FAMOUS ADMIRAL.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1007, 23 December 1910, Page 5

FAMOUS ADMIRAL.

—— — AT AUCKLAND. ! BREEZMST MAN IN THE NAVY, . 'i ■ ; A/'. , SPORT AND. FIiGHTER, / j (By^Tolograpli.—Su-cial, Correspondent.) ' Au'.:kl;;ndj December. 22. ! -Ecsnito his 72 years," Admiral Sir "Win. 1 ; Kenedy, 1C.C.8.', who arrived in Auck--l'jaa yesterday by the P. and 0.. Com- ' pany s steamer .Aloaltau, on a trout-fishing; and sight-seeirs expedition, is a splendid-.* 3}-piCaerved veteran, and as fine a speci-. I men of the BritisU sailor as tho imagina- ' tion could coaceiro. Born just one year, after the accession, of the late Queen Vio : 'foria, and a figfor through the Crimea,'. . he saw the first and the last shot at"-' beoastopol, and 'i-ought in the trenches be-; tween whiles. £{ 0 was also first lieutenant' on tho British Navy's last three-decker oar her last crr.icp. -Admiral" Sir."Wra. Ken- ■ ,nedy is a,.-wonderful link with.our naval! past/yet, ho lands in Auckland looking! as hale and hearty as -many a. man 20* years, his junior. Just Missed a Tragedy. "Though he has sailed in almost all the-' paters of the glooe, this is his first visit! - to XSew Zealand., i'rue, he.nearlv sailedt tor 3Sew Zeailand 50 years ago, but, for-- • - ° at tlle las t moment he did not-' go- Iho. vessel was the ill-fated H.M.S.! V Orpheus. It was in the.early 'sixties that! - • j (ften Lieutenant) Kennedy wa» ystaiaoned at Bermuda in H.M.S. Hero,.in. with the trouble between the l '- . ■J*>rthcrn (lederal) States and' the South; ' V 'k rl \ 1 a^ e , er s^- Inderal captain; had boarded a British mail packet,: tho,'lrent, and had carried off two "Confeder'"gto- wmmiMioners, Messrs. Mason and<' . oiueH. u his action looked like giving rise- ; . i? w ar, and the Orpheus, then bound toi\ew Zealand,, was diverted to Bermuda..: ' • mview of tho. possibility of trouble. ■ Vt hen things quietened down the Or-' > P-ieus was ordered to resume her voyage, i Md Lieutenant Kennedy was so anxious.'v'■ % . in those days to get to this country, that' ;"' ho negotiated with au officer of the Or--5 S,r? us ,, ran change, offering him JSlOO'.i ihia the officer at first accepted, but'hoi repented next morning, and went on with, the Orpheus, and as far as is known per-; t ished with hor. Oil February 7, 1663, the; ' Orpheus was wrecked on the .Manukau.'i One hundred and ninety of the ship'fc com- 1 1 P er^'lG d, and about 70 were saved. l ; : ' Inis was the future Admiral's life saved* - by a hairs breadth. . : In the China War. • Tho.present visit.to New Zealand, how-,' . 'ever, is the result of that never-forgotten i.desire to see this country, and also of., a hankering after big trout.. The Admiral! owns some fine trout waters, in Sweden, and his daughter has. landed a fish there scaling 131b. "I have, come out here to beat it, . says the Admiral with a smiled y It was on the Rodnev, a fine 90-gun.- - : ■ sailing line-of-battle ship, that Admiral. Kennedy saw, his Crimean.service. After,' 3 years on the Rodney he became a} midshipman on an 8-1-guu line-of-battle ° ship, the Calcutta, flagship of Sir Michael/' s Seymour, Commander-in-Chief in ' f Indies and the China Station. . Lively '■ fighting followed.in.the-war with China," j. which broke out. in October,: :ISSS, and . fpme' ?f the Admiral's stories of operations m the Canton Riv£r are decidedly'" 1 spirited. A pinnace was u-sed .to pene- " trate the creeks, which ran through the . Chinese habitations, and this is the sort of thing that sometimes happened. l How He Shot the Chinaman. "The gunner's mate," says Sir .William,' in the.stern passing the ammunition.; ) fortfard to me in the bows, and exclaim- ■ ;; in .5. J .'. n 'Ws excitement: 'Give 'em some ■' spiritual case, sir!' meaning 'spherical c/ise (canister containing musket balls—a ..very . offectivft' missile at close quarters).. The.. Greek was only .a few. yards broad,-with ' houses down : .to . the water on both sides, -' affording . shelter for '.a hidden enemy. While our attention was directed to those , in front, a.-Chinese soldier, stepped out i from behind a door on our right, and'-' I took a deliberate pot shot at me from. I only a few yards ail.- It .was a shocking; t bad shot. As he missed, arid stepped) back behind the door, probably to load,; I snatched up a rifle, and fired slapthrough' the door, and then thought nov'. more about it. When the time came for : . I us .to retire, I went ashore, and, out of:,. curiosity, looked, behind the door, when," . la, my friend was lying there dead. W« then.returned to. H.JI.S. Barr.icouta to ■: report '.proceedings; and have dinner." ' After being promoted through various cranks to .the post of Commander-in-Chief at the Nore, the Admiral retired about . ei?ht years ago. He will proceed to his . new battle ground—the waters of Taupo, . to-night. His Style as a Humorist. [In addition to the foregoing, it may ba added that Sfr William Kennedy is not;.'.: ;• only a picturesque link between the 4ay» J' • of stearu-and sail, but. he is also one "of [ tho. most breezy and interesting figures • . in tho navy. Like his. stories, most other ■ things which he does are done in his own inimitable way. He is fond of-keepins open-house for anglers, and it is stated, that over the door he has had the follow-', ing carved out:— — ' '' . Tho anjjlcr goeth forth in tjie morning, -. . 5 Disturbing the wholo household;. J He cometli. back in. the evening wlien. , The'smell of whisky is upon him And the truth is not in him. . . Like other, admirals of the mid-Victor ian period, ho comes of a splendid' breezy. ; - school—a school to which belonged the: : f Colombs, the Seymours, Beaucha'mps, Trer mantles, Hornsbys, Keppells, and others : > of that kind. One of . them, Sir Edmund' ' 1 Fi'cmantle, in his book "Fifty Years ia- . t the Navy" has written with great charav of'his experiences in New Zealand (in- , eluding Wellington) during, the period of one or the Maori wars. In regard: to Admiral Kennedy, the period spent at Bermuda (mentioned above) must hav« > been a very exciting one, as Britain wao within measurable distance of war wiffc the United States. The action of a somewhat eccentric Yankee captain , (Captain ' Wilkes), commanding the United Statea sloop of war, San Jacinto, in forcibly tak- " ing tho Confederate , envoys—Messrs." 1 Mason and Slidell—off the British mail steamer Trent, in the Bahama Passage,. ■: West Indies, was a high-handed nroceed- : ing, and but for the common-sense attiture taken up by. Mr. Lincoln, the Presi- , dent, tho position would have been very }. grave. _ As it was, it .was fortunate that the British captain of the Trent did not, at,the time of the seizure, adopt the ex. ' treme_ course of . throwing his ship 'oa Captain Wilkes's liands.'l