THE NAVAL PROCESSION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9098, 16 March 1901, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE NAVAL PROCESSION.

GUNS OF THE FLEET BOOAI OUT THEIR TRIBUTE.

(By F. T. Bullen m the Daily Alail.) The great sun rose from a solid cloudbank, lustreless as an orange, bub before he had emerged more than his own dia.meter from that gloomy bed, he began to glow more and more fervently, until, a globe of molten gold, he hung m a sky of limpid blue. ' And upon what a marvellous spectacle did Jie shed those first soothing rays. From Cowes to Portsmouth, along that wide seaway, was extended the very cream of the British Navy, supplemented by warships from all the Great Powers, m- solemn homage to her who was not only sagest of Sovereigns, but . womanli-. est of women, seized of all w& homely enduring virtues that un-sexed people profess to sneer at, but which nevertheless make all the difference m the world to the true greatness of a. nation. A high and solemn satisfaction was noticeable everywhere. From the secondclass boy to the admiral a serene complacency might be noted on all faces. That the grandest Queen of all time (m the truest, best sense of thel word) sOiould have thus honored the navy, should be thus borne m stateliest wise between the magnificent lines of her mighty fleet, and thus bidden by them as it were, a personal farewell, was felt to be neglect of them by the folk these wonderful men keep watch and ward over throughout the years. And as the time drew near for the appearance of that tiny, squadron of yachts, m the midst of which should be borne all that was once Victoria the Good, a perfectly painful aif- of expectancy made ■itself felt. How could we help it? The sweet, bright day began to wane, the tide of a premature spring to ebb, aiid tlie sun veiled his glowing face behind a bank of .tender-tinted clouds. The adjacent shores loomed mysterious through a soft mellowing haze, its lower edge bordered with black, the black worn by waiting thousands, content to stand for hours m that eager air to see a sight the world has never seen before, and, perhaps, will never see again. THE MUSIC OF THE GUNS. Then solemnly, mournfully, the great guns began their thunderous testimony. One by one, m •Wonderful time, they took up their story— Britain, German, Frenchman, Spaniard, Portuguese; Japanese, and the rest, they boomed forth their tribute to the faithful, good woman who has gone. But the wait was long. Fittingly so, perhaps, but as the sun sank and winter made nftnself felt over the flash of spring, the air was keen and biting, and the waiting seamen Were very cold. Fortunately there was no wind— not sufficient, indeed, to sweep away the smoke-wreaths from the guns, which at times threatened to obscure the' view. One curious effect was noticeable from the Baden near us: out of the midst ofthe cloud emerging from the muzzle of one of her big guns apppeared a coronet, a perfect circle, of white smoke that soared majestically aloft and hung suspended as if waiting the coming of the dead Queen. So the guns boomed on until at last, at a signal from the admiral, our band struck into the solemn strains of Beethoven's Funeral march m B flat major. And as the heart-tending strains pealed foith, accentuated by -the thunder of the minute-guns, suddenly there appeared a destroyer, most inappropriately called, all felt, as to her generic designation, but paiticularly well chosen for her m- ' dividual title, thei Star. She' came swiftly down the lines and) just abreast of pur ship, turned sharp! and sped back again, her mission of clearing theVay fulfilled. By this time every ship was "dressed" to await the | coming of the Queen. All officers m full j dress uniform, all men ranged m station round about each ship, the marines with arms reversed, the bluejackets with downcast faces arid extendecl hands. The bond, silent for a few minutes, * wailed out again as from the pearly mist ahead : came gliding the Lightning, pioneer of the little squadron that escorted her who was the best loved sovereign m the world Following her at a respectful distance came the Petrel, then the Crane/ and then the Albert. THE CHIEF MOURNER. S» tiny she looked as she passed slowly between those lines . of monsters. Not only so, biit on deck she seemed so , lonely. One tall figure, black-garbed, stood between her knight-heads, a wealth of mourning expressed, m his solitary pose. And on her deck a few, such a few, members- of her crew. Aft Her Ma- ; jesty's late dwelling-plate lay. m solitary state — solitary, that is, as far as immediate attendance, went, but did ever •mon-. arch pass to his or her long homfe with such a majestic guard of honor as was , present here? How can one describe that wonderful moment?—- the wailing of Beethoven, the booming of the minuteguns, the rigid figures of* the crew, the slowly darkening day, the ' solemn hush over all nature, the waiting black-robed thousands lining the beach. Such .'■ counters as words are may be employed without stint, but, alas! they do not convey that atmosphere of full-throated feeling pervading not merely the Britishr- fleeet but every foreign warship as well. I As I was not on board one of them I cannot speak authoritatively, but judging j from what I heard, ivfeel sure that every man on board every foreign ship present felt that he was a partaker m a scene that down to the remotest bounds of time would be spoken of as unique, unapproachable, unsurpassable,, the passing of the good woman Victoria over ber well-beloved highway to her long-desired haven. - THE TENSION OF FEELING. The seai, always solemn, always grand, lends itself even more fittingly to a pageant like this than, the vicinity of great mountain^ could. Having once beheld a funeral at sea, one. is tempted to say, "m such wise would P go, all ocean for my hall, the moaning crt the wide, wild waves my requiem;" but when the body of our beloved Queen glides gently homeward through the gathering dusk of a glorious day between the majestic files of warships, each one ringed about by clustering hundreds whose proudest boast it was that they were bailors, of the Queeen, the spectacle becomes almost unendurable m its intensity, emotion seizes upon the most stolid, luid compels them sorely against their will to acknowledge its sway. But to return to the immediate passing of the Queen. Hairdly had the Alberta glided by than the old Victoria and Albert took her place, the Royal Standard inaatheuded at the fore, beautifully signifying the presence of the! living King. What a wealth of memories she bore with her, running like golden thread all through the wondrous reign of which we have just seen the close. But deeply though the elder ones felt this, it was not to be expected that the youngest would be us much moved, even though they knew that she bore all those that were left, tb carry on as best they may the burden laid down by Victoria. Thenoame the Osborne, bringing a sort of relief. She was part of the pageant, true, butxthe crisis had passed and there were few' eyes bent upon her as she went by. All interest was reserved for the huge Hohenzollern creeping solemnly behind, the Black Eagle at her mighty stern, drooping his wings mournfully. I do hot know where the Kaiser is, as I write, on board his own yacht or the Alberta; but of this I am sure, that of all the waiting thousands who witnessed thatstupendous sight none were more deeply moved than ' he. To the inmost fibre of his being he must have realised that what was passing was no mere hireling show, but a spontaneous tribute fullheartedly given to one who did her best' to fulfil the Divine law of ruling' by love. So the little procession passed away into~the dusk over the silken sea, under the setting sun, accompanied by the mightiest tribute of affection ever accorded to any person that ever lived of woman born, a tribute well-earned, and ungrudgingly given even by those who hated the very name of Queen, yet had perforce to make an exception when it was coupled with that of Vistona. '