“DISCHARGED DEAD”

Evening Star, Issue 19616, 23 July 1927, Page 19

“DISCHARGED DEAD”

A TALE DF KUH KALE [Written by Tal. Johnston, for the ‘Evening Star,’] \ “ Six d’ys shalt thou labor an’ do all wot thou aht able; an’ on th’ seventh—holystone th’ decks an’ scripo th’ bloomin’ cable,” muttered Able-seaman William Hewitt, as ho rubbed half-heartedly at the deck planking with his holystones. The leading seaman in charge of the detail swished a canvas bucket of water on the grimy part of the deck over which the working party had worked, then turned a meditative eye on the grumbling Hewitt “Cut out some of them holiday spaces an’ git on with it, Hewitt,”, ho advised, “ you’ll find yourself in th’ rattle if you don’t behave.” Having administered this robuko ho turned back to his occupation of sluicing the decks for the broom and squee-geo party which followed the holystoucrs.

Hewitt glanced at his neighbor, and from the corner of his mouth came a tangled stream of uncomplimentary remarks. “ thinks becos Vs got th’ crossed ’killicks’ on ’is arm 'e can talk to mo like a Dutch uncle. I’ll show ’im, th’ ruddy so-and-so!” he concluded sweetly, and his confidant, fearful of being drawn into trouble, murmured soothingly, “ ’Sno grind chawin’ y’r fat now, ‘Nobby.’ Git ’im ashoic.”

This timely advice appeared to satisfy the aggrieved seaman, for ho bent to his work with increased energy. The reason for Ids burst of industry, however, had nothing to do with postponed vengeance. It happened that just as his friend spoke ho saw a means of making immediate return for his imaginary grievances, and worked busily to cover his purpose. Th'jy had worked down the port side of the foremost six-inch gun, round behind it, and were then scrubbing along tlie starboard side. The brooms and squce-gecs followed thorn, last of all coming the loading seaman, who kept the decks wet with buckets of water. Hewitt noticed that his enemy passed along the deck close under Hie long barrel of the six-inch each time he threw a fresh bucketful. This, and the fact that on the barrel of the gun sat a young ordinary seaman, who, with the help of ii broad brush, methodically transferred grey paint from a paint bucket to the gnu’s surface, seemed to him to bo the knocking of opportunity at his front door. The paint bucket was attached to a cord which was passed oyer the gun and fastened to a convenient cleat against tho casement on the_ other side. William decided that if he hauled downwards upon the cord when next the leading seaman passed, the bucket of paint would very likely swing up and over and descend upon the unsuspecting head of his enemy, with, to William, gratifying results. Also, there was a sporting chance that lie could do it unseen, or in tho event of his being seen near the spot, that he could convince tho “heads” that it was an accident.

To quote tho Good Book—“ and it was so ” —that is, the first part of the scheme. The leading seaman caught tho bucket_ and quite _ a fair amount of the paint with his face, which was clover of him, _ considering his lack of practice, hut neither ho nor his superiors would believe that the incident was pure accident. Therefore, William was united aft to the quarterdeck where the captain sat behind a tabic. He marched up to within the regulation distance from tho table and stood there, with tho nonchalant hcarging of previous experience, whipping off his cap and coming to attention with great precision as his name and rank were announced. The captain picked up the charge sheet and glanced inquiringly at the master-at-arms, who took his cue from the glance and proceeded. “ Able-seaman William Hewitt did cause a bucket of paint to fall on leading-seaman James Wright, with deliberate intent to cause damage, and did generally behave in an insubordinate manner.”

“Witnesses!” said tho captain shortly.

“Leading-seaman James Wright,” reared the mastcr-at-arms.

The injured parly _ stepped smartly forward and gave his evidence with the sing-song delivery of one who, not being used to public speaking, lias carefully rehearsed his “piece.” He told his tale without malice, just stating the facts as they occurred. His statements were corroborated by tho witnesses and then the matter was left in the bauds of the captain. “His record?” ho asked.

The slip’s corporal handed him the conduct book. “ You seem to he in trouble all tho time, my man,” ho said, glancing over the list of “previous convictions.” Hewitt fidgeted about and shifted his feet, unable to meet the look in the stem eyes of the man at the table. “I really don’t know what to do with you, Hewitt,” the captain continued, “you must realise_ that we can’t have this sort of thing going on ih wartime. It’s not only yourself I have to think of in a case of this sort. A man of your age and service is looked up to for guidance by the younger men, and it’s not very helpful to them to have as an example a man who is always in trouble. It has a bad effect on tho discipline of the ship as a whole. Y 7 ou wouldn’t like to go hack to England and tell them that tho Navy has no use for men of your type, would you P ” “ Nossir.” mumbled Hewitt.

“ Well then, my lad, I’ll give you one more chance to show that you’re not absolutely hopeless. Seven days number ten.” “Seven days number ten!” said the rnaster-at-arms. “On cap, ’bout turn, double march! ” So for the space of seven days Ableseaman William Hewitt rose from his hammock half an hour earlier than his mates, worked, of necessity, when others rested, and had no tot of grog with which to sooth his rutiled feelings. These matters were chalked up on the cLhit side of 1 his _ account with the leading seaman, with a mental footnote that the account was overdue and must bo_ mot at the earliest moment. Hewitt weighed twelve stone ten. Also he had a reach of astonishing length. “ Tyke it from me,” he prophesied to_ his particular “ raggie,” “that b is goin’ to feel th’ weight o’ me fist afore he’s much older or I’m a ruddy Dutchman—w’ich I ain’t.”

February 1915 turned up on the calendar, and the light cruiser bearing Hewitt and his unpaid debt lay off Kum Kale. For two days they had poured a steady stream of six-inch shells into tho Turkish gun emplacements of Kum Kale and Teni Shehr, receiving in return an assortment of explosives from the big guns of the “ Unspeakablcs.” Finally the enemy guns ceased fire, and streams' of Turkish troops could be seen deserting the tottering forts and braving the shell-swept slopes in search of pastures new. No signs of life could bo detected in the villages, so it was decided by the powers that bo that demolition parties should be landed on tho morrow to complete the work of destruction until not one stone of tho original forts rested upon another. Which procedure was supposed t» discourage comrade Turk from attempts at rebuilding the same. _ Just after noon on the following day three boat loads of cheerful iconoclasts left the ship, laden with all manner of destructive instruments. _ They carried charges of ammonal with fuses attached, and other mysterious parcels of potential wickedness, and one and all looked forward to a happy afternoon of “bustin’ things.”-

They landed in silence. Not even a dog came out, to bark offensively, and the ruifaed villages with their concrete forts showed no signs of hfe. Of death there was more than enough. Suiot bundles with flies arising from lem were dotted here and there, and the bluejackets looked curiously at tho mute evidence of their .yesterday’s shelling. Many of them had rammed the hundred pound projectiles home in the gun-breeches and watched the shell’s flight until it disappeared at the zenith of its arc, hut few of them had seen the results of their own work. They were impressed. Displacements were discovered, and destroyed one after another until the ears of the men sang with tho violence of the explosions and tho sun shone red through a pall of dust from the crumbling masonry. Still no signs of opposition ’ Late in the afternoon they advanced towards a ruined battery above and to the right of Kum Kale, proceeding in open order through the cemetery and up tho slope towards Toni Shehr. The officer in charge made a cautions entry, and discovered that one of the largo calibre howitzers in the battery was undamaged and- still capable of inflicting enormous damage on the fleets as they passed. Powerful charges were packed around, tho gun itself and in tho important parts of the emplacement, so that the resultant explosion would totally destroy the gun and render it impossible for another to be erected in its place without immense labor. A fuse of extra length was attached so that tho party would ho well out of the danger zone before tho enormous charge went up. Everyone was mustered outside, the officer lit the fuse, and marched his men away from tho vicinitv. They had gone hut a few yards when the toc-toc-toc of a machine gun brought them up with a rr/und turn, and they sighted a large body of Turkish infantry advancing at the double from Teiii Shehr towards tho fort which they- had just left. The officer ordered them to take cover ns best they could until ho could get in ■touch with the ship. They wanted to sec some six-inch shells landing amongst the enemy, hut the gun emplacement with tho unexploded charge was too close to be comfortable.

The signalman attached to the party wig-wagged to the’effect that tho ship should open fire op the Turks, keeping them busy until a man could double hack to the fort, shorten tlm fuse to about one minute, and rejoin tho others. This would give them time to carry out an orderly retreat while it would he ton rapid for the Turks to got to the fort and render tho charge harmless by withdrawing the fuse. Very soon the shells commenced to whistle overhead and burst amongst tho scattered enemy, who sought what cover was available. Without waiting for orders, leading-seaman James Wright sprinted across tho open ground to the fort, being exposed to the withering fire of the Turkish machine gun all the time. Ho reached his objective in safety and commenced to sidle round the concrete wall to tho entrance, which was on tho side nearest the enemy. When within a yard of the doorway he was seen Jo stagger and fall. ’.Before anyone'else could move a burly form sprinted across tho sloping ground at racing speed, picked the unconscious leading seaman from the ground and staggered hack towards the watching bluejackets. Halfway across tho bullet-swept distance tho wounded man was seen to move. He slipped from tho shoulders of his rescuer and appeared to he trying to make his way hack to the fort. Tho burly one placed a hand on his shoulder, swung him round, and then, to tho astonishment of the spectators hit him solidly and scientifically beneath tlm chin. Ho lowered tho once more unconsciousness man to the ground, waved to the others to tend to him, and dashed off back to the fort and tho Turks, who were rapidly approaching despite tho shell, fire. Ho reached the door in safety, but before he could enter ho was struck in shoulder and leg by machine gun bullets and dropped to the ground. Whore ho lay he was sheltered from the enemy by a mound of earth, but could he scon by his owu party from down the hill. The officer and two men sprang to their feet, but stopped at a gesture from tho man by tho door. Ho drew from his pouch a hand-grenade, and they could read his intentions quite plainly. They saw him fumbling with tho pin and knew that ic was useless to try to got to him, so at an order from their officer the party wriggled their way down hill as fast as they could to «void the coming upheaval. The Turks could not see anything of what had been going on, and, surmising that the second man had been killed and that resistance was at an end, they charged down the hill to rooccupy their fort and turn tho gun on tho retreating party and their slip. They raced over tho rise which separated them from thorn objective just in time lo see something leave the hand of the wounded man on tho ground and roil down the sloping entrance to the emplacement. They wondered what it was. It was only three seconds before they found out and the knowledge was no earthly use to them. Tho hand-grenade burst, and in bursting, detonated the largo quantity of explosives in the fort.. With a grumbling roar and a frightful concussion the place went up in the air, taking with it sundry Abduls and Mustaphas to plead their cause with Allah. With it, also, wont the brave soul of able-seaman William Hewitt to the Valhalla, of good fighting men. The last entry in his conduct shoot reads simply “D.D.”, which moans “Discharged Dead.” It can also stand for “Debt Discharged.”