“Jacky” Fisher Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 909, 28 February 1930, Page 14

“Jacky” Fisher

Books Reviewed

THE most remarkable Englishman the present century has so far seen? It would, perhaps, seem difficult to name him, in going over the names of great political figures and leaders in industry and in war. for, young a 3 it is, the 20th century has seen greater events in the history of mankind than any of its predecessors. Yet, after all, the task is not so hard, for after reading his biography one agrees with Admiral Sir R. H. Bacon that that most remarkable Englishman of this century was Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher of Kilverstone — “Jacky” Fisher, as he was known to every officer and man in the Royal Navy. How much this man, with his amazing energy, sure judgment, uncanny foresight and intense love of the Navy meant to the British Empire is revealed for the first time in the biography by Admiral Bacon, published in two volumes by Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd. Admiral Bacon, who served on Fisher’s staff and knew him intimately, has had access to hundreds of letters written by Fisher to his friends and colleagues, a mass of papers, and the personal reminiscences of scores of officers who served nnder “Jacky”; he has presented a deeply interesting picture of the life of that amazing man. Naturally, a record of a life so crowded as was Fisher’s must contain a wealth of detail and Incident—and what absorbing reading It is! Admiral Bacon’s book is more than a life of Lord Fisher—it is a history of the modern Navy. The two are synonymous. Probably no man lias devoted nis life more whole-heartedly to the service of his country than did “Jacky” Fisher. He entered the Navy in 1554. being nominated by Admiral Sir William Parker the last of Nelson’s captains. At that time the Navy was much as it had been in Nelson’s day as witness his examination for entry to the Senior Service: This ordeal consisted of writing out the. Lord’s Prayer, and jtimping over a chair, naked, in the presence of the doctor; following which he was given a glass o, cherry as evidence of his having become a naval officer. This examination Fisher, in after life, called ‘*very simple but adequate.” It was, however, very different from the one which boys had to pass under his own 1904 scheme of naval education! A quotation from some of Fisher’s own memories of his first ship—tho Victory—gives a startling little picture of the Navy of the ’fifties: “The oldsters among my messmates all had white hair! There were half-a-dozen of them. They had been all their lives in a midshipman’s berth. They were failures, and our ship had these failures because the captain had been tried by court-martial in his last ship for cruelty. He had flogged all the crew. The Commander was. no better, he used to padlock men to a ringbolt and douse them with salt water. Any mini stunent was legal then. I walked the break of the poop w ith a coil of rope round rny neck, as he said I was born to be hung !** Fisher’s sea career In Itself was distinguished. Four years after he joined the Navy he was on active service in the China War, being present at the capture of Canton and the Feiho forts. In 1869 Fisher was promoted commander and returned to the China Station to serve in H.M.S. Ocean. It was then that he began his life work. Fisher spent all his time on board the Ocean, working often far into the night, at schemes for the improvement and modernising of the Navy. He held that, if the Navy was to continue supreme upon the sea, it must no longer rely upon the methods of Nelson’s days, and that it must be reconstituted from top to bottom, both as regards its personnel and material. Many of the reforms he effected in later days were first conceived during his service on board the Ocean. He was In 1872 appointed to take charge of torpedo instruction in H.M.S. Excellent torpedo school, and for the next four years he devoted himself to the development of the torpedo. His remarkable foresight is illustrated in the report he made to the Admiralty at the conclusion of his appointment in 1876, when he wrote that he had “a conviction that the issue of the next naval war will chiefly depend on the use that is made of the torpedo. not only in ocean warfare, but for purposes of blockade.” He was to see his forecast fulfilled, 40 years later, in the use the Germans made of the torpedo in conjunction with the submarine.

More sea appointments followed, and in ISBI Fisher was given the command, over the heads of many senior officers, of H.M.S. Inflexible, then the last word in battleships. He was present in her at the bombardment of Alexandria and afterwards commanded the landing party of nearly 4000 seamen and marines. Incidentally, it was at Alexandria that the armoured train Tins -invented—by Fisher! After his return f*om tho Mediterranean Fisher again took up command of the gunnery school, established the gunnery barracks at Whale Island, separated the Navy Ordnance Department from the control of the Army, and tackled the business of improving gun-mountings and providing quickfiring guns. He was promoted to bo rear-admiral in 1890, and in the it, lowing year was appointed Admiral Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard. Here his immense energy made Itself felt in the speeding-up of battleship construction and all kinds of dockyard work. Appointment to the Board of Admiralty as Controller of the Navy and Third Sea Lord—a post which gave him charge of the building, arming, fitting-out, and repair of the ships of the Navy—followed quickly, and during the next five years he championed many reforms. He left the Admiralty in 1896, and went to sea in H.M.S. Renown as Commander-in-Chief of the North American Station. All the time he was busily planning. One of his officers eays: We could see him for hours on end of an evening, flat in hand, tramping the parapet of the signal-station . . , watching his Fleet; but at the same time, making great rreative plans for the future ship (H.M.S. Dreadnought) and the future Fleet of the Navy. Hardly n day passed that he did not send for the brains of the Fleet to help him make some machine against "der Tag.” . . . 'Then in his quiet moments, * a.m. or thereabouts, he would put everything down that he had collected, compressed, analysed, dovetailed, fitted into mid iiuulr to work in tile great Navy lie was creating for the future. Fisher’s strong, ruthless nature is well exemplified in a description, written by the late W. T. Stead, of the ■dmirpl attho first Hague Conference

of 1899, at which he was the naval representative of Great Britain. Mr Stead, who knew Fisher intimately, quotes him as sajing: “If I’m in command when war breaks out I shall issue my orders: ‘The essence of war is violence.’ ‘Moderation in war is imbecility.* ‘Hit first, hit hard, and hit. anywhere.’ ** After The Hague Conference Fisher took command of the Mediterranean Fleet, and with his customary energy c.t once 'ut in hand measures IT) secure the utrr jst efficiency in ometsrs, men. and sCips. “The efficiency of the Navy and its instant readiness for war” was one of his pet watchwords, and by means of tactics, evolutions, and lectures, he put it into effect with. remarkable results. On his return to the Admiralty later, as First Sea Lord, he proceeded with his schemes of reform, embracing almost every feature of the construction and administration of the Navy and its personnel. His tenacity of purpose, and his dogged perseverance in the face of every obstacle made of the Royal Navy the magnificently efficient fighting force that it was in August, 1914. G.R.C.

LITERARY DIALOGUES. HAVING made at least one experiment in the same form of literature, Laurence Housman, in "Cornered poets," has carried his experiments «ne stage further. In this series of literary dialogues he has placed a number of eminent poets (he has been somewhat elastic In his definition) in homely surroundings, and then let them speak for themselves. On the whole he has arranged his scenes well f and he has given life to his characters, but some of the sketches are much more successful than others. This, of course, may be due to the fact that he is more in sympathy with some of his heroes than with others. “Charles! Charles!” tells in delightful fashion how Charles Lamb, slightly exhilarated, deal 3 with a bore who has broken in on one ot Benjamin Haydon's dinner parties. Keats and Wordsworth are there, and the refractory Charles has often to be called to order. “The Messengers" has as one of its incidents the dispute between Blake and a soldier, which finally landed Blake in the dock on a charge of treason. There Is also a discussion between Blake and his tiresome patron, William Hayley. A little fanciful, and very humorous, is our meeting with Thomas Gray In Stoke Poges churchyard. The truth is that Mr Housman shows us Gray asleep on a tombstone when he had come in search of inspiration for his “Elegy.” Among the others that are introduced are Carlyle and his Jane, Robert Burns, and John Donne. So the characters are assorted enough. Mr Housman has not hesitated to make his men very human, and there is entertainment in all the sketches. "Cornered Poets.” Lawrence Housman. Jonathan Cape. Our copy from the publishers. Splendid Imagination

One gives a whoop of delight after reading “Beyond the Swamps.” Here is an imaginative novel which a former excursionist into such realms, Sir Rider Haggard, would have been proud to claim. In these days of machine-made mystery stories and strangely astute detectives, Robert Tarnacre’s novel comes as an oasis of delightful reading. He stirs the blood with manufactured crime, and quickens imagination which can no longer be lured from page to page in a feverisli dbsire to discover who killed whom. Any reader w r ho delights in a vividly written and admirably constructed story will follow the adventures of these Englishmen with the enthusiasm of childhood days. Half a dozen Britons discover in the wilds of Africa a country peopled by descendants of Imperial Rome. How they reach this country on their little ship "The Midge” is, in itself, a grand piece of imaginative writing Once there, they find themselves among a race which goes to war with shields and javelins, worships strange gods, sails its inland sea in galleys and triremes, rowed by slaves, and allows no man inside the vestal grove on the outskirts of the city. Intrigue, war, romance and love are woven into this delightful story. Fortunately one of the Midge’s crew remembered his Latin—otherwise the story could never have been told.

“Beyond the Swamps.” John Lane, The Bodley Head, London. Our copy comes direct from the publishers. Happily Ever wrirwards. Although A. S. M. Hutchinson ha a not been able to recapture the public fancy to anything approaching the same extent as he'did with “If Winter Comes,” it is difficult to find the reason in his writings. “This Freedom” and “One Increasing Purpose” were well above the average of present-day novels, and “The Uncertain Trumpet” maintains the standard. In the style of its writing, it is certainly better than “If Winter Comes” and some, at least, of the characters are as powerfully drawn, the Flogg-Wallopers, for instance, hard-riding, hard-drinking followers of the hounds. The ending of the story will be a little too much in the fairy-tale, live-happily-ever-afterwards style for some people; but, after all, there are occasional happy endings in real life. Pelham Heritage, wealthy, superior, self-righteous, and nearing 50, marries a girl of 20. Pelham does not speak to his half-brother Banjo, qualified in medicine but preferring to follow the profession assigned to him by the Dowager Countess Vestibule. “What does he do?” she was asked. “Drinks—one Heritage in every generation drinks.” Pelham's wife does speak to Banjo, sees beneath the skin and admires him. Also, she wishes to hunt; Pelham does not approve. But the story revolves round David Quest, the Rev. David Quest, muscular, open-hearted, sympathetic, and broad-minded Christian, vicar of Aston Parva; and Mr Hutchinson has few more attractive characters in his recent novels. One after another, all David Quest’s high hopes of his first parish come tumbling to nothing; then, when he is on the verge of giving up —long after many a weaker man would have given up——the tide turns. We enjoyed “The Uncertain Trumpet” and would have enjoyed it more if the publishers hadn’t sent us a copy with pages 321 to 336 duplicated and pages 337 to 352 missing. “The Uncertain Trumpet.” A. S. M. Hut, cbinson. Hodder and Stoughton. Our copy from the Australian representative. Emotions of the War. Still another book of the war from the publishers’ presses—“ The Fiery Way,” by Franz Schauwecker. The German writers seem to have studied the emotional side of the war more than the authors of other nations, and “The Fiery Way,” admirably translated by T. W. N, Holland, is an impressionistic series of sketches of the life of a student-volunteer who subsequently becomes an officer. Gifted with a powerful imagination and a mind keenly open to suggestion, the author takes the reader so fully into his confidence that he lives over again that life in the trenches, with its attendant joys, fears and horrors. One shudders at the effect of a conflict upon the idealistic and patriotic mind of the young soldier. Staccato sentences add to the realism of the sketches. One thing about the book displeases, however, and that is the rather two-faced attitude of the author. He decries and glorifies the German military spirit in the one breath. “'file Fiery Way.” Franz Schauwecker. .7. M. Dent and Sons. Ltd. Our copy from the publishers.

The Case for India. At a time when the question ot India’s future is being so vigorously debated by British politicians, Mr John S. Hoyland has performed a service in publishing “The Case for India,” in which he states without comment of a partial kind, just what the educated Indian hopes for, and what his attitude towards the West in general, and Great Britain in particular, really is. The author of this book has spent 15 years In India, and he writes with the authority of a man who has had wide experience. He gives a satisfying analysis of the existing conditions, political, social, and religious, and having done that he goes on to tell his readers what the Indians think of the British Administration. Their principal complaint appears to be that there is too litQe interest in India shown in Great Britain. Mi Hoyland tells us that the most violent tempered Nationalists are to be found among the young men who have been educated in the West. It is an interesting book, and it should help many people to form their own opinion of the Indian question. Mr Hoyland merely presents the facts as he has found them, and his readers can reach their own conclusions. .... “The Case for India.” John S. Hoyland. i. M. Dent, Ltd, Our copy from the pubshers. A Sinclair Lewis Novel. Though not written with the power and vigour that mark his later works, “The Job,” one of the earlier novels of Sinclair Lewis, is a very fine contribution in the series he has produced on economic and social problems of life. It deals with a girl’s struggle for economic independence, and is the second volume in a uniform edition of the works of Lewis. “The Job.” Sinclair Lewis. Jonathan Cape, London, Our copy front the pubs llshera. ” - — : —-

A Devonshire Saga One admires the facility with which Miss F. E. Mills Young writes consistently good novels, setting them in England or Africa with equal ease. This prolific author’s latest book, “Four Seasons,” takes us to a town in Devonshire and gives us some intimate character studies of the inhabitants there, from the cottage dwellers to (he lord of the manor and his lady. One feels that Miss Mills Young must have lived in that town, meeting the people about whom she writes and almost obtaining confessions from them. Her people live. As the story of Margaret Carey is unfolded one grows to love her as the villagers did. She is the daughter of a self-made man .and marries the son of Lord Beneady, probably the most unsympathetic character in the book. Children arrive, Tony and Diana. The war period comes with its accompanying pageant of uncertainty and adventure. All the characters, and there are dozens, ate involved, but somehow Margaret is the central figure in this delightful saga. It is impossible to give any idea of the size of the author's canvas, which is almost preRaphaelite in its detail, but it is always beautiful and vivid in colour. “Four Seasons.” John Lane, the Boaley Head, London. Our copy comes direct from the publishers.