WHITE SHIPS OF HEALING.

North Otago Times, Volume CV, Issue 13937, 21 July 1917, Page 1

WHITE SHIPS OF HEALING.

CARRIAGE OF. THE WRECKAGE OP WAR. There are many ships sailing the sea —tub-nosed, big bellied tramps with the scrapingß: of every port on their paint; long stately liners traversing the known road with a strong measured pace which speaks of an appointed time of arrival and .'assured ability .to be in time; big bulky Dreadnoughts, • efu- ■ ciently ugly; dainty torpedo-boats tearing up the calm waters like unleashed fiends .or tossing about like corks on the aurfered sea; craft that slum the open and.haunt inlet and- channel; Ishmael craft that lurk beneath the surface and hide from their stronger brethren—all engaged in the business of war and warring peoples. And in among them all, white as the foam at their forefoot, gent'lo as ,the tender ministering women aboard them, flit big white ships of healing, gathering up the weary men broken in the conflict and mothering them, I'lic hospital train steams slowly down the quay and stops, and proceeds to transfer its freight to the ship with its red cross waiting there patiently. First come tne "walking eases," men wounded and sick, yet able to walk the short distances required in transhipment. They stream slowly down the gangways, anil as each men passes a doctor examines the label-on his coat which gives details of the case, and an 8.A.i1.C. orderly takes his embarkation order. Then the stretcher cases are borne carefully aboard and carried down to the wards below. Each man has a written'authority from his hospital to

come aboard, and no unauthorised person can pass that strict scrutiny at the gangway end. And when the transfer is completed, the big white ship shakes herself clear of the quay-side, very gently as if conscious of the load of sufferers she carries', and slowly heads out to sea, The walking cases crowd her decks and clustci over her upper works as thickly as ants, and at a distance, if one could only blot out her snow-white hull and the great red crosses above the v grcen band on her sides, she has all the appearance of a troopship full of troops, But these men carry no rilles and no equipment, and closer inspection reveals the ravages of wounds and disease on their pale faces and huddled 'forms, They arc excited at the prospect of getting home, and their eagerness to see the sights of the harbour makes them almost resent spending the time necessary to. don the life-belts which orderlies press'oni every one of them; but once the exhilaration of tho novelty of sailing has passed away, the old langour of their sickness will return, and they will be glad to go to their appointed place to lie down. Down below the scene is that of the interior of an ordinary hospital—rows and rows of cots with the clothes drawn over the occupants in tho manner that betokens trained attendance, and doctors and nurses-earing for the patients —and the only points of difference are those which speak of co::;e?tion with the Army and situation Looard .ship, the doctors in khaki; the war decorations of many of the nurses, and the manner in which the cots of the graver cases are slung to prevent the motion of the ship causing their occupants discomfort. Here are typical scenes:— One grey-haired sister, wearing the two South African War ribbons, bends over a patient whose Balmoral cap hanging near by proclaims his Scottish origin, and though she is a "Queen's" nurse, her speech has lost none of the accent of her native land, "Does much ail yer, laddiel" she inquires, and he replies in a tongue as broad as her own:— 1 "No, grannie, there's no mucklo the

maitterwi' mc." , Plm passes on among the other patients, with a cheery word for every one of them ami here and there a doft touch to add greater comfort to a weary frame; but ever and anonshc comes back for a "end" with her kinsman, for the clannishncss of Scots is proverbial, In the officers' ward an■E.A.M.C, sergeant is inquiring courteously but firmly if anyone has brought a revolver aboard with' him, It is hardly likely .in'view r of the strict inspection of each kit at the first casualty clearing station far • up* the line, but every precaution, however unnecessary it may appear, is taken to ensure that.no casualty shall bring a' J weapon aboard with him. "No arms are allowed in your possessioiij.gentlc- . menV' he is toying. "If you have any,' you must give them up now," He puts the question, directly to each, one- of them, but all can answor satisfactorily; their late hospitals have seen to that. ."They took a German sniping rifle (from me at Popcringhe, .1915 Mauser, too. Picked it up myself in that last show at Ypres," said one officer to an- !'' other. "It was a jolly good souvenir." "Bad luck, old chap," replies his fiiend. "I got one of theii auto iwitics in the same business, but I leit it with a friend to send home for mo.'' "I wish I'd done that, too," giumb led the iii st speakei "Weie jon in that fight at Ypies, sill" t The speaker was a soldier who had •been Inouglit into the ofliceis' wnul, because it was only half filled, and the i iron fianie which kept his aims out l( stretched to their fullest extent 1 ic i- quncil mole joom than was available' clsewheio. And because the Red £ro&81 j levels all distinctions between those who come its shade, offices and o, piivitq, started (iglitiiig ovci IJint'fight

turned from the front bailie their queries. • '■'.-'.-■■-. '■.■■•'•" s - He was badly Wounded, poor boy, and there were many like him, and worse than lie, aboard that hospital ship; many .who would not walk for months; some who would never walk again; and one could not keep from wondering what would happen to these hapless fellows if anything'should go wrong'with the ship, No great effort of imagination was required: to fill in the picture of the sinking ship, the brave struggle of nurses and orderlies .striving to' cVry the wounded up on deck', a lengthy business evon under normal cireumstaucos, and then the inrush of water and tlio overwhelming of helpless women and still more helpless men'. It has happened befofe; and the devils who attempted and wrought such havoc have stuck their tongues in their cheeks and brazenly prated of the impossibility of distinguishing at times between troopships and hospital ships, when all tho world know that the great white ships of healing are Ukc no other craft that sail the seas—by day but a great red cross on a snow-white.back-ground, and by night illumined from truck to waterlino with" the cross blazing and glowing like a ruby, It will happen again if the devil-boats get an opportunity, for tiic white ships have been warned from the seas, and no longer may go on their errand of mercy under the safe conduct which only savages deny to the stricken, and for no other reason than that the Teuton "blonde brutes" have been held at bay by'the strong arm of the Allies, and like wolves denied' of their prey devouring those who have fallen in the fight, turn to wreak their lust for slaughter on men and women unable to defend themselves.