SHIPS "ADOPTED" BY SCHOOLS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 107, 22 May 1937, Page 11

SHIPS "ADOPTED" BY SCHOOLS

Both Share Notel Scheme

X ' GEE AT L3NK is : being fo^td between the schoolboys and ' girlsof Great Britain* and the Mercantile Marine saye a writer In.the London Observer. In one. y ear — thanks.to.an odea fostered by educationisls and; the shipping industry — some 400 vessels, from liners to tramps, " ' have been "adopted" by schools of -every kind in Britain. * *,. ' Eton, Marlborough, and "... Eepton ; elementaTy • achools "in the- East En'd and in. Lambeth, villagey ' schools and. "prep" schools — all are taking part in the pleasant task of ' keeping in touch with the men who are sailing the Seven Seas. In most cases it would eeem that the ship has adopted the school, and the trouble the officers take in keeping their young friends advised of their journeying over the globe is having remarkable Tesults. It would seem that' the supply of ships is likely to "run out," for the scheme, brought into being just a year ago by the' British Ship Adoption Society, of Dixon House, Lloyd's Avenue, E.C.3, has developed so quickly -that there is a danger that the Merchant Marino may be unablo to satisfy all the demands for cheory and informative letters. Some ships are already linke'd with two or three schools, and there has been created ft bond between captain and class-TOom which is maintained with the greatest enthusiasm. Letters between school ahd ship form the main part of the plan, but small gifts and photographs are ex changed. Christmas time eaw the offi--cers "of the society converted into a veritable storehouse. One captain sent a picturc of his ship, with' thesd words of Kipling as -the inscription: — For the bread that you ©at and the biscuits you nibble, The sweets that you suck and th joints .that you carve; « They are brought to you daily by n' And if anyone hinders our cominjyou '11 starve. While I was talking to the society 's secretary, Mr. S. E. Britton, there arrived a bundle of letters and a cliart from the Hercalo describing for tbe benefit of the boys of Archbishop Temple 's School, LambetE, . a xound-the-w.orld voyage of eleven months. Mr. Luen ,the first officer, gave the knot-by-knot progress of the ship over 50,000 miles on his chart. He told also just what cargoes.had been carried; explained all about the ocean currents, the iceberg and hurricane areas; .embelished his map of

the world .with the school arms ia colour and also the House flag of the HaTrison Line;.- and -here and there in* scribed, little references, of interestj such as :^ ' , Cape Horn! " Where* so many ffne '•*■ ships '-and splendid sailots have *•' "made" their- la&'havon/ ' . On -these • -an'd- certain .othef ; dslands - m ; the!* South^ Jndian*. ;nnd: i Paciflc Oceans (map, xefei'ences„ given) and around Oape vHorn» arey/established food ' and clothing depots- for ship-t wrecked mariners. . The-. islands ar«[ uninhabited, and are visited annually by vessels of various "nations to rei plenish the depots. . In the Straits of Sunda can be eeen a small island. Thie is-^-or was — the volcano Krakatoa, which blew -up ia 1883. " The dust. from the eruption was observed in Europe, 11,000 milee away. The loss of life was estimated at 37.000, . Mr. Luen must have toijed over hle \ excellent chart for many weeks. Phtn tographs of life aboard, of scenee ia foreign ports, and of stormy seae sweeping the deeks are excha'n^ed for those of the school- f oofball team and the girls sports day. Questions are asked by boys and girls and promptly, answered. Here ara some demandi from a Newcastle school:— ' Who is the bos'un and what ari his duties? - , What are the people oi Buenoa Aires likef • /i IWhat is the slpeed of your ship? . What is the weight of, yooe anchort , ' The captain, officers and engineers/slti down to supply the information; they send extracts from the log and also pic-i tures to illustrate the- answers. Th# captain of the P. and O. liner Strathmore, "adopted" by Col. S. D. Hills 's house at Eton, has sent a moiocco-* bound diaTy giving his approximate dates at world ports for 1937. Many of the captains automatically adopted, or were adopted by, their old schools, but it ia astonishing the number of gifts schools that are within th® scheme. Small presents from abroad * are answered by parcels of books and magazines, cakes, hand-made ornamenta and ash-trays. Letters from abroad ara f ranked with a bewildering asisortment of stamps, for obvious Teasons, At times the adopted ship eomeia to grief or death takes a hand. Thera was one such case recently, when a much-beloved captain died in South America. Tlie school, I am told, has made itself responsible for the education of one 'of his children. "We are doing yoluntarily what Herr Hitler is now seeking to do by compulsion," Mr. Britton told me^"for thi'3 form of liaison, between school and ship is now insiated upon in Germany." j