SAILORS AS SOLDIERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2397, 8 February 1900, Page 59

SAILORS AS SOLDIERS.

WHEN JACK TAR TURNS TOMMY ATKINS. When Jack Tar does take ft into his head to don khaki and turn soldier for the nonce, he does it Avith a Avill. But for the naval gunnery contingent, Avith its long range, quick-firing pieces of ordnance, it is at least Avithin the bounds of possibility that ere iioaa' the Boer flag might 'be waving o\'er Ladysmith. And iioav comes the neAVS that at Belmont another Naval Brigade Avas employed. Doubtless, too, the other columns iioav forming for the im r asion of the Transvaal avill be similarly reinforced. This is, of course, an entirely neAv departure in civilised Avarfare, and it is undoubtedly causing a good deal of uneasiness among our good friends on the Continent. They realise that the old sneer anent sailing our Fleet over che Himalayan Mountains is losing something of its significance ; and Russia especially must perforce reflect that if Aye can employ heavy naA r al guns, manned by bluejackets, in the heart of South Africa, Aye can certainly do the same thing in the centre of Northern India. We can, then, fittingly apply to the entire British NaA-y the motto now 'sacred to the Royal Marines — " Per mare, per terrain " — By sea and by land. Of course, Aye have 0A r er and over again employed bluejackets in our other little Avars, 1 , but never to anything like the extent they are being used iioav. Moreover — and this is the important point to bear in mmd — heretofore they have ahvays, fought under the g\ma L so to speak, of the ships

to which they belonged. At Suakim, for instance, a small detachment Avas landed on the eve of the battle of El Teb. They did splendid woik, charging the dervishes side by side Avith the Gordon Highlanders and the Black Watch, and losing heavily in proportion to their numbers. But as soon as the fighting Avas OA~er they re-em-barked, to appear again a month loter at Tamameb. A similar force did Avonders in repelling the attack on M'Neil's zareba. And all three of these battles took place within sight and almost Avithin sotmd of the sea. It never occuired to Lard Wolseley, apparently, as it has done to Sir Red%"ers Buller, to transport a force of " Jolly Jack Tars'' into the interior. It Avas the same during the Crimean War. Naval brigades Avcre employed freely, but they neA~er moA'ed far aAvay from their ships. NeA r ertheless, they did splendid service — hording huge 64-pounders up hill and doAvn dale, volunteering for lad-der-parties, ferreting out and destroying Russian stoics, and behtiA'ing in a Avay that earned for them both the em-y and the admiration of their more stolid, red-coated comrades. The only sins laid to Jack's charge, indeed, Avere that he Avould persist in looting" ponies, and that he insisted in looking upon all spirits as Jiis. o.avii special, and peculiar perquisite — to be consumed forthwith on the spot, or, if fighting Avas actually proceeding at the moment, as soon afterwards as might be. Among the various Crimean detachments, "Peel's Bluejackets," as they were called, soon gained themselves' a special reputation for d? re-devilry. Their leader, William Peel, a young office.: of 30, Avas a son of the celebrated Sir Robert of that ilk. For him clanger seemed to have a positiA~e and irresistible fascination. He would run after a liA-e shell like a boy after a football. On one occasion he seized a big, spluttering 34pounder and hurled it OA'er a parapet, the terrible mi'-sle exploding almost in his face as it left his hands, but fortunately Avithout injuring him. He got his " Cross " for that. It is also recorded of this same Captain Peel that on another occasion, when a shot broke the staff of the Union Jack on the Diamond Battery, he seized the fallen silk, and springing upon the earthworks with it, Avaved it again and again amid a perfect hail of bullets. He desisted only because so many of his " tars " jumped up beside him to "share in the fun." Hearing of this episode, a certain Captain Lushington, A\ho was in command of another naval contingent, concluded to " go one better" even than this, and actually played a game of ball Avith his men on the lcdoubt of the Seamen's Battery, in full vieAV of the enemy, they never heeding in the least the shells that came whizzing past their heads, or the round shots that plumped A'-ith a thud into the sandbags at their feet. Such deeds, it anust be confessed, smack someAvhat.of foolhardiness ; but they serve to slioav the spirit of reckless daring Avhich animated our bluejackets in those stirring times, and which has doubtless suffered little, if any, deterioration since. The Maori Avar, although noAV well-nigh forgotten, was a very stern 'bit of work indeed for the men engaged in it. Among these Avas a large contingent of sailors from the Pacific Squadron. They Avere in charge of Commander Hay, of the Esk, a biwe and smart officer, who, after performing prodigies of valour, was mortally Abounded at the storming of the Gate pa. By his side all through that night of horror remained Samuel Mitchell, captain of the foretop of the Harrier, and when at dawn of day the unhappy officer breathed his last, Mitchell lifted his body in his strong arms and bore it safely into camp. He got immediate pomotion, and Avas eA'entually awarded the V.C. In the same Avar Seamen W. Odgers, of the Niger, one of the strongest men and one of the best boxers in the Fleet, also got his " Cross " for running out ahead of the firing line, and jumping, alone and unsupported, into another Maori pa. Nor are the abo\-e by any means solitary Instances of Jack's heroism afloat. In fact, out of the 40 odd Crosses which haA'e been earned by the naval men since the decoration was first instituted, tAvo only have been bestowed for. acts of valour performed on Clipboard . In other Avorcls the bulk of Jack's fighting during the last nYe-and-forty years, at all cA r ents, has been done, not as a sailor — not upon his OAvn proper element — but as a seldier, and on land. A startling reflection this for those aa-lio would leaA-e our navy out of their calculations i AA'hen reckoning up the forces Britain has available for a Avar which, like the present, has perforce to be waged entirely on terra firma.