THE GRAND FLEET.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 December 1915, Page 6

THE GRAND FLEET.

(From the London Punch). (With acknowledgments to the American author of the articles, "With the Grand Fleet," written for :the Times, of London, England). The sea! Salamis looked on it, William the Conqueror crossed it, Lipton and Dewey liave sailed it, Brighton i 3 situated on it, Jonah was thrown into it, and 1 myself have been sick of it on my way to Europe to write articles. There are different sections of the sea, and it is not to be inferred that this part of it is identical with anything scheduled above. On the contrary, it is another section. But it is the same sea —breezy, wet, briny, with little waves that splash and big waves that do rather more, and undulations that bring the throbbing heart of a journalist nearer to his palpitating mouth. And on this Eea—this well-known, time-honoured, immemorial sea—what do I behold? A Fleet!

For some reason, unfathomable as the waters, I am permitted to go round this Fleet. And I will tell you all about it. As a Dry Goods Store is directed by a Wanamaker, so is this Fleet directed by an Admiral. Jellicoe is his name, but Jellicoe is not his nature.

An American might, well expect to find in him some physical resemblance to Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, but he | would be disappointed. The column would hurt you if it fell on you; Jellicoe is not like that. The Commander-in-Chief walks the deck of the Unsinkable. Like his great predecessor of the Pinafore, he carries a telescope under his arm. When he wishes to see anything distant he applies the telescope to his eye—not to a blind eye, as did Lord Nelson, but to a seeing, hearing, watching eye. He paces the deck, and as he paoes a tense air of attention seems to spread galvanically among his men. They stand alert and upright; they do not slouch; their hands are not in their pockets; their backs are not turned carelessly on their Admiral. Yet Jellicoe is not a harsh or brutal tyrant; he is a good and kindly man. He is strong and yet gentle; clean-shaven and yet devout; and capable, so they say. His men love him, and his country will learn to appreciate him now thai i have told it of his real worth. And always remember that he bears gladly with I'euLral journalists.

I'iuiii ttie contemplation of Jellicoe I puss on to other ships and other men. And here let me tell you that the captains and admirals are chiefly remarkable for this, that they are not senile; and that life for them is one ceaseless round of duties. Would you have thought it if I had not told you?

And the ships! Here lie the giant Hyena and the massive Gnu, with their glossy guns and shining midshipmen. Young men, too, these latter, with not a grey hair among them. Here is the "Lady" Spuadron—the good Queen Anne, the saucy Bloody Mary, the Susie that does not sew skirts. Here rises the Insoluble, hard hit in the Balkan Peninsula. The shell made an hole as it came in and another as it went out—but both apertures are now closed up—such is the wonderful thoroughness of naval organisation. Here roll the tiny destroyers, grey as their own sea, 'black as their own coal, white as—no, not white as. And, mind you, every ship has its comple'ment of well-trained men —not a German among them —and every gun its adjunct of shot and shell. At moments I felt that I must be on my own North American fleet, and there cae like a flash to me that memorable phrase of one of my countrymen—"Blood is thicker than water." I see it all, not as in a dream, but in a waking reality—great vessels melting into horizons and looming out of distances; gaunt guns and slumbering torpedoes; winking yard-arms of wireless; decks a-scrub and spars a-shine: canvas that passes in the night. It is all there. And through the haze, and the sea, and the sun-rise and the sun-set, and all my bag of journalistic tricks —above and below all this, what is the inner meaning of this mighty sea and this storm-tossed Fleet! To me it is clear. Its messageits meaning—is this: that over the bosom of this self-same sea and under the guns of this Fleet, a neutral country may render its invoices and ship its goods and haul in its dollars in perfect safety and happiness—yea, even 6 trade its Christmas purchases with Germany! Some Fleet!