THE KING’S SHIPS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20288, 22 December 1927, Page 13

THE KING’S SHIPS.

1000 YEARS OF NAVY EVOLUTION. Over 1000 years of fighting ship evolution is demonstrated at the Royal United Service Institution. Whitehall, S.W., by an interesting series of models arranged iu sequence of period (says the Observer). It begins with the primitive and mediaeval oar-propelled vessel, shows the use of guns and the gradual increase in size in Tudor and Stuart times, the full development of the sailing ship iq, Georgian, the transition from sail to steam in the Victorian, and culminates in our own Dreadnought era. The models are not only constructed with delicate and expert craftsmanship, but realistically manned “ They were constructed by modeller* of the Overseas Department of the Board of Trade for the Wembley Exhibition, and have since been on view in Dunedin, New Zealand,” Captain E. Altham, C. 8., R.N., informed the Observer. "They were then, consigned to a store at Wormwood Scrubs, and we thought it would be a good idea to show them here beside our other models. In every case old prints and so forth have been consulted for authentic details.” First comes the crude log oanoe of A.D. 700-800. such as the Vikings and Danes used, and which was lengthened and improved by King Alfred; then the Mora, 1066, in which William the Conqueror invaded England—a rowing vessel with high stem and stern, supplemented by a single sail, modelled from one in the Bayeux tapestry and the other contemporary records. With the warship of the period of the Crusades, we find high protecting bulwarks, castles, and fighting top —a ship which, for the first time, looks a pugnacious ship o’ war and nothing else. Through the reigns of Edward 111 and IV we get great improvements in the hull, the introduction of the bowsprit, the definite establishment of the forecastle and poop, and recourse to gun powder end gun 'armament. The Santa Maria, in which Columbus discovered America, and John Cabot’s th® Matthew, wore of this type. With the Great Harry, 1514, the Revenge, 1588, and th© Sovereign of the Seas, 1637, the tall, stately three-master, with armament up to 100 guns, is well under way for the great Empire adventure of Eastward and Westward Ho! The Victory, 1765. fully rigged, is particularly interesting, because it shows what the famous Nelson ship will look like when the present restorations have been completed. Marlborough, 1860, shows a significant intrusion—the first steam funnel, a somewhat shy qnd apologetic interloper which doubles itself in the contemporary Warrior, of 8800 tons. Rodney, 1685. squat and flat, with the guns mounted on heavily armoured barbettes, brings us to our own “ prim grey ships of war ” era, and we are full-steam ahead for the Dreadnought, 1905, and the Hood, 1920. A couple of paces more and wo arc contemplating a detailed model of the Grand Fleet with its teeth bn red for the ordeal of Jutland. The collection, which will be on view for some months, should prove a special attraction for the schools; but grown-ups will be fascinated by this panorama of one thousand years in lino; and there are alwavs ox-naval commissionaires somewhere in the oiling to enliven the demonstration with a few personal confessions.

—" The teaching of the care of the body is more important to the individual than any of ‘the three R’s,'” said Sir John Rnhortson, Professor of Public Health at Birmingham University, recently. So small that it cannot be seen with the naked eye save ns a tiny spec in the middle of a piece of class, a photograph was recently on show in London. One hundred of these would occupy about the apace of <; pin'* bead.