THE PECCANT FIREMEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15807, 2 January 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE PECCANT FIREMEN.

INCIDENT ON A WARSHIP.

MAINTAINING DISCIPLINE.

"WE'LL PUT YOU THROUGH."

It was after the naval "dust up" off Heligoland, and the — put into — to be repaired. The — had given a good account of herself in the engagement with the German Fleet, or the portion of it that was induced to show its nose, but she had herself suffered somewhat, and reached harbour with considerable damage to her upper part, which it would take the shore gang of yard-arti-ficers a fortnight to put riglit. In the meantime the ship's complement, could enjoy short spells of shore leave in batches.

So far so good, but it would not do to have any of the men " breaking leave," which is the naval equivalent ot playing truant, so the captain adopted the timehonoured expedient of the schoolmaster and threatened that if any man broke leave the leave of the whole of the remainder of the ship's company would be stopped. The plan acted admirably, except in the case of two firemen, who did not answer their names on the roll until the following day. The captain was in a dilemma, because it was difficult for him to go back from what he had said. On the other hand, he recognised that it was terribly hard on the remainder of the ship's crew that they should be deprived of all leave because two firemen had been too easily enveigled by too generous well-wishers on shore. Even the firemen had done their share in the brush with, the enemy's ships. There was an unorthodox way out of the difficulty, a. sporting wayone he knew would appeal to the crew as well as to the two firemen more intimately concerned, who, to do them justice, were' more cut up on account of the remainder of the ship's company than on their own. The captain addressed the crew somewhat as follows: "You know me. You know that I do not go back on what I say. But the circumstances are rather out of the common, and those two firemen are about as sorry as they can be. I shall be here on deck for a quarter of an hour : if you can bring those two firemen within that time and show me that they have been punished enough. I'll forcet that they broke their leave." Two minutes later the scene on the lower deck was something after thi9 style:—We will say the two firemen concerned were John and James. James was a great, powerful Scotsman, with the size of the Lowlander and the nimbleness of the Highlander, who ordinarily would have faced any two of the crew. He acted as spokesman.

" Look here, mate?, it's through us that you're in a hole. We're sorry and are willing to take what there is. We'll put our hands behind us, and you can paste us." No one would take it on. One didn't "think that's what the cap'n meant": another asked succinctly if they thought "he was a German." At last one brawny son of Neptune solved the difficulty. "I'll take you. Bill, here, will take John. You must both make something of a show of a fight and we'll put you through it." They did.