OLD NAVAL LINK

Evening Star, Issue 22571, 12 February 1937, Page 1

OLD NAVAL LINK

DEATH IN LONDON An immense circle of friends ■will have heard with deep regret of the death in London of Commander Charles N. Robinson, the naval correspondent of 4 The Times/ who, in spite of his 87 years, was still the greatest human encyclopaedia upon naval matters in this country, wrote a correspondent in the 4 Manchester Guardian,’ recently. As the writer was privileged for many years to work with him, he would like to put on record some of the many stories which he used to tell of his early life in the Navy, tales of a period that took one back to conditions that reminded ona of Marryat’s tales. When young Robinson, a midshipman from the Britannia, joined his first ship ’at Portsmouth in the sixties, he found one of the ship’s boats waiting to taka a new captain tp the vessel. The coxswain and crew 44 took a chance ” and left the boat for a few minutes. Unfortunately the captain arrived before they returned. He was a stem man, this captain of the old school. As soon as he had read his commission ha gave an order to 44 pipe all hands, for punishment,’ and had the defaulting boat’s crew flogged. _ This captain was a terrible martinet, and Robinson always said that he spent most of that voyage at the 44 masthead.” Anyway, he was in such ill-favour that he arranged with the captain’s dork for a 44 doctored certificate ” when he left the ship. 44 Robbie ” always claimed that he went through all his naval service upon a 44 forged ticket.” Robinson was nearly killed during the American Civil War. Big wages were available to British sailors if they could join the belligerents. Robinson took a boat to shore, and as soon as it hooked on to the jetty ha was stunned with a stretcher by one of his bluejackets. When he recovered consciousness he was alone in the boat. 1 The entire crew had deserted. Naval life was rough iu those days, and Robinson told the story of how an > officer in his ship, when in Eastern waters, committed manslaughter with a belaying pin, when his marine servant let one end of his hammock down with a run. What would have happened in the Navy of to-day in such • a case? In this particular incident the defaulting officers’ shore leave was stopped for tnree months The writer has never heard that Commander Robinson has written reminiscences of. his early life in tha Navy. It would have been a fascinating ' story. IJis was a most lov’ahle character* And as a journalist ho had few rivals. He always carried a pair of blunt-pointed scissors iu his rest pocket. 44 These,” he would say as ho clipped some 'paragraph out of a news sheet for future reference, 44 have earned me a small fortune.”-