PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2387, 30 November 1899, Page 66

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

THE WBECK IN DUSKY BAY.

Some time ago, you remember, we had a controversy as to the identity of the wreck in Dusky Bay, some thinking it to be the remains of Captain Cook's Endeavour. I wrote to Melbourne about it afc the time, but got nothing satisfactory. The following, however, from the wellknown Sounds explorer, Mr Donald Sutherland, will add a little interest to this much debated derelict, and may help in unravelling its mystery : —

Depr Pater, — I have been looking over your lei, (i in the Witness about the Endeavour in i-m-!kj r Sound, and I see a lot of the yarns are a long way off. I have not much time to go into this at present. I have been campad . in Dii3ky Sound for many months, from the year 1877 up to lately, and have been often over the old wreck, but one cannot learn much from that. I here send you the latest facts which I see you have not yet had about this wreck : — About 11 or 12 years ago, in the month of June, I worked up my brother, who is a diver in Sydney, to come over and have a look at this wreck in Dusky Bay. So over he came, and three others with him. Four men 'left Sydney for Melbourne, then sailed for the Bluff, and chartered the Heather Bell) cutter. One of the party was a Sydney diver, who fetched al! his diving gear with him. They sailed for Dusky Sound about the month of June, and started diving by the* derelict in Facile Harbour, and after working for some days they came on to Milford. I gave them some gear lo take back to go to work again with. The diver went all around the hull and inside of her. All that was found were a few broken earthenware plates and a glass water-bottle or two", ths rose of the Dump, nnd some copper and some lons of sandstone ballast. She is burnt down to the water line, and her bottom is spread open or out. A shot was put under her Gtern and the gudgeon was blown off and it was about 1501b purs copper, which was taken on to the Bluff. On this copper was the namo Seville, London. No oilier name, or any number, could be found. Har number would be on her hatch, but that was burnt. She has bean a ship of about 700 tons or over, teak built, and very strong. Her timbers ere very closs together and she is sheathed outside on the bottom with two inch pine planking, and coppered outside of it. She is fastened with copper and iron bolts, and her timber is very sound yet. I bad some of her timber and copper here. When I was camped in Pickersgill Harbour in Dusky, I unearthed the barrel of a musket, one of the old flintlocks^ which must have bwn one of Captain Cook's. It is badly rusted, and about 4- inches dropped off the muazle when I lifted it out of the ground, which was about 9 inches deep; and I also found a small bit of flint at the same place which I have got yet. — I am, etc. ' , D. S. Milford Sound, October 20. "■ THE QUEEN'S SERVICE." This is the title of a book I have just read, and as it is written by one who for some reason enlisted and served seven years, it is full of interest. Perhaps, next week, I ma y give you a fuller account of its con- ; tents, but to-day I shall just draw attention to one point emphasised in it. The British Empire asks its sons to voluntarily enter the army for seven years, with an extended term in the reserves, but it does not . do anything in the way of guaranteeing < employment to a man after his soldiering time is up, with the result that more than j one "V.C has ended his days in the work- : house, and quite lately a Parliamentary re- ! port at Home shows that about 9000 of : Britain's defenders are paupers. Is this a i creditable thing? Just think for a moment I what soldiering means. To commence with, | a soldier, while being allowed to marry, is I not, on the whole, encouraged to do so, j and when he -does his -wife and children I have to put up with inconveniences not exj.pected irom civilians' wives. But what i happens when war comes V How widely ! then does the profession of the soldier differ from that of any other unit of the empire, and what a pitiful sight it must be for young wives and children to bfd goodbye to fathers, a greater or less percentage of whom must in a short time lie stark and stiff. When t'roopg are sent away flags are flying bravely t and people making holiday ; but has it ever occurred to you how the joyous shout of the spectators must be an addition to the grief of the wife and a cruel mockery? We think of the necessities of w.ir and of its glories, but do we sufficiently realise its cruelties, and what it means to so many nier. aud women? I am afraid not. Weil, let us think a little more j of the sad side, and in doing po show prac- ! tical sympathy Avith the sufferings of the maimed and the necessities of the widows and orphans left destitute. It is a noble thing to lay one's life down for one's country, but it is also a noble thing when substitutes relieve us of risk to see that ihe substitutes who risk their lives, may dn so •\\ith the knowledge that whatever betides them their widows and orphans will not •have to face an unfeeling world. Arc there any bubscriptions being raised in your district? If there are, subscribe as liberally as you can. Then, apart from loss of life. Isn't it possible for us to &ay to a recruit : When you have given the best years of your life in defence of the Empire, we shall see that you are provided against want for the rest of your life. There are thousands of places on the railways, in the poit office, and in the public and other services which could legitimately be reserved for retired soldiers. -In France and Germany some arrangement of this kind is, I believe, in force, and rightly so. The soldier in fighting for the Empire is serving the best interests of the capitalists, and of the artisan and labourer whose preference is to follow peace pursuits. When, Then, he serves his time on tha active list and in the i-eserve, and has fallen out of touch with his former environment, surely the lea*L that can be dene is to see that he has, at any rate, the cbance of earning a modest living. Some of my younger readers may, in the near future, have the opportunity, by legislation or otherwise, of doing something lo soften the rigours of waj, both to soldiers who may come through maimed or unscathed, and to those left rescource- ! less through, the taking of bread-winders.

Will you keep Tommy Atkins in mind, 'and in time of peace, make "his work as ' easy as possible when the fiat goes forth." to face the enemy? I have just mentioned " The Queen's Service." Do any of you know another book called " Britain's Roll of Glory " ? It contains a complete list of those who have won the Victoria Cross, and a few accounts, personal, official, and traditional, of howsome of the crosses have been won. But what is the V.C. ? A little Maltese cross of bronze, intrinsically worth 4^d, and it is cast from cannon taken at Seba&topol : upon it a crown; surmounted by a lion, and underneath the words, "For Valour." The whole dangles' from a har, to which it is loosely attached by a Roman V. This as fastened to the breast by a piece of ribbon, crimson if Ihe recipient is in the army, and blue if in the navy, and is the proudest decoration a British subject can wear. It isn't very handsome — few of our medals are — and at the time of its foundation a wag wrote of it — Here's Valour's Cross, my man; 'twill serve, Though rather ugly— take it. John Buli a medal can deserve, But can't contrive to make it. Up to the present time less than 590 of these unassinnjng trinkets have been awarded ; but-not one has yet been awarded to the Sepoys and Sowars of our Indian Army. There is one thing in connection with the V.O. which we might remember. It carries with it an annuity of £10, which may- be increased to JGSO by the Secretary of State. Either of the books I have mentioned would make a good Christmas present to a lad with a taste for military life. " Britain's Roll of Glory " is of course as exciting as any book of adventure that can be named, and with the additional merit that the stories are true. " The Queen's Sen-ice "is a plain matter-of-fact description of a soldier's -life in barracks. The author describes no fighting, and it may bs re2ommeuded to one who- has looked at the rosy side of a soldier's life, but forgotten to sum up its disadvantages and inconveniences.