UNARMED HEROES.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 264, 24 October 1916, Page 6

UNARMED HEROES.

OUR SPLENDID MERCANTILE MARINE. (Bv “TAFFRAIL. ” TV New Naval Wrirer.) AVe were steaming to the westward, towards the spot where the son, glowing like a disc of molten copper, was slowly nearing the horizon. It had been one of those hot. breathless sort of days with no breeze ; and now. near sunset, nothing but an occasional car s-paw stole gently across the sea to ruffle* ■ its glassy surface in irregular-shaped patches. Elsewhere, the water, shining lik • a mirror, reflected the blazing glory of the sky. Some distance off lay the coast, its familiar outline dim. purple, and mysterious in the evening mist. But it was neither the sunset, glorious as it was. nor the scenery which held our imagination. It was the shipping. All manner of craft there were. First came the Spurt, of Tromso, a Norwegian tramp of dissolute and chastened appearance, who-’ deliberate plodding gait and general air of senility belied her name, or at any rate the English meaning of it. Her rusty black hull was decorated with three large squares painted in her national colours, red. with a vor-

tical white-edge stripe of blue in the centre. Next a bulbous, prosperouslooking Dutchman, who seemed to wadd'--* in her. or his, stride. She was slightly faster than the ancient Spurt, but'was no flyer, and boasted a canary-vellow hull bearing luu name in fifteen-foot letters, and enormous painted tricolours striped horizontally in red, white and blue. Then two Swedes with unpronounceable names who by their embellishments. informed the world that they hailed respectively from Gc-teborg and Helsingborg. They also sported large r- ci angles, painter in vertical -tripes of' yellow and blue, while close behind them, a Dane, with an absurdly attenuated funnel and long ventilators sticking at all angles out of her hull like pins from a pincushion, ambled stolidly along like a weary cart-horse. She. see ruing other decoration, merely showed the scarlet white-crossed emblem of her country. Some of the neutrals carried signs bearing their names which could be illuminated at night, and all seemed equally determined not to afford any* prowling Hun submarine a legitimate excuse to. torpedoing them on sight. But the craft which outnumbered the others by mere than four to cne were the British. They bore no distinctive marks er colouring on their sides, and their travel-stained and weather-beaten appearance, their rusty hulls, discoloured funnels, and the generally dingy and unpretentious look about them showed that they were kept far too busy to trouble about external appearances. The only token of their nationality was the wisp of tattered red bunting fluttering at the stern of each; the gallant old Red Ensign which, war or no war. still dances triumphantly on practically exery sea except the Baltic. Many of the passing vessels looked out of date and old-fashioned. Some, veterans of the ’eighties ana ’nineties, fit only to sail under a foreign flag according to pre-war standards, may have been dug out cl taeir obscurity to play their part in the war. And a very important part it is. Ships must run, and. at a time when the Admiralty have levied a heavy toll for war purposes upon all classes of ships belonging to the Mencantile Marine, every vessel which will float and can steam can be utilised many times over for the equally important work of carrying cargo. It is not peaceful work, either, in these days of promiscuous mine-laying and enemy submarines armed with guns and torpedoes ready to sink without warning. The important work of the yachts, pleasure steamers, trawlers, and drifters used for mine-sweeping, patrol work, and other naval purposes, need not be entered into here ; but the Mercantile Marine proper, what, for want of a better terra, we may call “the deep sea service,’’ has supplied the Royal Navy with many thousands of splendid officers and men who are now

serving their country in fighting ships as members of the Royal NavaJ , Reserve. Moreover, numbers of its ships of ciasse? are employed for war purposes as armed merchant cruisers, transports, oil furl vessels, colliers, ammunition ships. s f oreand t-r- like But the function of those ships which are left for their legitimate purpose of cargo carrying is of equal importance to the country, of inestimable value, in fact, since we could not exist without them. Their duty is fraught with constant peril. Submarines may be lurking and mines may have been laid upon the routes they have t • traverse, but never have * there been the least signs of unreadiness and unwillingness to proceed to sea when ordered to do so. Most of the otTi. •■•r > and men of the Mercantile Marine are not trained to war like their comrades of the Royal Navy. They are not paid. ! and their shins are now built to ' ; and yet, time and time again. their phick and intrepidity has shown itself ;n the face of an entirely new danger. Instances are so numerous that it is impossible to mention them all. Remember the gallant fight of tne Clan MaeTavish. with her sina'e gun. against t’m heavily-armed fherman raider Moewe. Take the case of the “Blue Ft:nneiler‘ ; Laertes, Captain Probert. which was ordered to stop by an enemy submarine, but, disregarding the summons, proceeded at full speed, steering a zig-zag course, andjso escaped. Remember the little inordis, Captain bed, which, after having a torpedo fired at her, actually rammed and sank the submarine which fired it. Again, were was the transport Mercian. Captain Walker, which was attacked by gunfire from a hostile submarine in t.ie Mediterranean. Some of the troops on board were killed, others were wounded, and nobody could have blamed the captain if he had surrendered. But what did he do He endured a bomba/d--rnent lasting for an hour and a naif, and. thanks to the bravery and skill of all on board, the ship escaped. Tnere was aiso Captain Parmer, of the Blue Jacket, w no. though his ship had actually been torpedoed, stood by her in his boats, re boarded her, and, in spite of her damage, steamed tier to a place of safety. Recollect Captain Clopert. whose vessel, the Southport, was captured by a German man-of-war, "was taken to the island of Kusaie. and was there disabled by the removal of certain important parts of her machinery.: She was evidently to be utilised as a collier, but r.o sooner had the enemy left than the master, officers, and men set tn work to effect re- • pairs. How they did it with the meagre annlianees at their disposal, only they the it selves can say. but the fact remains that the ship escaped.

These cases are only typical, Whole volumes might be written round the ■ warlike deeds of our “peaceful” mer-1 chantmen. and from the many in- ■ stances of gallantry we read of anti the still greater number which do not achieve publicity, it is evident] that on every occasion o! encountering the enemy, the master oi the ship, backed up most nobly by his officers and crew, has not only done every thing possible to fine hu- '■hip from capture or destruction, but has never hesitated to become the aggressor if he stood the least chance of success. Courage in the face oi the enemy when one can return shot for shot is one thing, but heroism of tne same kind in an unarmed ship is on tather a different plane. Th“ work of the Royal Novy and the Mercantile Marine is Jarirt ly interdependent. The two g’-eat s< a services of the country must ever work hand in hand and side by side, and let us never forget what we owe to the latter. —“Daily Mail.