CHANGING WORLD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 January 1940, Page 6

CHANGING WORLD

BRITISH BLUEJACKETS BOARD SHIP

TALKATIVE BUT DIPLOMATIC. ACTIVITIES TN BLOCKADE. STOCKHOLM. I first came in contact with Britain’s fighting forces when an armed escort of them from a British cruiser boarded our trans-Atlantic steamer off the Danish Faroe Islands, states 11. B. Elliston, in the ‘‘Christian Science Monitor." The story of our capture at sea I told at the time i» our news columns. Out of the night gloom the party of bluejackets suddenly appeared on. our starboard bow in a seven-oared gig. All of them were armed, clad in sou’westers and lifebelts, and in what seemed to be less than a jiffy they had swarmed up the rope ladder which we had lowered for them. Their job. in naval parlance, was to "deviate” us to

a British harbour for examination of passengers and cargo by the contraband authorities. This they did with all imaginable politeness. The bluejackets had two days’ rations with them, and the officers wore under instructions to pay for their food. Our captain offered the bridge to the boarding party. But with many “pleases” they insisted that the Swedes were still in navigational authority. All they were instructed to do was to sec that we steered south into Kirkwall for what the naval folk call “visit and search.” So active are the British blockaders that the cruiser could spare only a midshipman and half a dozen tars for the

job of escorting our 10.000-tonner to Kirkwall in the Orkneys. The middy could not have boon more than 18. He told me he was one of 10 such lads on the cruiser, and some of them, as ho was, were drafted from the training schools of lhe merchant, marine. Neither he nor the tars would reveal. the name of our captor cruiser. On their caps they wore only the sign H.M'.S. All, his Majesty's ships are similarly nameless in wartime, but the name is only erased, not forgotten. What's in a name? you may ask. A great, deal to these lads, just as much as there is to the name of a regiment in the junior service. We were all interested in talking to

our detainers. And they were talkative, though diplomatic. I attached myself to one of them. I shall give his views in English. Actually they were rendered in such authentic Cockney that I almost heal'd the sound of Bow Bells as he was talking. "Nobody can slip through the patrol now.” he said to me proudly. (However, I later found out that a Norwegian boat, the Stavangerfjord. had. in fact, slipped through the patrol—probably in the hazy weather that sometimes shrouds the Faroe Islands'.)

"You were trying to dodge us,” he continued, "but we know you were coming, two days ago. If we’d missed you Ii.M.S. Calypso (1 can tell you the name because now it's way down the Scottish coast) would have got you." In fact, we sighted this second cruiser within an hour of being pulled up by the first. We acknowledged that, and the Tar beamed again.

They are proud of the success of iheir vigil, these sailors. "Few neutrals have escaped us. and no Germans. We know of two Gormans who loft Vigo two days ago. You see. we are flashing to each other all the way from Iceland 1.0 Cape Verde. And we’re waiting for 'em. They'll never get by. Last week we caught one; Jerry (the old familiar name for the enemy. 1 recalled) scuttled her. and we put out. and brought in the crevz, mostly Chinese. Then wo had to sink the boat because it had become only a dangerous hulk anyway.” The Scandinavians with whom I travelled, wore in some cases badly mecmvcnicneod by the delay caused b> our calling at Kirkwall. But. as one <>l thorn said, "we can stand a lot from the British in this war." Accordingly the tars enjoyed so much private hospitality that they threw Iheir rations overboard!

And in return they were models of good behaviour. "We are just guests.” they kept saying, "and. if wo aren't well-behaved, you can turn us out of your reception rooms. This artillery (pointing to their revolvers) is just for show, you know. Of course, you didn't invito us on board, and you can't kick us off the ship. but wo know our place. " The Scandinavians were delighted by such propriety.

What struck one most about the sailors was their almost ardent belief in tlie rightness of their cause. The light would come into their young eyes as they spoke. To this passenger the experience telescoped :i generation, and he felt himself back among the boys of Hie World War. They were just like that. Would that such a generation in Germany as well as in Britain could be saved the decimating experience of war!