THE “SILENT” NAVY

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 669, 22 May 1929, Page 1

THE “SILENT” NAVY

PHOTOGRAPHERS ORDERED OFF NO CIRCUS ON DIOMEDE ". . . No. As I thought, the captain will NOT see you. And he would like to know if you think this is a navy or a circus. “We are not a vaudeville turn. “You Had better leave the ship as quickly as possible. What?— no boat for some time? Well, keep out of the way while you are here. “We don’t want any publicity.” Having delivered his salvo, the officer betook himself triumphantly to lunch. He was angry! These Press photographers who had come out to the Diomede —he knew liow to handle them. Every verbal gun had been in action. He’d straddled them beautifully right from the first sighter—raked them fore and aft. And so to the first course. The Press party stayed where it was for a while, and then moved cautiously about the deck. There wasn’t much else for it to do. One can’t lunch on a warship unless one is asked. It’s not done! Furthermore, one can’t go ashore to lunch unless one has a boat. So they waited as best they could, moved here and there on the Diomede by the “marine police.” The whole fact of the matter was that the photographers, representing Auckland newspapers, had chosen, innocently enough, a bad moment for their arrival. May 22, 1929, seemed to be the Diomede’s off-day. The threat to turn his Majesty’s cruiser into a circus and a playground consisted of a polite request to photograph a football banner held by the Diomede’s team. The jest of the situation was that the photographers were taken out to the ship by Mr. H. Reason, of the Auckland Football Association, the body which presented the banner tor inter-warship competition. At present the banner is held by the Diomede team, which will meet a team from the Dunedin on Saturday. Hence the desirability of having a photograph of the gay trophy. Instead of being good enough to produce for a few moments the banner he held by courtesy of an Auckland sports body, the officer requested the little deputation to “keep out of his sight.” The photographers and Mr. Reason boarded the Diomede a little before midday. They were able to depart once more at 2 p.m. in the ship’s pinnace. During the two-hour wait, all hands were piped aft and lectured about the relationship between Football and Duty. There was too much of this sort of thing going on. There was to be no more of it. The Powers were tired of it—tired of the sight of pressmen. This was a navy, not a sports ground. And that was that!

THE SUN Stop Press