SHIPS AND MEMORIES.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 November 1923, Page 4

SHIPS AND MEMORIES.

id),bio. lima!,lt At the gloat sv ~l,m He- Hritimi Navy to la- la fi a! Spilt 1 - I week in ' ounce! ion v, it it the \ i-it , i ,b dominion i ; i millers in Ele laud, la a i A ' hundred ship , will ! a tie o d together : and :,imi la I , will pimnlK fly their Hag- amid the Inrest ot tea-1 -. j I' ■' ill !m tl e greate-l di-iilay • I the i kind ' ’it,".: the naval reii. w held av th-' • same sini hoi a p-rt nig!;l bi'Oir- : 'u',. a!.- >1 I lie (:real Vi ar. That ns i v .v I will be im, ter famous for the fuel ih'd. j by tiie in.spira! ion ol tbe immetlialel Ei,-! Lord the Admiral! \. if,,-! ' O' . I old i 0-." - I her 111 view tl! lit • olein- i on- out lei I; oi affairs in Europe, il it a.- ' a"! ,', I idle.! upon | lil"l‘|,'!lt oi Ibo ollt. j roan! tbo coa-i- of Britain, with ilia! result that the Homeland was impr-em !

na’,l,. io attack from Lite sea ihrouahotit the war. That heaven-sent iuspit'.'ili"u uiul iiluedlv averted from our people unimaginable dangers, li almost certainly averted the invasion oi England and the horrors of actual warfare upon Brii el, soil, and ii possibly saved the Empire and the Allie- in.m an early and a inching defeat at the hands of theOerman military machine. For at th" iiciiieiti ibal machine was ai the zenuh of its ('[licit ney. a givy-grei'ii i ng0,,1 of almost finiitb' - desi.ruetive powers. Ii was an unhappy hut perhaps unavoidable reward for snob a service that the man to whom— as it lias

i ceeiil ly be n made evident bv Mr Win.! on Churchill —flint inspiration came, and who gave such good and prompt ell'cct to it. should have been | lorccd by i lie pressure of public xusI picion against a Cermau-.snuuding title, to resign his nr,aid position and to change his name. But of such I,as,, and baseless suspicions i- the kingdom of war and tlie breath of it. j I he famous -trait between the T.-le of j Might and the mainland of England j hits been Ibe -cene of main oveiii fill j spectacles ill liriii -h history, hat it is douhtful it any ol them can ever have I been so alive in tlie sentiment and world-" ide interest as that v.hicb v. ill !

take place there upon the third of next mouth. Important a, "a- the icvieu of duly. I!)! I. the things that were to lohon it "efe mere!luil.v hidden from ail hitman knowledge. Even liaise few "ho -.en-ed its serioiisiH's- eollld not lorel el I the actual gravity rf the crisis

''inch was so soon to develop. Coii-e----fjttcnlly, except to those few—and even to tie in in part —the,review op 191 I was but a speciitclo, pm exhibition of the noe.iit and majesty ot the greatest uavv the world 'nail even known, a thing (o | titillate t lip pride rather than to excite | the apprehensions of those who witness-

'd! >G But how differently charged j "it'll feeling will lie the review of the •h'd November! There tmi't he mingled in the hearts of those who have ihe| privilege of seeing it—in the hearts, j indeed, e: these who can but picture it J "ith tiie inward eye—a pride in se j goodly a possession, it thankfulness in! the measure ol security which the Bri j ti-li peoples are permitted to enjoy in a j " or'd that trembles about them; me-'

meries. colli sad and glorious, of the recent past, and fears, not baseless, for the immediate future. Truly, the heart ot every citizen of the Empire must run the gamut of the whole emotional octave when ho thinks upon these two reviews. the tilings that fate may hold in store. Between the pageant of 1914 and that ol 1923 there is a difference inenlcnlahle—a great gulf fixed flint all the washings of the tides of Time will never shallow with their silt. To rite good people of Portsmouth, naval reviews and such-like events are I the commonplaces ot life—if, indeed, j even to them such stirring things can ! over he commonplace. For to them is granted the boon so eloquently sung by I Masefield: The gift of being near ships, of seeing • ships each day ; A city ot ships, with great ships under weigh.

But to th:sm. and to all who can see a little below the '.mince of things, there must come, as they witness the great .event next week, one emotion at least of peculiar sadness—a sense ol loss and of ihc mutability of human tilings. For not one -hip of that great Heel which filled the Spithea.d water- nine years ago will lie there in the ranks on Fnlnrdav. Not one! There may he

"Hogue-" and "Ilatvkes,” and Hampshire-, M "Ariadne-. ' "Aretnu--as" and “Amphious,” hut not the ones of yesteryear. Many and many a ship will hear the name and take the place of tho.-e whose rusty ribs are mingled in the ooze ol the Seven Setts with the holies of those who manned them. Many other ships there are who have passed in,gloriously. despite their record of honourable service, to the breaker s yard. And through the cheers oi the -peeiators and the thud of the guns

there will surely breathe a sigh for these, the itnl'orgotten absent ; and a soundless bell will "toll for the brave, the brave that are no more." Hard by, the one hundred and eighteenth anniversary ol her greatest day just past, will be the ling-starred Victory.” the one great -hip whom deathless tame has, kept from the scrap heap. Who flint is" there call fail to recognise ol tvhai •/real hopes and deed- -be j- Ihe • yin bole Who tan ihuikt that th" it'd mil able spirit of Nelson still sends lit- la-1 great me-.-age to the strange grey fl-et-that carry hi- flag Te-dav And who can doubt of its reception?