Action
Bourke was 32 years old, and a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the First World War when the following deed took place in the Second Ostend Raid for which he was awarded the VC. On 9 and 10 May 1918 at Ostend, Belgium, after HMS Vindictive's crew had been taken off, Lieutenant Bourke, commanding Motor Launch 276, went into the harbour to check that everybody had got away. After searching and finding no one, he withdrew, but hearing cries from the water he turned back, found an officer and two seamen clinging to an up-turned boat, and rescued them. During this time the motor launch was under very heavy fire and was hit 55 times, once by a 6-inch shell which killed two of her crew and did considerable damage. Lieutenant Bourke, however, managed to take her into the open sea, and was taken in tow.
He later achieved the rank of Commander serving with the Royal Canadian Navy in World War II. He is buried in section O, plot 10, grave 16 in Royal Oak Burial Park, Falaise Drive, Victoria, British Columbia. His medals are held at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa.
Read more about this topic: Rowland Bourke
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