The life of crews engaged in anti mine-work is apt to be exciting. and exposure to air attack has added one element of risk which was not present in the last war. The vessels are frequently attacked by aeroplanes and some of them have been sunk. as has appeared from time to time in Admiralty announcements. But for every attack, resulting in the sinking of one of these little ships, there are many in which the Nazi machine is beaten off by the accurate fire bf the trawlers, anti-aircraft guns—victories which are all part of the day's work and go unpublished and unsung.
Most of the force is engaged searching for and sweeping up moo: ed mines, and occasionally a newly sown field is discovered in the path of an oncoming convoy. When this happens, there is usually not time to sweep "according to the book," and the system adopted is for sweepers to go ahead of the convoy, which follows through the swept channels.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.