NEW CAPTAIN FOR DIOMEDE
DOMINION NAVY. A LORD JELLICOE STORY. LONDON, October 22.
Captain Martin J. C. de Meric, M.Y.0., lias taken over command off the cruiser Diomede, one of the two maintained by the New Zealand Government, and; will take her out to Auckland in due course, hav.ng been lent to the New Zealand Division by the Admiralty. Captain de Meric, wlm succeeded Captain M. L. Goldsmith, D. 5.0., who was in command of the Diomede during the trials following her big refit at Portsmouth, is the eldest son of the late Fleet Surgeon E. V. de Meric, Royal Navy, entered the navy in 1904 a.s a cadet of the old Britannia saw much .service in the Great War, chiefly with destroyers and torepido boats, commanding No. 81 torpedo boat and the destroyers Wolverine Orpheus and Achates ill succession. After the war he commanded the destroyer Versatile, was on the Royal Yacht Victoria and. Albert, 1921-23; was promoted commander from her in the latter year and captain last December while serving on the staff of the Second Sea Lord. Diomede is his first command since he was promoted. Captain de Meric married in. 1914 Carmen, daughter of Mr Alexander Pengilly, Weymouth.
Diomede was recommissioned at Portsmouth 'last week with:a. Portsmouth crew. Among other officers appointed to Diomede are : —Lieutenant H. B; C. Holmes, Lieutenant H. F. Lawson, and Lieutenant C. I. Collett; Surgeon Commander W. P. Vicar# who goes as “medico”, and Paymaster Lieutenant Commander IT. P. Chapman. A number off junior officers joined this week. A GREAT AVAR EPISODE. White visiting Belfast last week Lord Jellieoe gave a dramatic account of the sinking of the battleship Audacious off Lough Swilley in the early days of the Great War, an episode which was kept a profound secret for a long period. “J have, only once before visited Belfast,” lie said, “and the recollection of that visit is not quite so pleasant as to-day’s, because I came to get a tootn out after the affair at Lough Swilley. I brought the AA’hite Star liner Olympic into Lough Swilley. because 1 wanted to keep back as long as possible the news of the loss o', the Audacious from our foes. “At that.jijme the Grand Fleet had suffered a .'.good-'many losses from accident. Among the passengers on hoard the Olymp'c was -Ur Charles Schwab, head of tlie Bethlehem Steel Company of America,'who was coming over to England in connection with munitions which his company were manufacturing for the I had given orders that to leave the Olympic and Mr Schwab asked to see me specially.! received him on tlie Iron Duke and lie told me that the purpose of his visit was to see Lord Kitchener in London about munitions'.
“I said to him, ‘lf you are going to see Lord Kitchener about, things for the Army, ”’Vou might/-.also see,LorS| Fisher about things for the Navy.” He asked ; ‘What do you want ,for the Navy?’ And I said: ‘Submarines.’ Mr Schwab replied that they could build as any submarines as we wanted, and could guarantee to'build ,them ill five months. At that time it took us two years to bulid a submarine, and I told him to go to Lord Fisher and tell him ;his, and he said he would. The end uf that story was that Lord Fisher gave him a contract to build submarines. .Mr Schwab went back to the United Slates, and lie was met with the news that he would not be allowed to build submarines there for one of the Powers at war. Not to lie out-done, Mr Schwab bought Vicker’s shipyards at Montreal manufactured the parts of the (submarines in the United,States, sent them to Canada as parts, of motor-cars, assem led them in the shipyards, aT] d # delivered them in five months as specified. (Applause.) 5 v , , “Strange to say,” added' Lord Jellicoe with a smile, “Mr Schwab on his way to London, was arrested of all places in the world, in Belfast, because of his name. He telegraphed to me, and 1 telegraphed to London and steps were taken for his immediate release. That was the end of the story.” This was related by Lord Jellicoe at a civic reception gven in his honuor m the City Hall, Belfast, by the Lord Mayor Sir William Coates, and the corporation. Lord Jellicoe had a magnificent reception in his capacity of President of the British Legion during his tour in Northern Ireland and the Free btate. A parade of “Old Contemptibles” fixed for Sunday even dig bad to be abandoned at the last moment owing to political reasons, but that did not in the slightest way affect the warmth of his welcome in the Mansion House, Dublin.
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Hokitika Guardian, 4 December 1930, Page 3
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791NEW CAPTAIN FOR DIOMEDE Hokitika Guardian, 4 December 1930, Page 3
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