Admiral’s Stories.

Huntly Press and District Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 63, 14 November 1913, Page 4

Admiral’s Stories.

AMUSING ADVENTURES OF LORD C. BERESFORD. Admiral Lord Charles Beresford tells many amusing tales of his early life att sea in the open- i ing chapters of his autobiography which appears in the September number of “Nash’s Magazine." Speaking' of his adventures aboard the Britannia, he says: “ I was raised to the rank of ‘captain’ in the Brittania, but I regret to say that my enjoyment of that dignity was singularly brief, for I was disrated upon the same day, even before I had time to put on the stripe. For my delight at my promotion so exhilarated me that I forgot to resist the temp- I | tation to empty a bread barge | upon the head of the old Masterj at-arms as he was coming up the ! hatchway, and the spectacle was !so amusing that 1 stayed to laugh at it. CATCHING A BLOATER. ' Capt. Houston Stewart used to fish from the stern gallery when . the ship was at anchor. He tied In's line to the rail and went hack into his cabin, returning every few minutes to see if he had a fish. Beneath the stern I gallery opened the ports of the gun room. With a hooked stick ; 1 drew in his line, attached a Yarmouth bloater to the hook, dropped it in again, and when the captain came to feel his line l jerked it. He hauled it up in a hurry, to find a red herring on the end. He instantly sent tor all the midshipmen, and, for some reason or other, pic ked me | out at once. ‘You did that, Beresford,’ he said. “ Most impertinent Your leave will be stopped." Next day, however, ho let me off. NOCTURNAL ESCAPADES. When we lay in Corfu Hai--1 ionr, and my leave was stopped,’ j which did occur occasionally— I 1 had a system by means of j 1 which 1 went ashore at night. I j ! tied a hammock-lashing round the stern p >st, lowered myself to I the water, and swam to a shore boat waiting for me by arrange- | ment. Maltese boats are partly ! covered in, and J dressed in a I spaj*e suit of clothes. On the j occasion I nearly, but not quite, I ran into the arms of the com- j ■ I mander. A NARROW ESCAPE. I One of the closest escapes I j | have ever had occurred alott in j the Marlborough. Being mid- i shipman of the mizzen-royal, 1 ! was furling the sail, leaning lorward upon the yard gathering in | the canvas, my feet braced back- | ward upon the foot-rope, when j I another midshipman, leaping j upon the footrope, accidentally J knocked it from under my feet. [ For two or three seconds I hung l ; by the tips of my fingers, which ! were pressed against the jack- ! , stay (the rope running taut j along the top of the yard to I which the sail is bent), under which 1 could not push my finj gers, and then, at the last rnoI ment, J found the loot-rope j again.