THE PRICE OF ADMIRALTY,

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9171, 15 June 1908, Page 6

THE PRICE OF ADMIRALTY,

. The tragedy of the destroyer Tiger, cut in two by the Berwick during night manoeuvres, was equalled by the loss of the Gladiator, run down a few weeks ago in the Solent by the liner St. Paul. The weather was terrible at the time, everything . being blotted out by a blizzard. As the warship was - feeling her way along, shrieking a warning ev-: ry * two minutes, the huge hulk of tr m liner loomed up in the gloom, an a in a moment had rammed the cruise M amidships. The Gladiator hung c 1 the liner’s bows like the top of s T upon its stem. Then the backed away, the water poured the 40ft rent in the Gladiator ' and the vessel heeled , ov,. drifted inshore. The most vjjyi' ' discipline prevailed. “Thjal - J|J stood in line on the slippery .fll the cruiser as she lay with h ? B on the water, just as thoug r 8 had been on shore. Spectaf-jj. dare the sailors obeyed the command with the regularity 2„ in barracks. One witness sa when he reached the doping of the Gladiator the bows of the , Paul were deeply embedded in • .. ■■ side, and the sailor ‘could have ,*> . boarded the liner,’ but they well disciplined to.do that. t man lined up and did not Jlf' . But “every man” is hardly Some were flung off into the bitt' Xi.' ’ J cold water, and forced to strike; j without knowing where the st J|\ was; others were entangled -in. - m ging and dragged to death As M sailors clung to .the rails, E cruiser after she had turned c .. p they broke into the chorus of •“?. | of the Sea. ’ ’ A passenger on the* I. was surprised to see, throng iglasses, one of the bluejackets ! ;| ng his arms. At first tho f| thq,mau had gone mac 1 ,, but it * f soon apparent that-be was .h),”- I. beating tin.o for his comrades. Th . S ‘l were many deeds'"of heroism. Lt r# h Corporal Poole, of the Royal EngjUfe- *' eers, having seen the disaster fxiffiJ-L the shore, swam out three times, wf. x • each time brought back a hairdrowned sailor. Love of gold provei, the undoing of a Maltese steward, who swam ashore, and then returned to the ship for his savings.. Clamber- , iug on board at the risk o!f his life, he found his bag of meney, but he was drowned in trying to reach the shore again. “These disasters are part of the price of admiralty, which belongs to our national existence,” writes the London correspondent of the Argus. “No other navy runs the risks of dangerous manoeuvres like our own. It is the highest and the best training, but it involves great losses, and requires heavy renewals. ”