KING IN THE NAVY.

Waipa Post, Volume 39, Issue 3087, 10 December 1929, Page 3

KING IN THE NAVY.

How the King, as a young naval lieutenant, saved a disabled warship from being dashed on the rocks on the Irish coast is revealed by Sir George Arthur in his book, “ King George V.: a Sketch of a Great Ruler,” extracts from which are published in the London “ Daily Chronicle.”

The occasion was the naval manoeuvres of 1889. Prince George (as the King was then) was in command of torpedo-boat No. 79. ’ He was only 24, and it was his first independent command. Torpedo-boat No. 79, with two other torpedo-boats, had to make Rathmullen, on Lough Swilly, for a rendezvous with a senior officer. No. 79 turned up at daylight one morning, and her commander reported that one of his consorts had broken down and was anchored on a lee shore not far from the rocks. He had tried to tow her off, but had carried away his only hawser, and nothing could be done but leave her there with the third boat standing by while he came in for fresh ropes. The position was so fraught with peril that the senior officer’s impulse was to proceed himself to the scene and superintend the salvage. Prince George, however, begged to be allowed to try again, and, supplied with new hawser, he took his ship out again in the teeth of a heavy gale and high seas. Prince George and his crew had been up all the previous night grappling with a tough job in rough weather, but by bold initiative, nerves of steel, and skilful seamanship, he was able to salve his sister ship and tow her to her harbour mooring.