DUTY DONE IN LONELY SEAS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 217, 7 June 1919, Page 7

DUTY DONE IN LONELY SEAS

AUSTRALIA'S FLEET COMES HOME. OUT OF THE MISTS OP WAR (From the Sydney' "Daily Telegraph") Sydney, May 22. — Out of the grey mists that have shrouded the Australian Fleet for nearly .five, years in silence, seven dim, grey Shapes emerged yesterday morning, making for Port Jackson 'Heads. It was slrange weather for Sydney;-the pouring rain, the slight fog, tho utter ■ monotony of sea and shore and - sky were a grim ■reminder to the few watchers _on tho cliffs of the long dayo andi nights-of ■ hardship and danger and uucoasing watch ahd ward that our men from . Australia hive kept in the North Sea. " i-At half-past 9, in;the-pouring rain, flis- Excellency the' Governor-General, Commodore txlowop, . Senator Russell (Acting-Minister for Defence), and Captiin Duncan, A.D.C., boarded the steam Ifavy' launch Franklin. - The_ sea was smooth, but-with a-long, oily-looking (well. North Head was a flat tone of trey, ono shade darker than all the rest of .that scone. There was tip horizon visible; sea and sky;, melted in^each,other, in a fog of grey.' Tho rain held off for i few minutes; and on tho bridge of the 'Franklin, the' Governor-General's and the /'Commodore's uniforms mado'the only .brilliant note.

j 1 Grey Shapes in the Mist. • A smudge'-of darker grev appeared in : the seascape.! Then from that fog sud- ' denl.f emerged a dark spot. It was the Captain Cook-guiding. the.flotilla to its ' home. port. Behind her n huge grey shape! detached • itself—the grotesque-loot-i ing slhouette of tho Melbourne; and fadinf thinner nnd thinner into the mists ' stretched'<i lino of smaller blurs. Foui • were Scounted, then five, then six, All the cfestroyers' were there. We':had sent our. plucky half a dozen .out -o. fight the_ Hun;, aud : .the whole .family;' after having'seen the world, had come! .home. Some people , would call 'that i]uok. ; i Perhaps .it was; but it. is rema'kabla, considering, the amount of ' wort'' and the enormous distances the vesffils of our fleet have'covered m their war work, that the .whole , fleet, withthe exception of two submarine?, should now be in their way home. . '....' Ii:- exactly ten - minutes the Melbourne "waS 1 abreast of the Franklin.. The Gov-arnir-General signalled "Welcome to the Melbourne -and tho squadron." Comriiov V dor!; Glossop sent a similar message, of weliitme; and the compliment was re-. tuTiert from the flotilla. < Then the Cap-. tairiCook got out of the way, the Frank lin took, her place at the head of the; • line 1 and led t.he .Melbourne and the. de- . strojers home through., the. whistlinp gteabers and/ferryboats. , H.VA.S; Melbourne/With imnrovements "H'hy, she's got back to her; old dress!", exe'aimed one of . the sailors on the f laihch/ "You should have seen her a fer months ago. She was camouflaged al -the colours- iri- the, rainbow—one fu'n- ■ k1 bright blue and the other black, and p on. We used to reckon she took the jrize'for the'best fancy ■ dress costume in the fleet!" , ! /' In other respects the Melbourne., was ■strikingly changed. Over the bow gun /•there is awide platform.; From .this /'stage the aeropknes'Ußed to,bo launched. ' They- did not return- .to it.. They, had ,' to drop into the sea and be hauled in a :'most undignified way back. t0... their i. launching stage. But the mosts.triking indifference .is in her mast.' Instead v of a i'single mast it-is now a-tripod, and sup-' • -"ported on.thol tripod there is a most ''curious and ugly thing. • This contains ,'the latest'fire-control mechanism;, from this'all' the guns in the ship oan be' /-fired; fc 'The destroyers are'more familiar. As vthey oame on,.keeping; their exact sta•'iions- in the old'navy wav,, the ' bright • ! drums' containing tne'fatal depth-; *' tet#gte''fQr ! pilSoa|B''«o(ild' te seeir ready ,5 be. dropped'' from • the'' stern, '; though . .lie mechanisms, had been dismantled. , . [ The destroyers bore . their' war numjers/painted in', large figures on bow and ifern. .'Rather it 6houkl'be said that jhese wer'e thoir latest war ; numbers, since, just to make'it. harder for the (Germaaa,. . ..these..' numbers,'. would ..lie (■changed.at frequent, and. irregular ,'in- ' t'er.vals. .. "... .. .' . ...; 'V The .Germans'.on the Willochrai- /, " One grim incident of the, -flotilla's homecoming overshadowed 'everything ' else. : As '• the Franklin went down. to meet the ships, she pasaed'a camouflaged ■steamer lying in'the Stream, one of;the' few vessels'to retain'her'war-coat; The decks were crowded with staring figures." They raised ho cheer. Perhaps they did not feel exactly in the mood for : cheers/ ■ ''• '' •' ' •It was the Willochra,- the vessel that is 'taking .German internees ■ from New Zealand .back to. their beloved Fatherland. And, strangely enough, they don't ■want to leave us, though tney feel they have to go! Tiiose Germans thronging , the decks were no ' doubt 'interested in our Fleet's home-coming, but as the commodore's launch passed they made ■ ; no.sign.. _ . .... As the flotilla came up. the harbour, it . was noticed. that those, crowded decks ;we're, now-.strangely, iempty. '..' Had' the Huns been sent bel(?w .decks, as not' fit . to. gaze •on our triumph ?Or had. it -been merely to *pare their, feelings—if .they., had any?; (Jr.-had they/ crept'out .• of sight to ..show their proud disdain of usr ■ . •

No doubt there were - many bitter thoughts in. tlw.minds of our. enemies. If only things had gone'as they'had ex--pected, how' different would' have been that'day! Then it would have been a proud procession of the .invincible German High Seas Eleet;-and-those miserable internees, afraid to return-to their miserable country,' would have been our masters!