BIRDS, SHIPS AND MEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 711, 10 July 1929, Page 14

BIRDS, SHIPS AND MEN

Birds usually rise from the ground with their heads toward the wind. If there is no wind they may often be seen springing or running to gain the impetus for rising. Long-winged birds cannot rise without a wind unless they have room to run. Their help comes in facing the wind. They find support where we might suppose they would find impediment. So there is something to be said in favour of head winds. What is true of birds is also true of ships. Shackleton said that when his ship the Endurance was tugged out of the calm waters of the Australian port where she had been fitted out for her Antarctic expedition she resembled a sulky child being led to school. The sailors were not favourably impressed by her performance. Presently the tug returned and the ship was on her own. The weather began to bluster, the waves rose to great and threatening heights. But the ship rose to the occasion. She faced the waves and rode them like a queen. The salors marvelled and were proud It was as though she had found a tonic in wind and wave. Under that challenge she showed the stuff she was made of. It is an exhilarating thing to see a bird or a ship or a man rising to the challenge of a contrary wind. Human nature is often at its best under such conditions.