SHIPS "IN MOTHBALLS"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23601, 9 March 1940, Page 7 (Supplement)

SHIPS "IN MOTHBALLS"

THE most interesting walk one can take on the island of Manhattan just now is along the West Side waterfront, writes the New York correspondent of the Daily Mail, London. The wide-eyed visitor who used to parade solemnly along Park Avenue and Fifth, or, of course, Broadway, can see something more interesting to-day for his cent's worth or so of shoe leather. The war is responsible. It has clone strange tilings to the port of New York —some of them tragic. Elsewhere in the city it is impossible to tell that the world is at war; but by the waters of the Hudson the fact is plain. If you care to join me in a stroll your time won't be wasted. A quick taxi down Fiftieth Street and here we are. Queen Mary The first pier. Do you recognise the huge grey ship in battle-dress? Look more closely. No, it isn't an 80.000tons battleship the Americans have built secretly; in fact, if you peer closely at the prow you will see the name —but almost painted out, it's true. The Queen Mary. Hardly recognisable in her camouflage. The great, gay queen of the Atlantic —winner of the Blue Riband, tho ship of millionaires and champagne parties—lying meekly, almost furtively, at anchor. She has been here almost since the war began. Her engines have been idle for months, her bridge deserted. Her interior has been stripped of furnishings and her lounges and cocktail bars are shuttered xip. She is a ship in mothballs. The war has immobilised her. We had better not go too near. The police, fearing sabotage, guard her night and day, and we might find ourselves held for questioning. No One to Groom Her Now Let's move on—we haven't far to go. This is the Normandie. You had bettor leavo it unsaid. She's sensitive and proud, even if her paint is dingy and dirt-streaked and her funnels choked with filth. Thosr; shabby yellow lifeboats were once sparkling white, dazzling to the eye, and where you see those ugly streaks of rust she was gleaming black. Her shabbiness is enough to break her heart.

She is still a vain ship, even though there is no one to groom her now. Formerly she was much too proud to lie in New York at the same time as her arch rival, the Queen Mary. But to-day they keep each other company. Occasionally an Italian or Dutch liner docks or sails with all the old fanfare, but never .a British or French ship. And rarely an American liner, for that matter, since the Neutrality legislation was passed. Armada Out of Service Negotiations have been going on for weeks now to transfer the little armada docked here to some other registry so that they might go back into Transatlantic service, but there are all sorts of obstacles. Have you noticed what a lot of idle seamen there are about? These are the men whom the Neutrality legislation has put out of 'work. There isn't much hope for them until the war is over, because this new law forbids an American citizen to serve in the ship of a belligerent. There have been a lot of fights along the waterfront since the ships came home, apparently to stay. The sailors resent the new law bitterly. They say the United States has deliberately swept her shipping off the Atlantic, given up the freedom of the

1 seas (for which in the past she fought two wars) to avoid trouble and possible involvement in the war. And they are right. Bombers For Britain I think we have time to take a ferry and have a quick glance at the free port on Staten Jslaiul. Here you will see action and bustle and life. These Staten Island piers were built at a cost of £0,000,000 by Mayor John Hylan after the last war. They have been barren and deserted for years, and until tin's war started were known as "Hylan's Folly." Now —-well, see foe yourself—there isn't an incli of available space. The whole place is jammed with hundreds of trucks, scores of 'planes, thousands of cases of beef. A great warehouse of packing cases, boxes, and bundles containing the impedimenta of war. Over there are tronch-diggers and machine-tools for France. Here are bombers, wingless, but ready for assembly, for Britain. The free port covers 30 acres of land and every acre yielding gold for some American's pocket. There must be £5,000,000 of war material assembled here right now, and all of it waiting for shipment to the Allies. Staten Island has never seen such days of lush prosperity.