BRITISH LAUNCHES ON THE RHINE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 196, 14 May 1919, Page 7

BRITISH LAUNCHES ON THE RHINE

COMEDY THEIR ARRIVAL. / \ Cologne, March 6. I have been paying a visit to what has been, humorously called the "British High Seas Fleet," now stationed on the Rhine-the little flotilla of motor launches which, Rafter many vicissitudes in';the. Channel ami perils from uncharted barbed wire'among the inland waterways of. France, finally fetched up off the Cologne Water Sporty Club, a few days ago (writes neuter's special correspondent). This institution, by the way—a eort of .houseboat moored just above tho Hohenzollern bridge in the rapid current of the Rhine—has made an excellent messroom for the ofEcors of these tiny craft which' not so ■ many months ago were hunting U-boats in the North Sea. The way in which these,. the first representatives of the.British Fleet to be seen on the Rhine, made their appearance at Cologne > was characteristic of British methods. One would have thought that hero, if anywhere, was an opportunity for a touch of pagentry. I dare say .the commanders of the flotilla itself expected some sort of demonstration after three'weeks' wrestling with manifold perils by eea and land,. during which time they seem generally to have been taken (and this was the cruellest ent of all) for Gorman naval officers, inexplicably at large in the occupied zone. At any. rate, they had the forethought to warn the authorities of their probable arrival at a convenient hour in the morning of a certain day. They made, I was informed, quite an impressive picture as they oame down the stream to their moorings, ships dressed, and formation in line ahead carefully maintained. Unfortunately, there was not a soul to see the performance except one incautions soldier or two leaning on the parapet. Nobody seemed ever to have hoard of their projected arrival. Ono officer of high rank encountered in the street did indeed 'ask it they were the British naval officers, and was interested to hear how they had arrived, and inquired graciously if they proposed to make a long etav in Cologne. To crown all, the official photographer, wiio was anxious when at last news of their arrival had filtered through to him, to commemorate their arrival fittingly in the pictorial Press, asked thom to reDeat their approach to the town for his benefit—and then missed them with his first exposure.