COMIC OPERA NAVY.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7752, 22 July 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

COMIC OPERA NAVY.

-•jj STORIES OF THE TURKf ISH FLEET. [(o nipono were to write an offl..(l,ry of th#* Turkish Navy dur|,.ist quarter of a century or volume would be one of the j, U inoroUß publications of the j or tin? Sultan's fleet has been |0 f ;t fun raising institution than yinjc ioncern. and many a rolU r tory is to be told of the pemismanagement, ineompet,n’<! Kt-iic■ r;il muddling that has • this most unseaworthy service L.. It is no navy at all in tlie Zfj sense of the world—only a o sale assortment of odds and lD tie- warship line which the -s advisers picked up now and , when there was a little mon- • the uni inn's coffers that needed they had bought their ship jurkish Admiralty did not bothjjcii about (pending any more on Imr. Overhauling and retoga ship was a matter for which I could not spare any gokt Of jf. the ships were overhauled oflli but in Turkey, w hen money is jfnr ihe overhaul of warships, vaisliips remain as they*“were, ionic one in authority finds himfiih a much-swollen bank book. UI is why the Sultan's fleet conifor the greater part of floating held together by a few w ml rivets. It is not likely that c! these vessels will distinguish «dves in this campaign. Indeed, tiro not many of thorn left now fttineuisli themselves, for* our ptal K's have had quito a busy toff t'onstnntinoplo. EVANISHING HATTLESHIP. is ji yarn about e, Turksli tr who was rowing over to his | : on old battleship dating from Crimean war ora By way of K>;dk Ins heat ns it came along* t the Turk used his boat-hook i-jttlie side of the battleship, hut i piling was so rotten that the e-book went right through, whercnso it is related, the Turkish rament gave strict orders that tr warships were not to bo prodIfith boat-hooks on any account. a mailed such a lot of patches If put ('ll! I T n tl" re is the perfectly true sto. : the Turkish warship which had wooden propeller shaft—her capS having sold the original steel ti it s<rap iron prices at a time prsonnl financial embarrassment, equally authentic is the tale of the r- hip which was laid down at maotinoole about twenty years i After she had been a year or ion the stocks, progress was susiri for lack of funds. Shortly krwards. the Kaiser, who was then ft wooing the Turk, was billed to kt Constantinople in the capacitv !t> friend of Islam and the Turkk Governniftif. which had then by ■a- of a loan from Germany conic ifunds again, decided to complete t-iilp. and have her launched by IAII-Highest when he paid liis visBut when they went to the buildfd'r to look for the ship not a r </ her remained! Everything I 1 i 'I 1 tied peculated by those ict in power in the Turkish Ad•lty on the shores of the Golden PAVING THEIR WAY. .*f |km file know Kipling's story Tl'* Ship that Found Herself.” ms flu* story of a Turkish war'i;at almost lost herself—through "evaporation” process. r| i r. with a number of Turk f ' I mi hoard, was despatched Constantinople to the Atlantic in educational trip. The hoar , 'i’i.iVfnr right enough, hut ■onio reason never went through ■'rails into (lie Atlantic. Instead. W| l»led back towards the home- , v,; i Hr** northern coast of Africa. 3 time tin* officers on board had < 1 P'* ant tri|> with heaps of mil education, no doubt! along ! u-ics of ilio Mediterranean, un- < day it was discovered that 1 funds were exhausted The lfately wired to Con 1 ’••i l. for money, but Constant- “ paid no heed to hi 3 request, so 4 ’• inde<* 1 was a pretty pass— * of miles from home and j i a council of war was held . :r 'i and as the outcome of a | ■ f .'o j'ostion of one of those i f was decided to sell part of ( “I machinery to the proprie- ; ■:i sugar factory in one of the t town This was done, and ' money thus secured the 1 1 acquired a new lease of life s ' ,!|l I a little further home- 1 1 11 the funds gave out again. ' Cll of war. This time < - v ‘ ■ that a couple of small ) nail value t<> the slifp’a ■ I were knocl • •<! down to , ■- • I bidder. Further along tJ 1 H •• Sultan of Morocco took f ’" Hie hip’s searchlights, and a "F <•’ articles, and the impe- , • t ; .fain saw no reason why '••i Minuld he disappointed in v 1° ‘ • pccially as lie had the s to pr»v. Consequently when * " ' left that port It bad no ' 1 and at port after port 0 Jilt’ trifles changed hands. ° • ' >r ter n long feries of minin* j " f :,!l : a’es, the cruiser, with f a tug, crept back to Conin gprend the tale that ( ' * most of her fittings In h ' ■ *r'ii. Whether the populace lory cr rot Is not v f thev were so mighty glad I 1 *»* old friend return—they :l ' s-nce given her up for lost j 1 gave her n splendid re- 1 l! r '>in could not have In von* yam, and yet it f.i per--0 ' • MALTA DISAPPEARED! fi ‘‘mporary history also records i,

another wonderful cruise by a Turk* ish warship. A gunboat had been stationed for years off Chanak, at the Narrows in the Dardanelles. So long had it remained there, with its anchors down and a first-rate collection of barnacles '■ on its bottom, that the people beagn ■ to doubt if it would ever be able to r move again. Just to satisfy the 0 doubting Thomases the Government 0 decided to send the vessel on a cruise tl through the Aegean and the Medit* 11 erranean to Malta. Accordingly the ■ boat got up steam and started off. • But the lengthy rustication on • shore had made land-lubbers of the • officers and crew, and when they left c the shelter of the Straits they found 2 the buffetings of the open sea hardly a to their liking. For a day or two 1 they tossed about, green with sea--0 sickness, and then deciding that they ‘ had had enough turned about and • made for home, where the captain 1 made the amazing report that the Island of Malta, the vessel's port of 1 call, had disappeared-' Of course it so happens that the lo* ‘ cation of Malta is a somewhat uncer- ' tain quality. When the island came 1 into our possession it was originally f regarded as part of Africa. Conse* ' Quently when our troops wore sent to 3 garrison the place they demanded the • oxtra pay to which they were entitled > foi service “outside the confines ot Europe, ’’ whereupon the British Gov* • eminent, with a sublime meanness, promptly passed an aH of Pariia- ' ment whereby Malta ceased to be Inr | eluded In Africa, and became part of •Europe. 1 Still that Turkish gunboat ought • to have been able to locate the island [ despite its inter-Continental wander- ’ Ings. IN THE PERSIAN GI’LF. Another gunboat episode comes I from the Persian Gulf region. in U 1901, Germany, busy with the construction of the Bagdad railway, was anxious to secure the right of building the line down to the semEindependent town of Koweit, on the upper reaches of the Gulf, where the ! depth of wuter was sufficient to ensure th:it the railway terminus would be linked up with a steamship service. The difficulty of Germany, however, was that the sheik of Koweit refused to obey the order of Ills nominal over.lord the Sultan, and would not grant I the Germans their desire. In this he had the support of Britain, who intimated that ‘f Turkish troops were sent to occupy Koweit we would Land marines. Foiled diplomatically and by land, file Turks determined to make an attempt on the much-desired town from the sea. and plant tho Turkish flag over the place. Fo one day a gunboat from Basra stole quietly down the Shat-el-Arab. intending to arrive at Koweit unhindered, and bring off its coup before Britain or anyone else could interfere. It got to Koweit all right, but found three British cruisers there before it! Checkmate. The decrepit, ancient gunboat could do nothing in face of the opposition, but the brilliant commander decided to wait till and then, under cover of darkness when the British ships would be asleep, send ashore a landing party to hoist the Crescent over the town. But lie reckoned without modern naval equipment, for when it began to grow dark the British ships turned their searchlights on tho Turkish boat, and kept it under their gaze till daylight came. Then the little pop-gun boat got up steam and slunk away back to Basi l, its commanders no doubt madly wondering why ris superiors at Constantinople had never told him about such thing a scn.rehlights. ANOTHER LITTLE COMEDY. in 191)7 Turkey placed an order with an JtaF.m firm for the construction oi a cruiser to bear the name of “Abdul tut Damned'*- iffiemlly Abdul Homid. Next year, however, that, old scoundrel was deposed, and so the name of Hm srip Jiad to be changed. It was called the Drama, and round that part cular Drama there hangs a comedy, for before treship was quite completed Italy declared war on Turkey, and naturally helped herself to the eruisY adding mmilt to injury l.y n,naming it the Libia, alter part of the North African territory they eaptur- ( cd from tie Ottomans. Only on one occasion lias the comic . opera sp lit of the Turkish Navy been of service to tho Turks. This was ( back in I Sift), when the Su'tan was , at war with Russia. The Russian fleet . had been cruising off the entrance to , the Bosphorus, and there was consid- . ora bio panic in high official quartern, m it was kn >nn that for years past , the money which should have gone to- . wards the maintenance and improve- ( mint of the Bosphorus torts had been systi mutu ally pocketed by various Ad- i nuralty members, and the defences f were consequently in a shockingly had ] condition and quite incapable of proventing the Russian fleet from sailing ( But the governor or general in charge ,s of the forts achieved a brilliant piece < of bluff. He had all the lorts. old r fashioned and inadequent'y defended 1 as they were, wliiewashed to give them I . adding in Inioftsu.iniy hz hzbzber « lie appearance of having been rono- I voted and brought lip to date. That ! saved the situation. When the Bus- i s on. s aw those nice looking forts t they thought the Turks had 'turned i over a new leaf and ho they sheer d off. Whitewash saved Constantinople in 1829.