NELSON'S VICTORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18025, 25 February 1922, Page 10

NELSON'S VICTORY.

WHAT IS TO BE HER FATE 7 PLEA FOR PRESERVATION. [MOM A CCE&BBPONDBNT.] "It, is urilikply tifrt Nelson's famous flagship,, the Victor, wiU ever, be maintained afloat again." So comes by cable from London the verdict in regard to the iat<j of what.is, in some respects, the most famous' ship in the world.' That this ancient war vessel has for a long time past been not seaworthy-indeed, not harbourwortby-is common knowledge, and her condemnation as ,a floating rejic of old and romantic fightipg days will occasion very sincere regret, not only in the Old Country, but also in the farflung overi'eaa. Dominions. For manv a long year the Victory has occupied liride of place in Portsmouth Harbour, moored not far from the memorable- "Hard." From evelfy point of view it is to be hoped that it is intended to take steps to maintain Nelson's ship in some other way. than as a floating craft. Such a project should offer no difficulty. At Greenwich Naval School many years ago what iu reality was a ship ashore was installed and her lofty spar's gave a truly nautical atmosphere to the institution, the advanced Utilitarian, imbued with the idea of "scrapping" that which has had its day of material usefulness, will possibly suggest that the Victory should be broken up, for the wealth of copper bolts that no doubt is in her, and that her timbers should be sold for the making of garden seats for public parks and private pleasure grounds. The nard old teak timbers of many a good ship Of other days have thus been utllisedand Harry and Harriet havo carved their pleboiaii initials on many of them I Symbol of Heroic Days.

Let the Victory be saved from this, at amyi icost, for in her wo have a great and noble public possession. She has been—and, one hopes, may long remain— almost a living reminder of the heroic days when England was fighting her way to that position oi supremacy at sea which she still holds. The Victory breathes an atmosphere of personal fighting action, as distent from the longrange naval engagement* of to-d»y. Sea fighting then, as now, caUed for skill in manoeuvring, but it . meant also the hand-to-hand combat; ships ranged alongside each other; boarding with cutlass and j the crash of Ming spare; and the thunder and smoko of the old muzzle-loading guns. Very few of the old wooden walls now remain afloat, and of those that still exist none compares in historic value with kelson's Victo7. From generation to generation she has, silently but directly, taught the lessons of brav.ery, fortitude and adventure; mutely she has emphasised the value at all time of Nelson's glorious signal— "England expects thai every mnn this 'day will do his,. duty." For these reasons we may entertain the hope, with some measure of confidence, that her spara may for many years to come tower high over the harbour ride of Portsmouth Town.

An Example From Portugal, When Turner painted his famous picture of the fighting Temeraire being towed aww for brewing up, h gave us, by bis inimitable genius, his conception of the degradation that in her old age had. befallen that beautiful ship. To such a fate tho Victory ought never 'to bo allowed to come. Years ago, from a shipbuilding yard in Scotland, there was launched a speedy tea-clipper, the Thermopylae, known the world over at one of the fastest ships under canvas that the skill of the shipwright- has ever .produced., 1 la pUre commerce—not .naval work—si e gained fame and renown. Then came tho advance of steam navigation, and the Thermopylae, with all her grace and beauty, became obsolete. The Portuguese Government bought the ship; renamed her Pedro Nunez, and for years she served as a training ship in Lisbon Harbour. But even for service, in sheltered waters the old flyer finally became too old and decrepit. Her day was gone, but the Portuguese Government, mindful of her early fame, and imbued doubtless, too, with that old spirit of seafaring that characterised that, nation of old, did not sell her for juoik. They towed h<Br away into the broad Atlantic, and there, with due ceremonial, sank her.". They buried her old bones in the very' waters over which eho had in her halcyon days sped on her missions of commerce. If it should be found not possible to maintain the Victory in some manner ashore, such a sea burial would be a more fitting ending to her'career of fame than that she should be broken up and hor copper bolte used probably for .the making of useless souvenirs. Far better a deepsea tomb for' her.