ARMISTICE DAY AT SEA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20716, 8 November 1930, Page 4 (Supplement)

ARMISTICE DAY AT SEA.

Tho following description of Armistice Day at sea was written by a girl correspondent on a liner making the trip to England from Australia. " A sunny morning in the tropics, with an oily sea.. Just before eleven, passengers, crew, stewards, and all officers except those on duty, assembled under the awning on the boat deck. The captain, standing at a desk draped with the Union Jack read the prayers. In the hymn which followed we all joined. Then came the two minutes' silence. " Think of thoso two minutes of silence in the midst of the immense ocean. The engines were stopped, the only sounds heard were tho wash of the water against tho great ship's sides, and tho faint wind playing in tho rigging. Standing there with bowed heads, we seemed to be alone in eternity, our thoughts with our loved dead. The Last Post had an indescribable melancholy as it rang out on the quiet air in the vastness and silence of sky and ocean, in which our great ship seemed but a tiny speck. " The spell was broken by ' God Save the King,' which was sung with deep feeling by the nwnpany. " The throb of the engines began again. Shipboard life was resumed. The dead, however, were not forgotten—no, we thought of them all with tender reverence —all those who had died, as ono sailor said to me, ' Just doing their duty.' "