MESSAGE FROM KING & QUEEN

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2413, 19 March 1915, Page 2

MESSAGE FROM KING & QUEEN

TO A WELLINGTON LADY. When the arm?d merchantman Viknor was blown up oft the North of Ireland by a German' mine in January last several lives were lost. Among them was the navigating officer, Lieut. W. C. M. Johnson, of Darlington, Newcastle-on-Tyne. Mrs. Johnson was formerly Miss Connie Read, daughter of Mr. James Read, of the Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington. Yesterday Mr. Bead received; letters and papers from England, giving an account of the affair, and the text of a letter his daughter lad received from their Majesties, which read as follows: — "Mrs. John6on, Lish Avenue, Whitley Bay.—The King, and Queen deeply regret the loss you and the Navy have sustained by the reported death of your husband in the service of his country. Their Majesties truly sympathise with you in your sad bereavement." The Viknor was formerly known as the Viking, and was at one time popularly known in • connection with flxcursion trips from England to the Norwegian fiords. After the war broke out she was chartered by a number of stranded Americans to take them back to New York, and on her return to England was taken over by the Admiralty, and Lieut. Johnson, R.N.R., was placed in command. Mrs. Johnson, who will return to New Zealand later on, is left with a son 2} years eld.