A SAILOR S CHRISTMAS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 12 February 1915, Page 2

A SAILOR S CHRISTMAS

LIFE IN THE.NORTH SEA. ( | ! ADMIRAL JEMJGOE SMILING. LONDON, Dec. 34. l - All A.B. on H.M.S. Conqueror gives a graphic picture of life on board of one of the big vessels in the NorthJSea: — "Where we shall spend Christmas; ofcourse, nobody knows. We may spend' it at sea or at anchor: if so, we shall' probably be coaling. "One 'spasm' a few weeks ago we . commenced at 5 o'clock on the. Saturday evening, and finished at 2.30 on the Sunday morning, and it rained all the time. Officers and men alike were wet to. the skin, and covered with coal dust mud. i That was buij, worst--, turn, oulj, though every coal ship is. very" much alikfe—--700 or &b0 men all working in a f&g of, coal dust; coal dust- in the eyes, iears full of it, nostrils full of it, and the throat and lips caked up with it. / "We usually start early in the morn- ; ing, Mid it is probably ten or eleven o'clock' at night before; we finally finish up and- turn in, because, although the collier- may push off at tea we have .to clean the. ship down; " "The dpeks- are now always running with water, but we are well prepared/ We all wear sea boots Tip to our. and- the Admiralty winter clot"hirig has been served opt,, and a- fine lot it is. The Balaclava., cap we have is more like-a 1 poacher's o,r bargee's cap, ma-de of blue frieze cloth. Each man, too, wears a lifebelt round his neck all dky, and at, night he hangs it- "up on his hammock ready to slip oh should "he have to drop out of bed and nip upon deck and go 'overboard; "The belt is a rubber 'bladder "like a football, and has a valve like that of a pneumatic tire". It will keep a man up on the water and give time for the boats of the otHar ships to pick him «P- ---' 1 THE : "'ASLESS VIGIL. I i-• 'We are ail feeling the monotony -of l | this- ceaseless -.vigil, and if the enemy; [ wiould only comeoourt r we .would make up f<ir it, you bet. Every, now and. again j we.do. get a slight flutter.;, happen here; at: .-times wliich.-will only be heard; of at the end of the war. . .V ' [ 1 "There' are heaps of-l .incidents here, - though people in London may ask 'What [ is, the Grand Fleet doing besides keeping up. the; blockade.?' will know, when, the war is over. ''The merriment roil aboard • still, "contin-. ues,. Ther:e is ..always-; spme skylarking' ajiont, ;the same,; singing and wrestling, I and..the. . gramophones* and ; t cineinato-! graph, worked by the chaplain or. doc.- ■ ' tor.' - ........ '"A few afternoons ago, Admiral Jellicoe : came on hoard. IJe. seemed like a schoolboy as he ran up our gangway and jumped on decki-and- met our ,-cap? tain, laughing and. talkiiig all the while. It was' pretty evident. the- German High Sea Fleet was. wpirying. him or giving any , sleepless-' nights.-.. \ • "As I told you I'm,.on .a searchlight at night. When the, crew* which is off . duty turn in, .they sling their hammocks, near their light in a place, which is all iron j iron, under • foot, and iron aboye, i with open gaps at ; the ydei and- entirely ; oj>en_ at end.. . "WhejjL big;'.spas..,.are* running, the. mien in Haipmpplte .on; the side "are .jyirasjied. clean Vy a ( sesu ,over, into the water, on r "December 15: Two' days ago I commenced this letter, and. now: -we. are atsiea, steaming, through . gales and • tre-' mendous seas. This -morning a tremendous sea came.across/our decks and left qs with three men short.; they were Washed overboard and; nothing could be dbne to save. them. ~ . ; - ' *'lt\s: a, splendid sight Kere,, grey skies and 1 great; green "* seas and. this munificent fleet stretching'away tb thei hdrizpn, dipping' and'ploughing through it, sinothered : ifi foamj the~ funnels smok--1 ing hard and the flags, continuously run-. riing up and down the-mast as ship speaks to shij)-—all, led. pffi,})y : .the " Ad-' : mural on the flagship'. correspondent. S.