MODERN SHIPS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 11 April 1928, Page 2

MODERN SHIPS

THE SEA'S LOST PRESTIGE

JQ/V.VS THAT HA VT GOSV. Tr.o goir.g «jo;vr lc> lh<? s. 9 * v* i>ctps has boon uopnvod .I'most 0.. H its terrors r.nu ir.o.-t its nvr.atve (writes ;i l.ciulon ‘ Tines" <-cri'!-<niuHH i nt i !. it

is no longin’ ,i venturing lortli upon a gro.it and imlolinito adventure. tor tin’ tia\idler eastward hound knows almost to a certainty even before lit’ leaves England that on a named Way lit* will oat oh tin* parly train from i’ort Saul to Cairo, or 11 if afternoon r-vpiess to Pella from Hombay. Ihe ioar that tho •■•oa onoo inspired, except iti taro eases, has vanished; the if*:-,pint that it de-; mfunlcii is '.vithlioiil atnl it is only ox turning over tho pages of tin- memoir:’, of travellers of other days that they ean be revived. Some t.l ns oi the older generation ran reenlleet in eai’iv eliildbood beai’ing from I In- lips oi the survivors of still an earlier generation Ihe stories of danger and appalling discomfort that were part and parcel of a. voyage to the East. 1 lie writer remembers well listening to the sea tales of an aged great aunt all n! whose voyages to India had been made before the inti’odiiction of steam. In what an atmosphere of lhi’il! and wonderment we children sat al. her feet and listened. "And. my dears.' she would say. "on the nineteenth day ol the gale, oil t InCape of (loud Hope, we buried poor little Mrs So-and-so. I lie water bad tinned had. and the foremast had gone oxerboard in the lirst week of the storm.' At nigiiis the flapping of the lorn sails haunted ns.

1 Jut there is no need to go back so i’nr jis that. Tin l Inst hali'-ceiilury lias witnessed changes winch, il none «. »1 them ran lji* compared with Iho introduction of steam are nevertheless very marked It is in fact largely due lo the comforts with which the tnivelier is now surrounded on hoard ship that the tear of the deep has lieen banished. Hough weather no longer plays tile part it did. An ordinary gale is more, tin inconveniencel than a. danger, and causes less delav than discomfort. Among lady passengers of the liners that j.)ly eastward ii-flay the. mention of waves does link l more than rerail the skilful art of the coiffeur. His neat- handiwork upon the female hum.m head surpasses m interert and imped tuce the combined efforts 'lie elements upon the oceans stir fai e, :hough tin- effect of both, ill fn different- ways, is didm lung. No longer does the courageous maiden, discreetly dressed and wrapped up in borrowed oilskins, “sou'-westor" on her head, venture forth, under the protection of the captain, upon the wet and slippery deck to watch the seas breaking over the hows of the ship and to tee! the spiv.' heating on her face. To-day the decks are rarelv wet and the cloth and serge skirts of other times. • caching and cov-e'-ing else ankles. are Inn a. feminine nightmare of the past. _ The shapoiy limbs that in the days of the youth of her mol her and her aunts were, so fullv concealed are now exhibited not only to the gaze of her fellow-passenger, l,r,t' also to' that if the .dolphins and the great leviathan himsell. The mysteries of the deep have lost, their attraction. The whale spouts, in vain, and it is a matter of common knowledge that the living-fish does not flv. but cnlv “glides.'" The steward's hand and the notes of the saxophone alotie can stir tiie modern emotions, and if by any chance a mermaid, a; ! traded by tli'e music, were to vise to tiie surface 1 o comb her hail*. ?he would as likely as noi be invited to dive again and crop her head. No longer teak barrels hound in bras? contain the pork and beef of the crews rations. No longer the ships cow. which supplied the children and invalids with milk, chews the cud in lie) roughly-built loose-box: nor is dawn today” rendered poignant by the crowing and cackling ot fowls, cr by then < i n--. of protesting distress as. a dozen at a time, they are borne in funeral procession front the coops to the galley. The punkah with its swaying folds, and the dusky “wallah," who so patiently controlled its swinging, have given plate lo the noiseless and efficacious electric tan. The fowl comes fresh from the refrigerators. the. drinks are iced. No more altor din nor do timid amateur bnllncl-siiit,-ers, male and female, Huger their music, wailing to In l invited to oblige*. Ibe world is playing bridge or talking, often both at the same time, or dancing on the upper fleck, tor the precious moments of life must not lie wasted. 1 am almost sorry for the sea. Ine construction of the liners to-day leases little of il visible from on hoard and renders it still less effective, and no one has the rigid lo complain if. now land again, ii rises in its wrath and creates consternation in the souls and stomachs of the passengers. It is the only way left to it to call attention to ils existence.