ADEQUATE AND IMPOSING CONVOY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24221, 13 February 1940, Page 5

ADEQUATE AND IMPOSING CONVOY

■ V •■ ••'• •• 1.’;,: ; ■•••■. ,-,•■■ As silently as they had come forward when the first call was made for volunteers to serve the Empire overseas, 6000 New Zealanders sailed from the Dominion a few weeks ago, and yesterday the country was relieved to learn from the official announcement by the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Peter Fraser) that the troops had disembarked at their destination in the Land of the Pharaohs. For the second time in the military history of New Zealand her soldiers have set foot on Egyptian soil, and it is a tribute to the naval might of Great Britain that the voyage from the far south through troublous seas with their hostile craft was without incident or mishap. New Zealand’s first 6000 in the second Great War of history was the third contribution of man power to the defence of the Empire in 40 years by a country which is only now celebrating its first centennial. Great ships embarked 4420 men at Wellington, and when they left the harbour of the capital city they were joined by others carrying the South Island contingent. At the head of his men.was the Commander-in-Chief of the New Zealand Forces, tylajor-general B. C. Freyberg, V.C., a New Zealander himself, recalled to his country at the outbreak of war to take command of the New Zealand army in the field. In the interests of safety the actual embarkation and departure of the troops was kept as close a secret as possible, and when the great liners sailed quietly out of two of the main ports of the Dominion, the occasion was unusual for the absence of cheering thousands. For the most part the .transports that had been pressed into service were large liners which but' a few months before had vbeen plying their peaceful ways on the principal sea routes of the world. And for a protection against the perils and hazards of the Seven Seas in wartime, the contingent was accompanied by a naval escort, described in a broadcast last night by the Deputy Prime Minister as “ not only adequate but imposing,” and comprising such units of the Royal Navy as H.M.S. Ramillies, H.M.A.S. Canberra and H.M.S. Leander. Despite the official secrecy which surrounded the sailing of this first contingent, the departure of the great ships was watched with interest, not untinged with foreboding, in both Wellington and Lyttelton. On a perfect summer morning the troopships, which had anchored in the stream in Wellington Harbour the afternoon before, moved away through the blue haze of the horizon. Throughout the night they lay on the unruffled waters of Port Nicholson, discernible only by the essential lights that glowed from their high sides, but before the morning sun had risen high into the blue dome of heaven they had disappeared as completely as the soft mists that brought . the dawn. The interisland ferry was making its way up the harbour to her berth as the first line of ships filed out and the passengers who crowded the Rangatira’s sides were close enough to exchange greetings and cheers with the troops. Outside the Wellington Heads and beyond sight of land the convoy was joined by the vessels bearing the South Island contingent, and together the full strength of the first echelon of the Second New Zealand Division, 6000 strong, set on the great unknown adventure. Few of them knew their destination, and none could foresee what the next few weeks would bring. In the words of the Deputy Prime Minister last evening, the people of New Zealand will have learned with relief and thankfulness that they have arrived safely at the port for which they set out.