"SHIPS AND THE SEA"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 69, 18 October 1940, Page 40

"SHIPS AND THE SEA"

HIPS and the Sea," a programme cae heard on Mondays, Tuesdays’ and Wednesdays, at 7.30 p.m. over the ZB network, reflects considerable eredit on the Commercial Broadcasting Service, for it is one of their own productions featuring Peter Whitchurch, who narrates many epic stories of the. sea. A great deal of research«has been done to produce the programme, as listeners should realise when they tune in to it. It will, in the main, feature tragedy, but through each story will run the heroism typical of British sailors when faced with disaster. The session features famous shipwrecks, together with such famous stories as the life of Sir Ernest Shackleton, one of the 20th century’s sea heroes. New Zealand shipwrecks will be dealt with, including the story of the Union Company’s Penguin and of the Wairarapa — two of the highlights of maritime history in New Zealand. We have had ample proof recently of the phlegmatic qualities of the British race. We seem to be a race which can calmly receive news of awful and tragic portent with an equanimity which is at once infuriating and unintelligible to foreigners. Loss of the Victoria Certain sea disasters stand out, howeversuch -as ‘the tragedies of the Titanic, the Morro Castle, of _L’Atlantique, and the Lusitania-because of their immensity. In.such a category as this must be placed the loss of H.M.S. Victoria. The Victoria was a battleship of 12,000 tons. For her daysixty years ago-she carried a really formidable armament. She was comparable with the Rodney, Hood, or Nelson of to-day. Instead of the "battleship grey" we have come to expect as the only colour for naval ships, she was a beautiful shining white, her upper

works laced with gold. As solid as a rockseemingly unsinkable-she was the pride of the British Navy. June 22, 1893 was a beautiful day, with hardly a breath of wind, the sea as blue as only the Mediterranean can be, and with the sun shining brightly overhead-but there was tragedy in the air. Peter Whitchurch will give: listeners interesting details of this great tragedy, in which 359 men were to die. Among’ those saved was an officer whom the world later honoured as Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. The name "John Company" probably means nothing to the majority of listeners

to-day, but when the first pioneers were arriving in New Zealand, a little over a century ago, that name spelt romance and travel. It conjured up a vision of beautiful sailing ships, and of the Indies, the land of spices and silks. Volumes have been written about these East Indiamen, and they all tell of stately four-masted ships plying a brisk trade between England and the East. Peter will relate to listeners the story of the Kent and her tragic end in the year 1825. The rescue of most of her crew and passengers by the Cambria and the heroism displayed by the gallant men of both ships is a story of which British people can be proud. " Ships and the Sea" is broadcast by the ZB stations at 7.30 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.