500 MOTOR-LAUNCHES FOR 1 SALE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 177, 22 April 1919, Page 5

500 MOTOR-LAUNCHES FOR 1 SALE

FLOTSAM OF THE "W AR.

The British Admiralty recently _an- ( ngunced its readiness t0... consular ohers for "600 motor launches of the Auxiliary Patrol." What price; might'be accepted for them'is as yet-vague. The whispered suggestion., (says 'Writer ill the Daily * Moil") is -about i£soo apiece for IhesOv "pocket warships"—a : phrase coined by the official writer of tno Vindictive ruspatch last May. ■ Week by. week the "M.L.s, after three years of tossing on- tlm war channels or olf the Belgian-coast, are sliding home to Southampton. A brief tunw>Yer s and, ' Btripped of their 3-pounders, machine-' guns, and dopth charges, they are settling to a long rest in the quiet creeks ot Southampton Water. There is surprisingly good accommodation in these littlo ships which carried a company of ten. officers and men. ■, A drawback, from a private owners point of view, is that they would cost about JJIO a day in petrol alone. Possibly a lower-powered and moro economical engine could bo installed in. place of tno two' great six-cylinder 220 h.p. Standards and twin' propellers. l'icnty ot deck room, a boat in davits, a speed of 17 knots, and .a steaming radius of about 1000 miles on full taiiKf. • Not a bad type of motor-cruiser! Jho vessels would make good littlo houseboats, tuo, with the engines sold and a batli-i-t.«in nddecl. ... There may bo members of tho pubiio who would iiko to own, as a souvenir, u ship that has sent a Hun submarine to tho bottom. There aro eovoral to chooso ,fl Yonder, resting on the mud, with her hands in her lap as it were, sits M.L. io7, who rammed a U-boat thirty miles oft Land's End, and who, when i ritz rolled over, 6lammed a dozen sholls into him . with tho 3-pounder, earning .£IOOO bloodmoney aud tho D.S.C. Twelve _ other M.L.'s liavo sunk U-boats "off their own bat," and sixty others .-have, shared a "kill" with drifters and destroyers. Or possibly a ship that has won the V.C. may appeal to some purchaser, as a piece of bric-a-brac, or a private yacht —lor practically all the M.L. s were officered by yachtsmen. A littlo further up the creek lies M.L. 282, who churned out. of tho Zeebrugge'Canal with 101 rescued sailors packed on her deck and a (.can man jammed in her steering wires. Mi* cleared tho mole batteries, steering witi? . her twin screws alone—for an M.L. is u-ed to improvising in time'of. troubles On tho other side of tho creek is 2(6— also a V.C. boat. A third that won tho Cross is not for sale—M.L. 231, who rescued Vindictivo's crew. She lies five.fathoms deep oft' Ostein! Harbour, and is a meeting-place for cod and conger. Boats that won the D.S.O. or D.S.C. can. be had almost by the dozen—for these aro the M.L.'s of the Dover llotilhi that was in ninety-two actions and bombardments off tho Flanders coast from 1915 to 1918.

Approximately 1650 Isle, of Wight men havo been killed or have died of wounds and other causes in tho war. This number represents nearly 20 per 1000. of the population of the i6land,