ADMIRAL COLLARD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 12 April 1928, Page 7

ADMIRAL COLLARD

NEW LIGHT ON THE FAMOUS

ORDER

lii-iVrrini? in iW moni naiivifiicos on }|.M.S. li.t>vsil Oiik. in "liidi Hciir-Ail-,nil-ill Colhi'i'il ;iiul tho i*:ipt:iin nml mmiiiiiinlfi Wi-iii iuvulvud. -1..7.1J. xvi'itt'ii in 1 1io ‘Svdni-v .Morning Ilorahl as

lows: — In those f;ir-;iway flays of the on the knew' riots in Portsmouth. England. I was a nieinliei' of Collnrd s gunnel \ class, and 1 remember Unit while the press of England was trying him tor that famous order, his sense of humour did not rieserl him for a single momerit. He was. in his physical aspect, "as much like a cherub as it was possible for a man ever to he. and, apropos of this cheruhic charm, he made throe drawings of himself while he awaited his trial. Drawing No. 1 presented a. cherub, wing-bedecked, with Dullard's face, and the captain "as my mother sees me. No. 2 showed the same cherub with a mouth as wide as a ham door, from which issued the order t; on the knee." This was label- !(.,] "us the sailors see me. Drawing No'. 3 showed Mr Cherub. Wearing heavy sea hunts, and with them Licking sailor men all round the decks ot a dreadnought. r l his last he called ns the public sec me.”

‘■ON THE KNEE" Will you permit me to add a fourth verbal sketch of Collard as 1 and many others saw him? The general public should know that the “on the knee order was a very ordinary one, well understood of sailors, and it was given usually when men, standing ten deep perhaps, were listening to instructions from any officer. Ihe men in the front, rows were ordered on the knees to make it possible for those behind to see and hear their instructor plainly. It had no other significance. On the dav of Collard s fiasco, in tlie It old lank of the squad, was a great drunken hmt named Moody, and he it was who caused all the ' trouble when he doelared that “he wouldn’t bend his knee to the Virgin Mary, much less would lie do so to any gunnery instructor,’’ and the riot was on. I he order was insisted upon, and later the squad was dismissed. Thai night, after much beer and inllaminatory oratory, the hoys proceeded to tear tilings up by the roots, i was among the bluejackets seni on the double to help queil the resulting disorder, and 1 shall never forget seeing Collard. a very small man. walking through that bunch ot fighting mad heroes utterly unmolesled. lie showed that- night that he was a real captain of ni(*ii. lie* was untouched, as 1 say. hut a warrant- officer named Creen got a clout on the side oi his head with a bottle that, put him out of commission tor a tew days.

COUHT-MA RTIAL Collard was sent in Walt* Island to await Ins conrt-niartinl, ami any man who knew tlu* lights nl lln* attair was allowed In see him limit*, arid so aid lorn in preparing his delenee. 1 watched hundreds of men lorni a line as long as a city block. who were all anxious to save him from being made the victim of a blasphemous rowdy. \\ I*ll truth prevailed as it has a habit ot doing, and Collat'd was freed to heroine an admiral of the greatest navy in the whole world. (been recovered, and Moody did five years for his little hurst of mutiny. The consensus ot opinion among tiioso who knew ami served under Collard was that he was the fairest. scpiaiest. arid hardest ot oflueis: lie played no favourites. "Cook s son. duke's son" wort* all orit* to him. and his record as a gunnery instructor was :: particularly line one. He turned out great gunners, sparing them nothing ol hard, grilling work: he took them into a hell of endeavour after pcrleotion. hui Im went with, them into this hell like th" game little fighting cock he was. and apparently still is. I. of course, know nothing yd' the merits of the present case, but 1 11 dare swear that Collard is still as just, as hard, and as fair as in those old days in Portsmouth. Maybe lie will dig out those old sketches, and over them gi in sardonically while lie is being "tried once more in the press of the country he has served so long and well.