VICE-ADMIRAL STURDEE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2330, 11 December 1914, Page 4

VICE-ADMIRAL STURDEE

THE MAN AND HIS WORK

(By Malcolm Ross.) The tropio night had swooped down on us ana an inky blackness prevailed. At: intervals the searchlights of the ' warships pierced tho darkness witliA gleaming shafts of light that searched tho beach or moved athwarb • tho sky. "WoMvero expecting a night attack. Already some of our men were lying forty tothoQis deep outsido tho"* root,. and others, with severed heads;,. wore resting in the little cemotory thatf / wo had made at Mulinuu, ■ heedless,. a J' , r , b , ugl ° calls > tlw cr ash of the;' Aordenfoldts, or the booming of ther big guns, ihe waves of tho great lagoon lell softly on the coral sands and' l above this swishing, sighing - sound we ♦ ' could hear tho distant diapason of the long Paoifio rollers dashing themselves ill loam on the outer reef, as, challenged at every turn, wo walked along-the windrng street of Apia to the main guard. Presently thore was the crack of a Snider rifle and the answering rattle of the Nordenfeldts where the British and American Consulates were being attacked by the rebel snipers. Three bulletß from the beaoh sang over. our heads. ' At the main guard I found Sturdee. Keenly alert, somewhat short in stature, with a bright, clear eye, a broad, J deep forehead, a firm mouth and a jaw? that indicated determination, he in-I epired at once confidence ana respect. I ' He was giving a few final orders to hisi first lieutenant beforo going on boards his ship, tho Porpoise.. "Pve got a little show on to-morrow, Rosb, he' said; "if you care to come we'll make' you welcome." -Of course, I jumped at!' tho chance, and just before midnight two ebony-skinned Solomon Islanders )V ore Peddling me in a canoe towards the ship. "Boat ahoyl" cams a sharp and sudden challenge froirisa quarter-* master at the head of the gangway. I replied with the password, and wo pushed on to clutch the heaving steps and scramble up on deck.' There was a hearty welcome, and soon I was asleep ' in my clothes on a settee in tho wardroom. ■ The dawn was breaking over the eastern headlands when 1 awoke and found _ young Gaunt, tho navigating lieutenant, with his friendlies, coming aboard. Masse, British' Consul' cousin of the proprietor and'editor ot" tile "National Review,"- and a frieud of Sturdee's and of' my own—a maii\ who could never he kept out of a fight! —was with them. line, handsome, j bronzed fellows were those friendly . . Samoans. "How do you like fighting" with the British?"' I asked ono of the) chiefs. "Lelei lava" (\fhich means very good) lie answered. "What about the! consul i"' I asked another man who could speak English. "Oh, the consul, , | him brave man," he replied. "Yester- ! day at Malio we have big fight. Thar consul he .Say some be-' hind thoso trees. Ho ask mo lend him my rifle. I have ten ammunition. When< my gun. come back-to me I have no' ammunition! The consul he tell me) "all right, I give you some more to- < morrow I" ■ ;

In a little, while the anchor was up \ and "catted," and we wore quietly' steaming along the shores of the island \ of Upolu on what is termed in the Island ships' of the British Navy a > punitive expedition, which means that 1 the rebels are to be punished, if pos-' sible by burning ( of houses and boat; destroying, but more severely if they continue their resistance. Wo had a, rough breakfast of sardines and bread!, and cocoa and then each one got to his l job. There was little gold Jaco.awi : outward polish about Sturdee'and his 1 men,on that cruise. Lieutenant Gaunt' unshaven, in riding breeches, a rougli l shirt, and a slouch hat—and Parker— whoso mother is Lord Kitchener's sis-. tor—looked as much liko naval officers 1 as a.wharf labourer looks liko a- "Piccadilly 'knut.' But they were typical ' boys of the bull-dog breed, and they did their work magnificently. We burut- 1 . and shelled and volleyed aud had quite 1 a merry littlo scrap. Some of our men' were hit, and that evening I helped the doctor in the extraction of a bullet from one of our friendlies who had been., shot' through the chest. But there in 110 space to fell of all- we did, suffico it to say that on juch occasions you get | very near to a man, and 1 came back inth a great admiration and an affection for the commander of the Porpoise. The consul, bareheaded and bedraggled, 1 and Gaunt, with a week's growth or' 6tubbly beard under his old slouch hat, with the malietoa colours, laid them--selves down in the chartroom and were 1 soon dead jto the world) while the tireless Parker and the ever-watchful Stur-, dee themselves guided- the ship back through the darkness and the of the coral reefs into jiarbour. .. Wo! had just missed catching the German; soldier von Bulow —a relative of the : famous von Bulow—with 18 boats and 500' rebels; but we had captured 461 beats, burned Bome villages, and diß- \ posed of eeveral rebels, and oyeryona was happy, if tired. • 'jj In that "bliow," as the Navy-sails it, Sturdee and his men did splendid work. - and one could not help predicting thai if ho was spared he would go very far , in the Navy. Afterwards I heard of 1 him in the intelligence branch. In 1908 he was Rear-Admiral, and in 1913 1 he was Vice-Admiral.

A few months ago ho heard I was in . London, and one morning I received i a- friendly note from hiin asking .me I to dino at the United Service Club in ' Pall Mall and have a talk over old times. I looked him up in tho Navy List, and found he was Yi<x>Admiral > Sir Frederiick Charles Dovotcn Sturdeo, ) K.C.8., C.V.0., C.M.G., and he had! been A.D.C. to Kiug Edward when the j latter made his'memorable vis't to thai opening of tho Kiel Con.il, uhero, of i course, they wore met by tho present j German Emperor. While wo were chat- ' ting in the smoking-room ot the club,! who should como in but Gaunt. It was a strange comcidonco that the ' three of us should, meet again in this way after so many years, for nei- j ther Sturdeo nor I knew that Gaunt I was in Loudon, jiof did Gaunt know; that wo' wore there. Sturdeo told ua , in confidenc'o that ho was just about to' bo made Chief of tho War Staff of tho. Navy, and in a few days tho appoint- ) ment was duly announced. One of tho most important of tho Londou dailies \ referred to him as tho brains of tho Navy. On the same day Gaunt had, been sent for bv Churchill, and had ■ boon offered and had accepted tho posi- - tiou of Naval Attache at Washington. ) So these two mon who had done such fino work in tho Paclfio and elscwhoro > wore rapidly climbing tho naval ladder. It is fitting that Sturdeo of all ■ people should have boen successful in sending tho fino ships of tho Gorman , Pacific Squadron to tho bottom, .for ho was "up against" tho Germans and their crooked mothods in Samoa, and t was ready, if anything had warranted 'it, to have sunk tho Gorman cruiser! Falko on that occasion. For tho de-, struction of this squadron tho Admir- J alty apparently liavo sent tho right man. If skill and courago and deter- \ mination could avail thoro could be no doubt of tho issuo if ho ehould meet tho onomy on anything liko equal terms.

A foiv weeks ago when I was present, at the taking of German Samoa thero | wero ninny kind inquiries about Sturdeo ovon from somo of tho Germans' who rcmomborcd him in tboso years,! anil lind conic to respect liim.. There' would lam sure bo no man ill the i Navy more pleased to 1 cam.that 'Now I Zcnhvndois, cscortcd by British ships, ] had taken, possession of Gorman Samoa, and amid all tho present rejoicings : there will bo none who will hail with .' greater delight his present _ triumph \ tlmn the British rosidebts in Samoa, ' whoso safety ..-It ono time was threaten- \ ed bv tlm very ships he has now da- ' litroyod.