CREATION OF A NAVY

Taranaki Daily News, 29 December 1934, Page 11 (Supplement)

CREATION OF A NAVY

ADMIRAL GLOSSOPS HELP

(By

H.E.C.)

Twenty years ago last May a cruiser and two submarines anchored in the land locked harbour of Darwin. They represented a new phase in the history of the Commonwealth. They were the first modem vessels of what was to be the Royal Australian Navy. The cruiser was the Sydney and was the largest warship many Darwin residents had ever seen, while the submarines were queer-looking craft with which even the most hardened yam-spinner in that tropic outpost could claim no acquaintance. The creation of an Australian Navy had been a political issue of much importance, and it fell to the lot of a Labour Ministry to place the orders for the first ships, namely, the battle-cruiser Australia, the cruisers Sydney and Melbourne and the submarines A.E.I and A.E.2. . But it was not the political issues that caused anxieties at Darwin. As luck would' have it the Administrator was away when the “fleet” arrived, and what the rest of the officials knew about etiquette in regard to naval occasions was not worth much. There were other, difficulties. Darwin was, and is, a locality in which strikes are almost a continuous accompaniment to industrial affairs. A few months earlier there had been a “general strike” —the cables say there is -to be another there next week—and as the Government was the largest, and (then) almost the only employer of white labour the officials who hadjto support the Government’s rulings and defeat the strikers were not popular. So when an entei-tainment for the visiting sailors, was suggested there was little • enthusiasm in the town. ' ' However, the civil servants determined to welcome the new Australian fleet, but even among them there were jealousies that might have wrecked the efforts at entertainment Being ignorant of etiquette one official thought the best thing was to plead his ignorance and ask the Navy for help. He took another official and the Administrator’s card and set off for the Sydney. They were shown into the captain’s quarters and Captain (afterwards Rear-Admiral) John Glossop, who was in command of the fleet. He and his First Lieutenant put the visitors at fl.eir ease, and told them of all the official niceties required on such occasions. While they were on board a Royal salute was fired in honour of the King’s arrestion, and a loyal toast was given in the less frigid atmosphere of the wardroom where the officers assured the Darwin officials that they would gladly come to a dinner ashore. When the. two returned, however, they found sulkiness among their colleagues because all had not been asked to make the official call and to receiv the official salute. What the Navy said when it heard it was supposed to have given local officials a. Royal salute could only be expressed in Australian vernacular. Of such, however, are the jealousies among his staff that prevent the lot of outpost Administrators from being dull. The men from the warships were given shore leave. They were receiving Australian pay and had been weeks at sea. ’Die jolt' their visit gave to the quiet, isolated township can be well imagined, but for those with the next night’s dinner to provide life was no soft and easy thing. There were no hotels or restaurants willing to do the work at any price. Stores were not too .plentiful and even cutlery and glassware required a lot of judicious “borrowing.” A tower of strength in this emergency was the fat, imperturbable Ah Show, cook and general domineer over the servants at Government House. When white assistance failed, Ah Show-“master” being absent—was'. asked to undertake the job of preparing a full-dress dinner for 150 men. “Can do,” was his laconic reply, and those who knew him were aware that at least food would be provided that would not disgrace the hosts. By guile of which he alone knew the secret Ah Show gathered the stores of fish, meat and- vegetables, and if sundry Darwin housewives missed not only their servants but also many of their provisions they were sports enough to accept it as part of the entertainment. The great event arrived, and, as so often is the case, proved less formidable than had been anticipated. It was a willing go, and when 1 Captain Glossop desired to leave in the - early hours he was good enough to say that his departure need not break up the party. It did not, only one thing could do that. Ah Show decided he and his assistants had to start another day’s work, so they collected the fluids and the glasses and thus removed temptation. Next afternoon the dinner committee heard there were bitter complaints from some of'the Sydney’s officers. Wondering what etiquette had been slaughtered the' committee awaited the call of. the disappointed sailormen. They arrived, one an engineer and the other a gunnery officer. Before the dinner they had been accounted gayest of the gay, and some of the committee began to sense a hoax. Not a bit of it, for with real pain in their voices they requested, in terms that showed they had thoroughly assimilated the Australian language, who the illegitimate person was who had “given them away.” The committee was “bushed, and when the sailors saw this they delivered themselves of their grievance. They were, it appeared, not the model, boys of that cruiser’s complement. Yet the committee, by sheer coincidence, had placed them just opposite Captain Glossop at the dinner table and their thirst remained unquenched until the future Admiral sought his couch. All concerned were glad when the atmosphere was cleared, and the next day the cruiser was thrown open for public inspection. The vessel certainly received it, and respect for naval courtesy and patience was stimulated in all who saw the way the crowds of children and older folk were shown around. In the light of what happened later that year the dinner committee was glad that it was able to comply with the last request of the fleet before. it left for Brisbane. Life in the submarines in tropic seas was fairly trying with a sun temperature of 120 day after day, and the Commander of the A.E.I asked if some frozen beef and a lump of ice could be supplied for ship stores. The order strained the resources of the small freezing plant in Darwin but it was fulfilled and Australia’s fleet slipped out to sea again. Six months later the AJE.I had been lost with all hands off the coast of New Guinea, the A.E.2 was “somewhere in the Mediterranean” preparing for her wonderful passage through the Dardanelles to the Black Sea, and the Sydney had won her spurs by sinking the German cruiser Emden.

It is rather curious that the man who notified the authorities of the Emden’s visit at Cocos Island, Superintendent Farrant, of the Eastern Extension/Telegraph Company, and the former captain of the Sydney should have died within the last few weeks. Admiral Glossop had his share in shaping the Australian Navy. Superintendent Farrant gave him the opportunity of showing that the work had been well done.-