THE PRINCE’S VOYAGE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160641, 3 May 1920, Page 6

THE PRINCE’S VOYAGE.

SCENES AND PICTUBES.

(By John Sandes.) H.M.S. Renown, April 28

There is no doubt whatever that “H.R.H.” as he is al'tvays called on board ship, was pretty homesick on leaving England. In fact he admitted it himself. It was no light undertaking for him to separate himself from his home life at York House, from his Royal parents, his brothers and sister and his intimate friends, in order to make new friends on the other side of the globe. He was full of regrets as the Renown left Portsmouth. One could see it in a certain as he looked out towards the shores of Southsea slipping past, and the dark crowds of people calling their farewells, until night closed in blotting them from sight, and nothing could be seen but the lights of the destroyers escorting the Renown down Channel to the Atlantic. The people of England have a

VERY REAL LOVE

and admiration for the Prince of Wales, and he knows it. It is not an easy or a pleasant thing for either prince or peasant to cut adrift those ties and travel out to the other side of the world. But H.R.H. has the priceless gift of youth. His buoyant resiliency speedily threw off the sadness of farewells, and very soon he was to he seen on the starboard side of the upper deck, reserved for himself and his staff, reading, chatting or taking one or other of the various fojrms of exercise that he practises in order to "Treep fit.” For the Prince

“KEEPING PIT”

is a pore and holy passion. In order to achieve his object he will run round his promenade deck for half an hour at a time, dressed in. thick grey woollen jersey and flannel running shorts. He will also play squash racquets in the racquet court on the superstructure, and all of us who have tried it know that the game, especially when played in hot weather, is v;ery solid work 'indeed. For variety H.R.H. has a mechanical boat in which he practices rowing, and a heavy “medicine ball” which he throws about with Hie members of his staff. Shooting eiay pigeons from a trap with a shotgun is more a diversion than an exercise, but it is good training for the eye, and the Prince gets his “bird” a good deal more often than he misses. With all these various methods of keeping fit in constant use, it is small wonder that the Prince is perpetually in that enviable condition known colloquially as “in the pink.” A pair of brighter eybs or a clearer complexion one may travel’ half-way round the world, as we have done, and fail to find. ; ‘ Steaming past Flores in tha

Azores, where, the little Revenge fought her last fight, which Tennyson described in the most stirring poem that he ever wrote, we came at last to 'the ancient and loyal colony of Barbados, and there, after ten days at sea in an exclusively masculine society, the Prince decided to give a

DANCE ON BOARD

on the evening of arrival. Things are done quickly on a British battle cruiser when Royalty gives the by wireless when the Renown was still at sea,r-and in two hours from the moment when the anchors were let go the ship was transformed from a battle cruiser into a bower, and the Prince was entertaining Sir Charles O'Brien, the Governor, with Lady O’Brien, and a select party of Barbadian notables at dinner, preparatory to welcoming a gathering of joyous young people on board for the dance. How he did enjoy that dance! It was like coming to a cool oasis with wells and graceful palms after long desert travel. Dressed in simple white mess-| jacket, with Ms war ribbons, and in dark trousers with a broad gold stripe down each leg, the Prince received the pretty Barbadian girls on his promenade deck and danced with them on the starboard side of the reception deck, while sapper was laid on the port side, Barbados is a prosperous place now for sugarplanters, owing to the fabulous prices that the world is prepared to pay for its sweet stuff. The pretty Barbadian girls have wealthy papas, and these wealthy papaß made no difficulty about paying for exquisite toilettes from Paris, London, and New York. Therefore, the Barbadian girls did their share towards the completion of the scheme of decoration, and the Prince danced with them with

UNFEIGNED ENJOYMENT,

threading his path with graceful skill among the members of his staff and the officers of the Renown, who were similarly engaged. That dance was a huge success, and the Barbadian girls will never forget it. But It ended soon after midnight, for there was much to do next day. H.R.H was ashore at 10 o’clock in the morning, for his official landing, which, blurred now by time and distance resolves itself into a picture of a little knot of figures in white uniforms and helmets and ladies in cool muslin dresses, entirely surrounded by a sea of grinning scurrying racing coloured people. The loyal address in the House of Assembly and the reply of the Prince to the assembled elite of Bridgetown preceded a

MOTOR DRIVE ACROSS THE ISLAND,

in which the Prince had an opportunity of seeing how the planters live and also how the coloured people live. Inspecting fuzzywnzzies of the West Indian Regiment, Barbadian girl-guides, returned soldiers (white), school children, and jn fact every man, woman and child in the place. Occupied the attention of H.R.H. until the Governor's State dinner at Government House, after which there was a ball of dimensions and magnificence never seen before in the long history of the ancient and loyal colony of Barbados, which was founded in the reign of James the First. At 1 a.m., the Prince departed for the ship, amid salvoes of cheering, after a day that would try the constitution of a locomotive. The wonder of the .

PANAMA CANAL

has often been described. All that need be said is that the Prince, like everybody else on board, was tremendously impressed by the ease, speed and efficiency with which the giant battle cruiser was lifted a height of 85 feet up the three great steps of the Gatun locks and launched upon the waters of Gatun Lake, an inland sea that now flows over the jungle where Balboa pioneered a track, where Drake marched to attack the Spanish town of Nombre de Dios, and where Morgan, the buccaneer, advanced to sack Old Panama. H.R.H, was shown through the Canal by Colonel Harding, the American Governor of the Canal zone. He also received at Gatun the President of the Panama Republic, Senor Ernesto Zefevre, who afterwards entertained him at a

GREAT STATE BANQUET

at Panama, followed by a ball at which darkeyed Panamanian Senoritas for the most part looked on wistfully, while American girls danced all their might. It was Holy Week when the Renown was at Panama, and one stepping in Holy Week is not “en regie” among the Panamanian ladies. A few of them, however, managed to reconcile it with their conscience to have “just one.”’ H.R.H. was delighted with the warm welcome that he received at lovely San Diego, on the coast of Southern California, where American destroyers and squadrons of aeroplanes came racing

OUT OP THE MORNING MISTS to escort the Renown into the roadstead. Although San Diego has a population of only 80,000 people, that population imprints as big a mark, and makes as loud a noise as any European city of 1,000.000 people. An abiding memory-sketch of the

PRINCE AT SAN DIEGO shows Mm standing up in a motor car saluting about half the population of the city, assembled in the Stadium, an immense open-air structure on the model of an ancient Roman amphitheatre, with tier upon tier of stone seats overlooking a central arena. The Prince, with the Governor of California beside him, was driven round that arena in a motor car so that every sou! present could get a good view of him. When they cheered him he stood up, dressed in white uniform laced with gold and a white helmet, and saluted them with a princely grace that made them ,cheer again and again. For all their Republicanism the Americans. have a soft spot in their hearts for the English prince, who has captivated their imagination. At Honolulu, too, he was received With every mark of honour and regard. The Princess, who is one of the last remaining representatives of the deposed Hawaiian dynasty, organised a , „ :T

• WONDERFUL MIDNIGHT FEAST in his honour at Pearl Island Peninsula. Another ineffaceable recollection of H.R.H. reveals him Bitting garlanded with flowers at a Hawaiian banquet, surrounded by long lines of Hawaiian women in ceremonial garb, and by a bodyguard of Hawaiian men, armed with tepn-sticks, while a concourse of officers of the Renown and European and American ladies, “en grande tenue” with diamonds and flowers, sat cross-legged at the tables under a spreading obnoni tree in an illuminated Hawaiian garden. It is startling to turn from that unreal looking figure to the next picture, ‘ which shows the Prince at the ceremonies of ' CROSSING THE LINE” on board the Renown, being lathered and shaved and, pitched head over l.eshs into a long tank of sea water, theie to be ducked “thrice three times,” according to ritual, by Neptune’s “bears.” A sportsman and a man is H.R.H,., and every soul on the Renown knows it. Coming to Fiji he received a loyal welcome from that little colony of whites —many of them born in Fiji, and some,, of them having never been out of it in their lives. H.R.H. took a keen interest in the native Fijians, and having DRANK A COT OP KAYA at the great “moke" held in his honour, went away with the Governor and his aide to pay a quiet visit to a native village in the bush, where the round-eyed brownskinned Fijian children sought shyly to make friends with him, owning to the sway of his personality in common with the people of every country that he has visited since the Renown left Portsmouth. And so southward to Auckland—■ at 23% knots an hour, for the Renown must get there in time for the welcome which awaits the heir to the Crown from the Britain of the South.