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Show FIGHTING COMMODORE SHIFTS HIS FLAG TO ANOTHER BATTLESHIP Loss or' Plucky Arethusa Only Causes Admiral to Roam North Sea With Chip on His Shoulder. "THE FIGHTING FLEETS." By RALPH D. PAINE. (Copyright, 1918, by Ralph D. Paine.) 'By special arrangement with Hoturhton Mifflin Co.) in these sayings and doings of the English Eng-lish admirals." x He spoke in behalf of Englishman, but the world lias changed since then, and the fame of great admirals, both British and American, has become a joint heritage of the Anglo-Saxon race. In tho royal navy you will tlnd ungrudging admiration ad-miration for those splendid captains and their matchless frigates, Isaac Hull in the Constitution, Stephen Decatur in the United States, whose victories in single-ship single-ship actions consoled Americans for some rather sorry defeats by land. Ancient Hostilities Forgotten by Men. The two navies fought it out and have forgotten the ancient hostilities and grievances which are still fed and fostered fos-tered in the innocent minds of our children chil-dren by rancorous school books. These ignore the fact that the impressment of seamen, over which the war of 1812 was fought, had become as intolerable to the English people as it was to the American republic. It was an Englishman who denounced de-nounced the system as "striking at the very foundations of domestic life and bringing to thousands of households a poverty as bitter and grief as poignant as death. The nature of the thing which they had cherished so blindly filled them with rage and incited thein to violence. The war with America, Amer-ica, incurred for the sole purpose of upholding up-holding the right of impressment, taught them tjie lengths to which their rulers were still prepared to go in order to enslave en-slave them." This old admiralty building is mellowed by tradition and filled with . memorable associations. There is no bustling haste in the halls and passages which seem to wind at random, nor up and down the stairways whose stones are deeply worn. Naval officers enter and depart with (Continued on Page Two.) INSTALMENT 41. . Hands Across the Sea. THIS righting commodore shifted his flag to another new cruiser when the plucky Arethusa met her finish, fin-ish, and he continued lo roam the North sea with a chip on his shoulder. His was a more fortunate destiny des-tiny than that vouchsafed the grand fleet of which Admiraj Beatty said, in humorous humor-ous protest, after a year of war: "The navy started In with a whoop of joy. We were at last to put lo the proof the weapon which we had spent many weary years in perfecting, the weapon which many thousands of distinguished distin-guished men had given their lives In making efficient, and we congratulated ourselves upon the opportunity which was thrown into our hands to prove to the world that the British navy was an absolutely ab-solutely incalculable factor. Wc started full of promise of what we were about to do, but the promise has fallen away. We thought we were going to follow in the footsteps of the heroes of a hundred years ago, but what has been the result? We have barged about the North sea, missing mines and dodging submarines, and our patrol vessels have, kept our harbors har-bors intact." Massive Gateway Guards Admiralty. Behind a massive gateway of the vast and rambling government buildings of Whitehall is the admiralty. These gray stone walls, darkened by age and London smoke, will quicken the imagination of a visitor who is at all familiar with the influence of sea power, past and present. "The lords of the admiralty" is a resounding re-sounding phrase. It recalls Stevenson's contention that "if the Indian empire, tne trade of London and all the outward and visible ensigns of our greatness should pass away, we should still leave behind us a durable monument of what we were FIGHTING OFFICER SHIFTS HISLAG (Continued from Page One.) orders which may send them to the Orkneys Ork-neys and the gTand fleet, to the Mediterranean, Mediter-ranean, to the Indian ocean or to the South seas. Wherever the salt water If deep enough to float a keet, British ships of w t are moving in obedience to the com man da t ransmit tod from these quiet and dingy rooms. in one of them is tho Urst Bea lord, but the. man who succeeded Jelllcoe. Is not apt to be founu Rented at his desk unless there are papers to slum He prefers to stand while lie tallis. or to move about the room when hie mind Is busy with its problems, pulling n silver olgftrette case from his pocket, screwing a monocle Into his eye or WtrUng It ;it the end of a cmd. Opportunity Grasped by Admiral Wemyss. The American stane not wlllisiauditm. an Englishman can be manly, brgve and Unaffected and yet wear a single cyc-gltffig, cyc-gltffig, Admiral Hir KosMyn Wemyss reminds Otie of Roosevelt lii his Intense, lyn;unle energy of manner and capacity fdr1 work. The war gave him his opportunity. He won It in the Meillternin!in. dUflng the 1 tarda nettes campaign, when: great e? reputation wen- damaged beyond repair, Tn a record of events otherwise disastrous, disas-trous, his achievement! were conspicuous ly successful. rii t ii he was rewarded with the command of the Mediterranean naval forces, tjr was Minost unknown to the public. (To bo continued) |
