PRINCE AND MERCHANT MARINE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 279, 15 February 1928, Page 8

PRINCE AND MERCHANT MARINE

MASTER of the Merchant Navy and the Fishing Fleets” is an additional title assumed by the Prince of Wales, at the command of the King. If the Merchant Marine is thus honoured, equally honoured is the Prince of Wales, for the history of the trading ships of our Empire is rich in glory and romance. Explorers, buccaneers, privateers, peaceful traders—all played their parts in cutting lanes through the unknown seas and opening new lands for settlement at the ends of the earth, to the glory of their names, the profit of their country and the ultimate good of civilisation. But no need to go back to the days of the privateer and the armed merchantman for proof of the worth of the Merchant Marine. Its ships and men played heroic roles in the Great War, and no less than on the Navy did the safety of the Empire depend upon them. The history of the Great War is filled with epics of the courage, the unfaltering resolve, the suffering and endurance of the merchant sailor. Jack was not paid to dodge or destroy submarines, nor to fight enemy cruisers. He “signed on” for peaceful pursuits, but be ran risks and fought great odds like the gallant chap he is when the occasion arises ; and in the Great War, fishing off the Dogger Bank or running supplies through other waters infested by enemy mines and submarines, lie went about his job with a song on his lips while “all the world wondered.” It is fitting, therefore, that the Merchant Marine should be honoured by having the Prince of Wales as its nominal head, and that a son of “The Sailor Prince” should be honoured by so precious an association.