H.M.S. NEW ZEALAND

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 55, 6 March 1914, Page 11

H.M.S. NEW ZEALAND

MORE ANECDOTES BY CAPTAIN HALSEY (KKOM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, 21st January. Captain Halsey had a sort of welcome home at Watford, in Hertfordshire, the other night, when he lectured in the Church House on the cruise round the world of H.M.S. New Zealand. The crowded audience was presided over by the Eight Hon. T. F. Halsey (Captain Halsey's father). j Captain Halsey confessed that he had a certain amount of trepidation when he first joined the ship, &s he knew nothing about her. They had no difficulty, however, in turning her in the Clyde, and from the time he put her " slow ahead " he^had not one moment's anxiety right through the cruise. Dealing with her armament, Captain Halaey said that the other day one of the latest Dreadnoughts fired at a target 90ft long by 30ft high at 17,000 yards, which waa practically ten miles, and made nine hits out of twenty-eight rounds. The New ! Zealand was also fitted with wireless telegraphy, and they were able to talk with ships within any ordinary distance. To give an instance : When he was a long way south, about 4000 miles from England, he sent a sixpenny telegram to his wife at Pembroke, on the West Coast, and that telegram was delivered within 2£ hours after it had left his ship, south of the Equator. After the trials had been completed the ship was fitted up in ten days, and great credit is due to the contractors for accomplishing three months' ordinary work in that, short space ofi time. Before they departed on the cruise the King hoped they would all return again safely. He was there to say that of the 840 they had no£ lost one man by death, which showed how God had spared them. The other day at Buckingham Palace His Majesty went through the whole trip, and spoke about every single place they called at. He seemed to remember everybody in the places he called at in his Empire tour, and asked after them. Captain Halsey told some amusing anecdotes. One related to Ascension, one of the early calls. He explained that anybody stepping on to the quarter-deck was supposed to step into the presence of The King, and one always saluted. Ascension ranks as a ship in naval adminstration, and the spot where he landed' was named, he afterwards learned, the "quarter-deck." He stepped ashore in the ordinary way of course, without saluting, when a voice called to him, "Why the devil didn't you salute the quarter-deck?" On leaving Capetown he thought it would be a good thing if he could get the members of the Houses of Parliament to take ship $ound to Simon"s Bay and leave them there, and 89 members of the two Houses came aboard, and out of them 40 or 50 were Dutchmen. Most of them had very wry faces, as they had probably never made a voyage, except possibly as prisoners of war. They were exercised in physical drill, and went to prayers, and the visitors asked "Have they all 'got' to go to prayers?" On the order "Take Stations," all the 840 flew to their stations. It was absolutely as tounding to the Dutchmen to see the men flying in all direcions, and then not a man to be seen, for in a modern battleship every man fought behind armour or in a turret, or in the conning tower. They wondered where the Dickens all those rabbits had gone, and where their holes were. (Laughter.) They then took them round, and showed them whore they were. They showed intense enthusiasm, and got hold of a spokesman to thank him, and several of them wished to speak. Captain Halsey said that he was obliged to go on deck, as they were nearing a, dangerous place, and one of them shouted, "For God's sake go on deck; I don't want to leavo my bones on a rock." (Laughter.) When the train steamed into Ladysmith, and the Mayor and Corporation were ready to receive them, he unfortunately was in his pyjamas, and the reception had to be postponed for a short time. They reached' Bloemfontein at 6.30 in the morning, and the whole population turned out to receive them. While there the Commandant asked to sec him, ard he said, ""I am proud to shake hands with you, because for four months we said 'good morning' in a different fashion. You had the 4.7 gun and I tbe 6iu. gun, and we exchanged shots every morning for four months/ The vote of thanks to the chairman was proposed by the Rev. IV Halsoy, who remarked that lie did so for the first time, although he had every reason to be thankful for what his father had done for him. Tbe Chairman, replying briefly, remarked that the meeting appeared to be a sort of "mutual admiration society." He was very glad to be present oja. that occasion.