AN ADMIRAL’S APPEAL

Otago Witness, Issue 3595, 6 February 1923, Page 24

AN ADMIRAL’S APPEAL

4®b victory and the empire. NELSON’S FLAGSHIP. LONDON, December 14. . ‘‘The wooden walls of England made the Empire. The iron walls had to defend it.” So said Admiral of the Fleet, Sir F. Doveion Sturdee. It was very appropriate that the eve of the eighth anniversary of the Falkland Islands battle should have been selected by the Royal Colonial Institute for the assembly of its members to hear an address by Sir Doveton Sturdee. The Admiral, however, did not come to talk about himself or this particular encounter with von Spee; indeed, only after much persuasion did he mention this engagement of December 8, and then he talked more of others than of himself. ,l For he had* come to tell his audience abdnt ‘‘what the Victory means to the Empire,” and to plead for funds (£150,000) for •the ship, so that she may be restored in all details to her 1805 condition. Then she will be .a very fine national asset. The chairman, Sir W. Grey-Wilson, a former Governor of the Falklands, presided. It was found that a pleasant rivalry existed between himself and the Admiral as to 'which of them knew the Islands first. The Admiral, it seems, had been there many 'years prior to 1914. The chairman thought he had probably been asked to preside because he had the oldest association with the scene of Sir Doveton’s splendid achievement. But he made his claim without counting on the luck of the Navy. As a youngster in the Service, Doveton Sturdee spent a month at the Falklands, taking boatloads of men ashore in the morning and fetching them bock “without the morning steadiness,” as he suggestively hinted, at night. Without doubt it was the knowledge the young man picked up on the first visit • which fielped him, 40 ears later, to lay the plans which the Admiralty so charged him to go and execute. ..The Admiral said the Victory was a fine .subject to talk about. The present smj? was the fifth of that name in the British Navy, the first one having been launched in 1560. It was a century older than any regiment in the British Army, and a hundred .years older than any ship in the navy. The Victory, he said, is the principal vessel of the navy, and the Empire was founded by means of sea power. In Queen Elizabeth s reign, when defirhe steps were taken to break the monopoly of the Hanseatic League ' and to extend the overseas trade of England, the first ship to bear the name of Victory :was added to the navy. This vessel flew the flag of Hawkins at the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The present vessel was laid down at a time when the Empire was coming into being. She, therefore, witnessed and took part in the great events which led to the ‘beginnings of Empire. As a flagship she fought throughout the wars which gave to us Canada and established our rule in India. 1 Her record of war service over 34 years, during which she flew the flags of 14 different admirals, is unique, and tile history oi vessels which have borne the name extends back further than that of ,any name now to be found in the Navy List The Victory is as- : sociated not only with the British _ Empire, ; but with the entire English-speaking race. That this association is recognised in the United States is proved by the fact that the Navy League of that country has forwarded the sum of 20 guineas towards her restora- . tion. The old ship’s intrinsic value to the i State is very great. As flagship at Portsmouth the names of thousands of officers and men have been borne on her books, and . her name has been worn on the caps of an enormous number of seamen and stokers. It is certain that many of those have, perhaps unconsciously, been stimulated by the knowledge of her glorious history The same applies to the ship’s companies who go in and out of Portsmouth Harbour saluting the flagship as they pass her. At one time the ship was ordered to bo used as a prison-house, but fortunately was saved from tho ignominy. She was now lying in a position where she could be seen by all, and where she would be an inspiration to the youth of the country. Any ■foreign nation would value the possession of such a wonderful ship. Was Britain going ’■to neglect such a magnificent asset? The 'Vessel had the greatest history of any ship in the centuries of recorded naval history. .' Her keel was laid in 1759, and she was .launched in 1765. She cost £33,000 (worth . About £250,000 now). • Altogether the ship . was 34 years in active service—a long period .for a wooden vessel. She carried the flag 3 of 14 admirals, including Nelson’s. As the "4 flagship of the Commander-in-Chief she was ’•'engaged in four battles. The Government of “the day had often lost sight of her intrinsic ' Value, and it was through the initiative of ■the late Marquis Milford Haven that she ■was taken into dock and saved from being ■ afunk at her moorings. Supposing the Gov- ■ ernmpnt of the day had had the imagination ■. to preserve the Golden Hind which took • Drake round the world, what a great in.terest she would have been to us now! The "Save the Victory Fund’’ was appealing for £150,000 in order that the grand old vessel v gdght be restored to what she was like at lrafalgar, after which she was much altered owing to her injuries in the battle Her bow was to be constructed to the beautiful shape it was in 1805, the stern was to be improved, B un deok restored, cabins replaced, and other effected Tile King had sent a contribution to the fund the Prince of Wales was supporting the appeal, and the Duke of Connaught was the patron. He stated that he was especially ■jsking schools to help so that the youth of the country should feel it had a share in her preservation, and their patriotism be awakened thereby. In his appeal to schools he had a better response from the girls than from the boys—had the girls a keener sense . cl patriotism? Affirming his confidence in raising the necessary funds, he said that the Britisn were curious people; they have not much imagination, but always got there For many years the old ship had been at anchor in a great tideway, and consequently she had been much strained. It seems it was largely the influence of some of the local watermen that kept the ship afloat, for these men took out parties to visit her, and if the ship were brought into dock for five minutes they declared they were being < l' 3m i sse< l as quite impracticable the proposal that the Victory should be towed round from Portsmouth and moored in the Thames. The Victory will never float •gain. Some seven hundred tons of ballast have been removed from her hold, and even if her timbers would stand the strain of the journey (a doubtful proposition), she -would ride the water like a balloon, and could not be got under London Bridge, so ahe is to remain in the Charles the First Dock at Portsmouth, where young sailors going and ccming can salute her as they pass, and draw inspiration from her splendid ■tory. The Hon. G. J. Jenkins thought it quite likely that in another century from now the •kl Victory would be far more inspiring to

the people of Great Britain than it was at (he present time. Sir E. Lucas (Agent-General for South Australia) also believed that in another hundred years that old ship of Nelson’s would be more highly prized and valued by the Empire than it was to-day. He had recently been collecting, on behalf of the City of Adelaide, relics of Queen Adelaide, and "what he had been able to obtain were highly prized—far more than if they had been collected at the time of the Queen’s death, when they would have been easy to get. There was more sentiment involved now than there would have been then, and he fglt sure this would also be the case with the Victory. Mr A. H. Ashbolt had lately been addressing a meeting at Portsmouth, and he had been aboard the Victory. He considered it would be a grievous sin if we were to permit that ship to be sold and broken up by the dockers. He took occasion to bring back with him a relic of the ship—he hoped is was an original part of a plank—and it would take quite a lot of Admiral Sturdee to wrest this heirloom from him. He hoped that the British Empire would preserve a united front and subscribe to lengthen the old vessel’s life for another hundred years. Dr K. W. Bailey (Jamaica) suggested the holding of a Victory Day in the dominions and colonies, and maintained that there should be no difficulty in raising ten times the £150,000 asked for. SOME AMUSING STORIES. There were many requests from those present to hear something about the Falkland Battle, and after the chairman had remarked that Admiral Sturdee's name and his victory there would last as-long as the English race, the Admiral* yielded, relating racily some amusing incidents, but saying very little either about himself or the engagement. ; J -■ The chairman- mentioned that it was the daughter of the local schoolmaster, who. was .on a lonely farm, who first saw the smoke of the approaching German ships, and telephoned the news to Stanley. The Admiralty showed their appreciation by giving her a service of plate. “The Falklands battle was a very exciting episodg,” said the Admiral. “I met the Germans at Samoa and at the Falklands. They were so fond of me that they came to call on me, but they did not know I was going to be there. They thought there was only the .Kent and possibly the Canopus. I always made a point of seeing my captains, and these conversations were irreverently called ‘mothers’ meetings.’—(Laughter.) \Ve made our plans what we were going to do next after we left the Falklands. I knew • that von Spee was a very fine fellow—not a strategist, but a gentleman. We had our mothers’ meeting and went on coaling, and just as I got up in the morning we got a message; I had left a ship outside to watch if anything came along. It was at 2.30 a.m. that the Germans came out, and I asked the commander of the Gneisenau afterwards, when I had rescued him, why he decided to move at that most inconvenient hour.—(Laughter.) The Kent went Out, and the Germans followed round the corner. — (Laughter.) When we had got up steam we went out too, and then you know what happened.—(Laughter.) I was very much favoured by the weather. It was a most wonderful day, with a visibility of 25 miles. We were not in a hurry. I eased speed, and piped to dinner, and afterwards served out rum. I was told afterwards that the stokers poured their liquor down the scuppers. The Gneisenau and the Nuremberg came round to take the wireless station. The Falkland Islands were not defended, and the Canopus used as the fort for the islands. The enemy was on the point of firing, when the Canopus opened fire on the Gneisenau. “After dinner I thought we ought to have a fight—(laughter)—so we set about it. We had 12in guns, and von Spee gave the order to his cruisers to go. They went, and we went after ’em —that’s all. —(Laughter.) The Scharnhorst’s funnels soon went overboard, and a little later the vessel turned turtle, and then the Gneisenau followed. We managed to pick up a number of the enemy, but 12 of them died in the night. I arranged a military funeral in the morning, and in order to give the 120 prisoners we had saved an opportunity of being present, we marched them on to the deck. At first there was a little hitch. The men hesitated to go on deck, and we found they all thought they were going to be led out to be shot. We soon let them know that the quarter-decks of British ships were not meant for that purpose, and they were much relieved—it was different to what they had been told would happen to them. My flagship, the Invincible, was struok several times, and a number of amusing shots came along. One of ’em made a hole in the stokers’ mess deck, and some of the Germans were pulled through this hole which had been made by themselves. The parson had hung some of his clothes up in one part of the ship, and a shot came through and took off the tail of the coat and the legs of the trousers, happily unoccupied at the time. —(Laughter.) One shot struck a cashbox with about 300 or 400 sovereigns' in it, scattering the coins all Over the place. We had rdenty of money because we did not know how long we would be away. One of the officers collected them into a boot, and we found that only 20 were missing.—(Laughter.) Another cashbox was struck, and the lid jammed very tight, but we soon altered that. —(Laughter.) A well-ranged shot hit the mast up which I had climbed for a better view." Commenting on the results of the battle, Sir Doveton Sturdee said that it had an immense effect on the insurance of vessels, the premiums for which dropped directly from 2J to 1J per cent. The two German ships were the crack shooting ships of the German Navy. Their crews put up a good fight, and were good fellows—they had not learnt the bad practices they adopted afterwards. "They thoroughly understood they Were not to surrender, and they went down with flying colours, and they deserve full marks for that. Von Spee was a gentleman; he always spoke well of Cradock, and we appreciate him for that. We only had nine men killed and 14 wounded, whereas, so they said, the Germans lost 2000. One of their losses was a man who had spent 20 years learning the waters of the Falklands, and was showing the German vessels the way. We did not regret his death. If these two big ships had got away they would have done a lot of damage. They could have got on the meat routes and stopped our supplies, and could have eaten up all our light cruisers, but by their annihilation we got command of all the waters outside the North Sea.” He took little credit to himself, being so very well supported by captains, officers, and men.