE
•OF JEMIMAVILLE. IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE TODAY THAT IT SAW ACTION IN
NE OREAT WAR・
ONE OF THE GREAT THREATS TO BRITISH SURVIVAL DURING THE FIRST
WORLD WAR WAS THE SUBMARINE. AND IN ALL HARBOURS A LOOK-OUT WAS KEPT IN CASE ONE MANAGED TO SLIP THROUGH THE DEFENCES. NO ONE KNOWS WHAT SET THE ALARM BELLS RINGING LATE IN OCTOBER
1915. SOME SAY IT,WAS A SEAL, OTHERS A FISHING BUOY THẠT HAD BROKEN LOOSE. WHATEVER IT. WAS, THE GUNNERS OPENED FIRE.
UNFORTUNATELY THEIR RANGE-FINDING WAS AS POOR AS THE LOOKOUTS EYESIGHT AND SHELLS HIT JEMIMAVILLE, DAMAGING A NUMBER OF HOUSES, LUCKILY NO ONE WAS KILLED, BUT A BABY WAS INJURED. A ROYAL NAVY DOCTOR, VISITING THE FAMILY TO SEE THE BABY, ASSURED THEM THAT NO LESS THAN THREE SUBMARINES HAD BEEN DESTROYED!
YEARS LATER ADMIRAL SIR REGINALD PLUNKETT-ERNLE-ERLE-DRAX, PRESENT AS A JUNIOR OFFICER, WAS HEARD TO BEMOAN THE FACT THAT NO MEDAL HAD BEEN ISSUED FOR THE 'BATTLE OF JEMIMAVILLE!
BOTH WORLD WARS HAVE SEEN MÁNY FOREIGN TROOPS STATIONERIN THE AREA, FROM AMERICAN SAILORS IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR TO THE POLISH AIR FORCE IN THE SECOND:
AMERICA ENTERED THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN 1917, AND IT WAS DECIDED TO LAY A HUGE MINE BARRAGE BETWEEN THE NORTHERN ISLES AND NORWAY, SOME 240 MILES DISTANT, TO BOTTLE UP THE GERMAN
DALMORE DISTILLERY, A FEW HUNDRED VARDS ALONG THE COAST FROM THIS SPOT, WAS TAKEN OVER TO BE A MINE FACTORY, AND HUNDREDS OF AMERICAN SAILORS AND TEN AMERICAN MINE-LAYING SHIPS ARRIVED TO START WORK. BY THE END OF THE WAR 38,500 MINES HAD BEEN MADE AT DALMORE AND THE MINE BARRAGE WAS ALMOST COMPLETED.