AMONG THE TITANS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 616, 20 September 1909, Page 8

AMONG THE TITANS.

THE GREATEST- NAVAL REVIEW. A MEMORABLE. SIGHT. \(By H. T.' B. Drew.) ,' , When this article roaches New Zealand the great naval review of Saturday! July 31, in the Solont, will have passed from immediate memory. Yet it will live in the annals as the greatest naval pageant the World lias ever eeen or heard about. . • -.'■».. -..#••. ■,-.■■#■.■ « ' Just as ,one o'clock strikes, the Seahorse, obsolete gunboat, leaves -her. .jetty in Portsmouth Harbour, with (v complement of press representatives on board. . She'noses her way out among grey Admiralty tugs, and launches. Round about are veteran warships gajly "rainbowed' with strings of-flags/'Once the pride of the line, these old bulldogs are now forbidden a place, with the active fighters, 60 they lie far up in Portsmouth harbour, and only display the gay colours , of youth and some of their 6till formidable,teeth. One familiar old shape has "Euryalus" gilded across the stern. , . . ; •

Ihe Seahorse plugs out past the passenger wharf of Portsmouth. Crowds stand about the quay ill holiday attire. Paddle-wheel steamers are loading-up with' colours. -Trains have brought several thousands of sighteers down from London, v Nearby is the old'bluff Victory The King and the Royal-party have already passed down the harbour in the Royal yacht, and lie, at anchor somewhere out in the miet in the • distance. ■■-.:,■■ . . .

Howling gusts of-wind drive the white horses of the sea along in galloping droves. Yet how futile seem .oven the forces of the sea as the lashed foam breaks up against the massive round forts rising in circular shape at wide intervals across the mouth, of. the.harbour. A headland is rounded. " Before us appears the Boyal yacht Victoria and Albert, distin-. guisned by her graceful lines—most graceful, it is said, of any c.raff afloat—and away on the right can now be seen a dim forest in the sea. Such a sight has boon depicteiin pictures. It does not seem unfamiliar. - Presently, as'the' distance lessens, shapes show-up. in', the mist; and the ; forestgrows less'.like/lcafless trees and. more 'like the masts of: .warSKips. -It is a wonderful eight even, atthat distance—a mass of warships,extending in lines far ont of sight The Seahorse steams past the Royal yacht, ,aad cruises up to the Vicinity: of tie armada, idling about till the King ehaU'have started up between the'lines. Within a cable's length lie the rearmost vessels .of the fleets. From these, run in four'lines- for tluee./ihiles mighty ehgiries of lines as perfect as a formation of companies on parade; Wo know its power'on paper, the'sijo of its , guns, the poseibilities of ■ its .armaments, its cost,-and- its enormity; but-these things seem as impossible ! to grasp intelligently.as the'distance of the stiu-s. The imagination is : rather baulked than assisted, by the, unassuming'.aspect-of the ar- , imula, and the, comparatively small bulk and, absenco of show about , the individual ships. It is difficult to pick' out the Dreadnoughts; yet there are.seven of the' leviathans gathered there. You recognise them chiefly by their peculiar forotops, and the huger mass of'theft foreship, which , appears'like the shoulders of ah enormous sea animal. . The battleships of tho Nelson type appear little less' bulky, in size, and ,to the unpractised eye' all the vessels- at first seem very mnch alike. \ ' , ■•• , This great armada is comprised,only of-tho larger. ehips. Some neater the Isle of/Wight lie; tho destroyers'; arid 1 In fact, warships'appear to be'all;about. Tho number of submarines ;is impressive. 'The.fleet, numbers: in. all 1 152. death-dealing vessels, and yet this is merely the .."everready" section of the • British fleet in; Home waters. -So.great has been the development in naval power .that nbt;;a : single Vessel of/ the Coronation fleet. , of 'seven 'years' ago is- jood ■enough company, 'for/., the present assemblage. >On that occasion tho gathering'.consisted of six battleships, and a dozen T cruisers, together with 24 destroyers. lvHero lie" , &'. r battleships, Iβ' cruisers, 48; torpedo- .boa.ts,- "and 42. submarines/ besides a host; of .other., units.. .: v. ~ -.'.-'.

On thte floating city-nosr;6prcad ont are the quarters' of 40,000, men;.>}Vhat.is. its ..valup, sterling? Sixty million poundslis one authoritative valuation, though the estimate, 6eems a 'email'one..- . .--..,' ■", ■:•,. ..':■. .■'. :v , ■ /

_. A'little before three o'clock;the King's, yacht is obserycdi tonbe'[imovjng>,.up. J.'Three : de!6trorers,i!'the<.iTrinity 1 ,, i yacht' ; Irene,', and the JUsxandra precede (,6er.;, Iq' (; her,.,wako is tlie •Admiralty yacht Enchantrtes, "and'Tjehind the latter a leviathan of. the Wtyto Star Line, the Adriatic, crowded with, 1200 guests, including the members"of' the Legislature, the 'colonial Premiers,■'■•and- many..-Qtner'-. distinguished' per- , eons.-.Her ponderonsMiull shows:picturesquely out; of the ; water as-she approaches-the;, low-, lying warships. ; ; • ■ , ,', '.' '.'.' . r' ' Tho latter have been manned: as the King has approached. Ringfjof men.in blue uniform and white hois ehowi'ovet^the: bulwarks. The King'is received.: with ..a roar of guns that, starting on.the'Arrogant.and.Talbot at the rear end of the lino,.runs-down.e(ich v boat for three' miles. Itis a thrilling and.suggestive moment —suggestive, of .the ~true;.grcataess and. power of kingship.,,;.: S ..;;■;■..,.' ■...■■: ■.- '■ For', eeveial; minutes the smoke from the 2000 6hote,.th&t are fired—2l'from.eaoh warship —partially obliterates the'scene,' but is. soon driven' away'.by the'wind.'-Then.tlie stately procession goes slowly 'up ■ the lines, and presently is ,lost sight- in ,the distant: mists. No other boats are allowed .'to! , follow. . .

■ Some'time:afterthey\ return,.and then-re-trace their coursev up another line,' finally anchoring temporarily, at tho'top end. Here the King, surrounded -with'-hie'.fleet, in the manner that the greatest sea-king of the world should, receives the; Russian Tsjir, whose yacht has arrived just at->a suitable and impressive : momcnt. All the ceremonj," however, is unseen on board the' Seahorse.: •■Not'even the' representatives. of the most-. influential British papers, on wl>om alone-England and the world depends for a depiction of ithe day's events, for only a few thousand people are about,'are allowed to approach within ■ the precincts of the fleet. Somp of the correspondents are. men whose publications are on most library shelves. . But lato in the chilly afternoon submarines come racing-like gigantic pbrpoises down outside the lines of hattleshios,' As they, pass they dive till only the swirling, water, denotes their whereabouts, and then'they'suddenly:rise again, and men appear out-of their interiors,, and quickly adjust, the- conning towers. .They run round outside the fleet', 'nnd : take up their proper, positions. To serve on:these yet untried and dangerous,craft is an honour sought by every officer and , ] maa in the service'. , After, the submarine display, comes an attack on the Dreadnoughts by destroyers. More than a dozen of these' black-devilish craft, ■ pouring sooty volumes from thiir stumpy funnels, charge passing the. Dreadnoughts, discharge in turn a torpedo...Nb result is ; seen till,presently a jet of : snioke indicates that the torpedo has , reached the nbts of one of, tho leviathans. Without: slackening speed the twenty-fiyef knot. destroyer rushes' along,'with the.bow-wave />{: another almost ■ touching its stern; None of the torpedoes miss their mark, and afterwards; they are' all gathered in. In, war. time, however, the distance of the discharge would be greater.

With the torpedo httaok' the review-ends, and.the comparatively.' few passenger steamere which have been variously dodging about tho fleet, kept at respectful''distance by him-, dreds of .eriergetio picket boats, return hur-' riedlyto the. harbour. .The 1 King and his party and the T6&r of Bussia remain,at;Cowes, for on,the Monday is to commence the great and fashionable Cowes Regatta; '.' As the Seahorse /approaches' Portsmouth, the'first hews of the memorabio review is communicated to London. • A; bluejaoket runs' to .the commanding' officer with, .vcorrespondent's message. The writing is perfunctorily scanned; the bluejacket jumps into, the bridge' With signal flags in each hand, semaphores' the words to a.-wireless-telegraphy' station ashore, • ro-. ceivos an acknowledgment, and probably;' bofore the Seahorse is hitched , up to the-jetty wharf, London is reading" the message, and the cablegrams' have gbno forth to the world. l