This is a guest post from the diary of Leading Seaman Arthur Hawes.

Early this morning we were aroused by the sound of the réveillé, & hurriedly dressing we were all soon on parade, where we were told by our Commander that the camp life we had been enjoying at Walmer had come to an end, & we were to pack up at once as we were to leave for Dunkirk at mid-day. We had none of us the faintest idea what we were going to do when we got to Dunkirk, but everyone was overjoyed to think that we were going to make a move anywhere. The camp was soon in a great state of excitement & after a hurried breakfast we packed up & finally at 1.30pm we started off & marched to Dover. Our kits were sent on by train. We arrived at Dover soon after 4 o/c & marched on to the pier, where we had a glorious wait until 11 o/c for the boat to arrive. However we got on board at last, & at 3.30am Monday morning started off. Slept for a few hours in the hold on some cases of provisions & about 5 o/c went on deck.