The Dominion. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1914. THE SAILOR'S PRAYER

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2287, 22 October 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1914. THE SAILOR'S PRAYER

Ever since tho British Fleet put out to sea just before the declaration of war the whole Empire has waited eagerly from day to day for news from the' North Sea. The great decisive battle has yet to be fought, but from time to time Sir John Jellicoe and his sailors have had encounters with tho foe and in every case they have shown that the old fighting spirit of the British Navy is as vigorous as over it was. The floating mine and the submarine have blown up a few of our ships, but whenever our bluejackets have had the opportunity of a brush with the enemy in the open they have always shown their superiority. In the recent engagement with four German destroyers we are told that British seamanship forced the enemy's vessels into a position which left them with no choice .but to fight, and when . they did fight British marksmanship "sank tho lot." Our sailors readily admit the bravery of their antagonists, and German warships may be as good as ,our own—German experts say they aro better; but the man on the bridge and the man behind the gun o are as important to-day in the struggle against the new Napoleonism as they were in the days when tho great Napoleon threatened to land an army in Britain: Though our Navy has not so far been able to, get to grips with the main body of the German Fleet,'there is not the shadow of doubt about its willingness, and its achievements during tho present strugglo have fully justified Mn. Asquith's declaration in his Guildhall speech that "its superiority is equally marked in every department and sphere of activity." The effect of its unceasing vigilance, day and night, in tho North Sea is world-wide. A lieutenant on a British destroyer, in a stirring account of the engagement off Heligoland, when three German cruisers and two destroyers were sunk, states , that one would have supposed that the captain of his boat "had done this sort .of thing all his life; he gives the impression of a Nelson officer who has lived in a state of suspended animation since, but yet has kept pace with the times, and is _ nowise perturbed at finding his frigate a destroyer," Obsolete ships go to the scrap-heap and old guns are replaced by new. The machinery of naval warfare is ever changing, but tho qualities that make a successful sea captain remain the same in all ages. Sib John Jellicoe has been sot as great a task as that which Nelson had to.face, and we are all confident that he will carry it through successfully. He has won the, full confidence of the officers and men ■ under him, and the over-mas-tering desire of every man in his fleet is to have- a chance of fighting; the German Navy in the open sea. This, writes a Eeaman in a letter to his friends, is- the "sailor's prayer." "It's still the old game of waiting and watching and hoping for the best. ... . Thcro isn't a wan among us that doesn't pray every, day to give tho Germans sufficient courago to coino out for only ten minutes, just to give us a sight of them, you know. That ia known on board as tho 'Sailor's Prayer'; but some of us are beginning to think there's a lot of truth in the old saying that God helps them $vho help themselves, and maybe too we'll have to help ourselves a little more if we are to give the Germans what ■Wβ have in store for thejn. . . . We' were unluckv enough to be out of the fight off Heligoland, but we hoar a lot about it from men who were in it. . . ; That affair only whetted our appetite formoro, and we want ae many more scraps as arc wanted to put the German ships to sleep at tho bottom of tho deep for ever."

As long as this spirit animates her seamen, no Power on earth is likely to deprive Britainof her supremacy of the seas. The sinking of the four German destroyers, like tho> encounter off Heligoland, will only whet their appetite for more fighting. They know the peril of their work, and do".not underrate the strength of the enemy; but they feel certain that when the great trial of strength comes they will be more than able to hold their own. All the "scraps"' which have so far taken place show, that the trust which the nation has put in tbein hae not beon misplaced, and the British Empire is waiting with quiet confidence for the day when the two greatest fleets in the world will come to grips on the open seas. ,■