SURRENDER OF GERMAN FLEET.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 February 1919, Page 6

SURRENDER OF GERMAN FLEET.

A SEAMAN'S ACCOUNT. : LETTISH TO THE MAYOR. In a long and newsy letter received by his Worship the Mayor of New Plymouth (Mr. C. 11. Burgess) from Mr. J. T. Cory who has been doing service with the Navy in connection with the war, interesting accounts have been giveii of the Jutland battle and the surrender of the German fleet. Cory wrote, once before to the Mayor, and in reply received a share of the good wishes sent from New Plymouth to so many of the men on the various fronts. In acknowledging these the writer bears testimony to the persistence with which his shipmate—a man named Shirley—sang the praises of New Zealand amongst the ship's company. The latter was a member of the crew of the "Cambrian," which visited New 'Plymouth in 1912, and he presided at the piano when the ship's theatrical party gave a concert in the theatre. Cory then goes on to relate some of the experiences of the men of the Navy in the North Sea during the past -four years. His friend Shirley was a member ef tlio crew of H.M.S. Lion, Admiral Beatty's flagship. He went through the Heligoland Bight and Dogger Bank battles and also Jutland, in which action he was gassed. In that action the Lion was handled pretty severely. The battle cruiser squadron, comprised of seven ships, met and fought the whole German High Sea Fleet, and for four hours bore the brunt of the battle. They were riddled with shot and shell, and half the Lion's crew was put out of action. Continuing, the writer says: "We are now serving in the destroyer Walrus, and it is on this class of boat that the welfare and safety of our loved country has depended. Most of our work has been entering the mine-strewn fields of Heligoland, and also convoying vessels bringing food and implements of war. Many have been the attacks by the deadly submarine, but we always scored first hit. We have just received the surrender of the German High Sea Fleet. To us fellows who have watched and waited for this day—'Der Tag'— it was a glorious day, but as these monstrous fighting craft of the Hun steamed by we could not cheer, for a feeling of shame hung over us to see the humiliation of this great armada, without their striking a blow for their honor and country's sake —these men who for years had toasted the day when they should destroy our fleet and have boasted and lied that they were not afraid to contest the supremacy of the seas, and who have from time to time rushed back behind their own minefields when they sighted our forces. What a fall this proud race has sustained! 1 . . . . . For miles and miles our fleet stretched across the North Sea; the vessels cleared for action, and each one of us was at our station, for we could not trust these foul murderers, and they had not come out this time to attack a defenceless craft, but the might of Britain. ... I will write later and give you an account of our naval actions as we passed through them, assisted by my friend Shirley, who went through the thickest of them. ... By the time this reaches you we shall probably have taken charge of Keil, or Hamburg or the Baltic."