LUNCHEON TO JELLICOE.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 14197, 23 August 1919, Page 5

LUNCHEON TO JELLICOE.

BOYS OF THE BULL DOG BREED. | (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON. Last night. A civic luncheon was tendered to Viscount Jellicoe and the officers of the New Zealand to-day; the Mayor, Mr «T. P. Luke, presided. Among the guests were the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, and members of Cabinet. Admiral Jellicoe replying to the toast of his health, gave sonic interesting details concerning those who had been in command of H.M.S. New Zealand from to time. First there was Sir Lionel Halsey, than whom there was no gi'eatcr admirer of this country, including the New Zealanders themselves. The successor to Sir Lionel Halsey was Captain John Green, now Rear-Admiral, and well known on the China Station. Next came Captain, now Admiral, Richard Webb. Admiral Webb, the speaker reminded those present, was responsible for the orders which had directed merchants ships in the early days of the war. Next in succession was Captain Donaldson, to whom fell the lot of escorting to their final home the German High Seas Fleet, on the occasion of their ignominious surrender-r-a surrender from which it would never recover. Viscount Jellicoe paid a tribute to tho mercantile marine, for, the great part it had played in the war. The men of the mercantile marine, he said, will go down to history in clouds of glory. There had been one officer from the mercantile marine from New Zealand who had been a shining example, Lieut. Commander Sanders. That officer had been in command of a decoy ship, which after only being in commission for one week, was attacked by an enemy submarine. “When tho German captain of that submarine was brought to London, after having been defeated by Lieut. Commander Sanders and his officer and crow of men from the mercantile marine, he was interrogated as usual by the Naval Intelligence Officers, and what we got out of him was that he could not have believed any navy in the world could produce men with such :i spirit of discipline ns to stand tlic shelling lie had given the prize (Lieut. Commander Sanders’ ship), without making a sign of returning fire, until a submarine was so close. The latter was in a hopeless position.” Incidentally, Viscount Jellicoe mentioned as an instance of the wonderful construction of the German submarine, that the one dealt with by Lieut. _ Commander Sanders, although its conning tower and guns were blown away, and its captain himself was under the impression that it had sunk, managed to reach home.