Pat Molloy Escaped!

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 153, 29 June 1940, Page 1 (Supplement)

Pat Molloy Escaped!

ByJ.C.

LATELY there died Mr. Patrick Molloy, of Petone, Wellington, at the age of 86. He was a veteran of the rail- ' way service. Long long ago, before he began his'portering he was a young trooper in the colonial forces stationed at Fort Galatea, a redoubt in the Rangitaiki Valley, between the Kaingaroa tableland and Urewera Country. Galatea was'-a military half- way house between the coast and Taupo. One day in ISO 9, a small cavalry detachment : rode out for Taupo under Lieu-tenant-Colonel St.. John, who left most of them, numbering fifteen, camped at Opepe, on the plain below Mount Tauhara. They were told by St. John that the place was perfectly safe; no Maoris anywhere around. 'A few hours later, Te Kooti's men captured' the careless camp by pietending to be friendly, and killed nine out of the fifteen. • The survivors escaped into a belt of bush behind the camp. One well-known to . the; present writer in after years, tramped quite naked across the plain to Fort Galatea, with a mate, who was fortunate enough to be wearing his uniform when the attack was made. The Maoris captured the whole of their arms and equipment and the horses of the fifteen troopers. ..;.- ' ; ■ Pat Molloy . frequently related the story of Opepe-. He had a dramatic way with him, and he describes with lively touches the manner in which the troopers were first befooled and. then attacked. "Yes,'.' he said, after hearing of the'death 'in- recent ./years of. Trooper, George. Crosswell, one- of .the,, survivors,. "I -knew..

George very well; he was a lucky fellow, but his feet ware cut to pieces by that barefoot tramp over the Kaingaroa. But I was luckier still, as you'll hear. Poor old Sergeant Slattery was knocked over after he'd picked up a bit of a stick to defend himself; he hadn't a chance to get near : his carbine or his revolver. Most of them were first shot and then V tomahawked. But I had a most provi- >. dential escape. Whist a while and I'll _ tell ' you 1 "There was big George Stephenson; t tile bullets were whistling all around t him, lie was a fine target, as big as . poor old Slattery, but he ."• could , run t faster. ••..•■ s "Now I'll tell you how I escaped. It e makes me shiver still when I think p how near I came to be lying in that long i grave at Opepe. "You know I was a dispatch rider; f I was a light-weight and a good horse[l man. Now, just before our detachment i, left Galatea for Taupo, a dispatch had o to be sent off to Opotiki, right away, in s the other direction, and one of my mates s was told off to take it. But he found e that his horse had gone lame, and so s the job was put on to me, and off I went, e That was how I escaped being tomahawked at Opepewill ye whisht now— ? 1 wasn't there at all! I* was at Opotiki. f a hundred miles away! That was how 1 f got away from the massacre—thanks to s Mickey Kogan's lame horse. ' "Now," Pat Molloy ended his heroic i *tory, "What do you think of that for - a [narrow,escape .Just, by the skin of r.me-teeth, — it-was thafcl" :

r have quite a number of them, but have _ refrained from being very eloquent * about their possibilities. e Experts also contend that while, the s Nazi programme and implements would appear reasonable and practical, the fact must not be lost sight of that raids on shipping, either by air or sea, must first locate it and to do this the Germans r must penetrate definite channels which 5 are under constant British surveillance; that the Royal Air Force will hardly be ' idle during these alleged raids and may 'bo counted upon to take the offensive, as they did in March at Sylt, with such ' grave losses as to make Germany hesitate before giving reason for such coun-ter-attacks; and that after all the Allies may have their own means of handling the armadas from Bremerhavcn. Among the most interested spectators will be America. Heeding an insistent hue and cry that the United States strengthen its Navy, President Roosevelt saw in these speedy craft a plan of defence which would'answer in part the demand for more naval strength, and ( at the same time not overly strain the , t budget, for iit is obvious that the cost , tof one of these boats is but a small fraction of what a battleship or cruiser , costs. J American Plans : Some have been so callous as to call i a fleet of these, power boats a "Poor . Man's" navy, but the fact remains that 1 President Roosevelt has ignored the • criticism of his own naval experts who . declare that they have little or no mili- ; tary value and has appropriated 15,000,000 dollars to be expended on a* test ° fleet, including one with a hull to bo ' built of aluminum. Since then, of course, America has embarked on a much more t ambitious naval programme. - . » U.S. Naval criticism has become very I acute ■ since an outsider was awarded the contract to. build these motor boats. ' . That outsider is none other than' . Hubert Scott-Paine,' of the British ! I Power Boat Company, Ltd., a speedboat j driver of wide renown who has built a . , 70ft skimmer reputedly capable of 50 ' . miles an hour over 9ft 6eas.. .- j Of course this was a sad blow to j many of America's boat designers and ' builders. They felt quite hurt that '_ they had been given the go-by, but ' _ when they could not guarantee delivery ' before 1941 to Assistant-Secretary of ,' the Navy, Charles Edison, President Roosevelt, as Commander in Chief of ' the Navy, decided to get action. He assured the Navy, it might be possible : that a.torpedo-spitting suicide squadron i- might be exactly what the D.S. Navy < f did. not-want, -but-he -was willing •to sgead 46,000,000- dpUaiß-40-4ad •*>?£

Actually 23 boats have been ordered . at a total eost of 5,000,000 dollars. Suffice it to say that. the • Electric Boat 1 Company, of Groton, Connecticut, .purchased the American rights to build Mr. . Scott-Paine's boat and' brought . the inventor and one of his boats to Block Island, off Rhode Island, for a'-test. With a couple of trial-board ' Navy officers aboard, Mr. Scott-Paine turned his craft loose in a choppy sea which was being stirred up by a ; 35-knot breeze, and the report of the trial run said that it was quite satisfactory, but a bruising ride. No bones wore broken, but everybody knew that they had been pounding down the sea. in a craft that had not been built to cure a neryous breakdown. . .•'...•.....■'.' Subsequently, a" number of fanciful stories got loosethat here was a torpedo speedboat-that' could do 50 miles an hour over Oft seas, in the meantime blasting targets ■ with torpedoes and picking off enemies with machine-guns. Mr. Scott-Paine's boat will not do that. Nor, says the Navy, will any other designer's speedboat. At least it won't do 50 miles through Oft 6eas twice. It will die miserably the first time. Moreover, no rider could stand it. Anyway, it was a good boat, and, the Navy men agreed, if Uncle Sam had to have such a skimmer immediately, here it was. However, the Navy says it could have built them cheaper. Britain Has Them Meanwhile, the. U.S. Navy Is sitting back in a "show-me" attitude. When the -first American-built boats are delivered-almost any day .nowthey will be subjected to a test in which they will be asked to do pretty nearly everything but sing "Rule Britannia." Among the infuriated spectators will be quite • a number of patriots, boat designers, and others interested, who did not get. a chance to do anything about it, and they, will ho doubt have much- to say about .British speedboats —particularly .those that were licked b'v Gar Wood. ."../" That. is what an expert Canadian; writer had to say about the prospects of this comparatively new sea weapon. It is interesting to know, however, that Germany, Italy and America are not. the only nations interested in these craft. Mr. Scott-Paine and other designers have given Great Britain since 1935, a fleet of , motor torpedo boats, which is fully equal to anything. produced elsewhere. . ..:'.-'-'.. ' ■ Concerning the capabilities of these craft it is interesting to recall what the "Sheffield Telegraph" had : to • say on Jaamgy gomf-m ing-<y frsa-l-run

d of the streamlined type-illustrated with - others oli this The writer.stated: t "Under ideal conditions for naval" - attack, a new type of 50 miles per hour "• torpedo boat in which the Admiralty. e are interested, demonstrated its fighting K powers in. the Solent to-day. If added to the torpedo flotillas, this type will be v the fastest craft in the British Navy, d bringing, naval speed up to almost GO h miles an hour, t '••■•. ;■ ■':•;' '".'' i Silence and Speed "Among the remarkable achievements J of this small but formidable fighting t craft,-which is . driven :by . three 1000 s horse power Rolls-Royce engines are: Acceleration from five to 40 knots in , eight seconds; - amazing manoeuvring . ; ability; a noiseless approach to an " enemy vessel; the menace of four 18inch torpedoes, two anti-aircraft guns j and an . armour-piercing , gun; it can ! cruise without refuelling for a thousand ' miles at an average speed of 20 knots, r "The boat which is only 70 feet long, t carries smoke screen apparatus and t depth charges. The crew of nine are - all housed under cover and can man the , guns without appearing on deck. In full i streamline design, the boat is a difficult l target to enemy gunners. Its target sili. houette is the smallest of any fighting - ship afloat, yet it is capable of sinking a man-of-war and escaping' by its tremendous acceleration and speed. "On board the motor vessel Medina, : , which represented an "enemy destroyer" ° I watched this new torpedo boat- in B action, fulfilling all its claims, with its j designer at the wheel. As the Medina % went to the anchorage in the Solent a , heavy mist • reduced visibility, to about •' a mile. Mr. Scott-Paine took advantage. 1 of the pall to surprise the "enemy" by t creeping up close with only one silent d engine running, producing a speed of ; eight knots. In wartime two IS-inch pro- > jectiles would have been on their way! 3 to sink our unfortunate vessel before we t- were aware of the torpedo boat's presence. For night attack this silent' apn proach is of especial tactical value. s "Even more outstanding was the ease i. of handling and her ability to twist, t turn and dodge. When harassed from e the air by low-diving machine-gunning ;. 'planes, she has the agility to counters move and defeat every effort of the most i daring aerobatics. Her side-slipping, like s a skidding motor car, was uncanny. At - full speed she can turn in comparatively small circles. The latest model by Mr. c Scott-Paine is calculated to still further c advance the usefulness of the torpedo n boat as a naval force in modern war* alfaW