 Artillery and long @-@ range machine gun fire continued to riddle the wrecks and the combined crews were ordered to evacuate as the officers set the scuttling charges which would sink the blockships in their current , useless locations . As men <unk> down the side of the cruisers into Coastal Motor Boats which would relay them to the Offshore Squadron , destroyers moved closer to Ostend to cover the retreat and the monitors continued their heavy fire . Godsal was the last to leave , picked up by launch <unk> commanded by Lieutenant Rowley <unk> . With the main assault a complete failure , the blockading forces returned to Dover and <unk> to assess the disaster . 
