ADMIRAL JELLICOE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1303, 26 September 1914, Page 4

ADMIRAL JELLICOE.

The English papers show that the sudden appointment of Sir John Jellicoe to command the Home Fleets was unexpected, but that it pleased everyone. He had been continuously at hard work at the Admiralty, and previously in command ot the Second Battle Squadron for four years; and it had been intended to give him a rest from September until the end of the year. Then he was to be given the post which he now has —the Admiralty has long bad its eye upon him, but it has been a standing preoccupation with it “ not to use Jellicoe up too soon. He has had an eventful career. He was commander of the Victoria in 1893, when she was sunk by the Camperdown ; and was one of those who, on that fateful day of July, went down with his ship —to rise again. “ Most men who survived that experience, ’ says a writer in one of the Home papers, “ had their nerve broken. There are few of them still in the service. But Jellicoe was an exception. His is an iron nerve which will not break. And so we find him next,- in iqoo, captain of the Centurion in China, and chief of staff to Admiral Sir Edward Seymour during the first advance to releive the Legations at Pekin. Once again the navy and the country nearly lost his services, for be was severely wounded in the fighting, but once again he was preserved. He is one of the great gunnery men of the day-great both scientifically and practically. He knows that the way to win a naval action is to ‘ hit first and keep on hitting.’ He will have the confidence of every officer and man in the fleet. The keen face and the steady eyes bespeak the man. The strong lower jaw shows the determination of his character ; the high forehead gives indication of bis power of thought. Easy and unaffected in manner, ready, terse, and lucid in speech, he is by no means the type of sailor who is only at home on his quarter-deck. He has a wide and sound know ledge of men and things and that variety of interests which a man of quick and powerful mind cud sound health ought to possess. He is, in fact, the embodiment of the new navy, the navy which demands brains and thought and scientific equipment.”