1932-03-17 — Page 7

THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1932.

A Tale of 1917.

RECALLED BY THE PASSING OF A

"TALL SHIP "~.

A VOYAGE IN THE NOW DOOMED "WALMER CASTLE”

A "RIOT" ON THE HIGH SEAS

IN WAR TIME.

By Licut.-Col. R. G. M#117.

Late 36th Silks.

The passing of a "Tall Ship" always awakens pangs of regret to those who have sailed in her, and that was the case with me, when I read in your last Saturday's issue that the Union Castle Walmer Castle is about to be broken up, bought for a song to be torn to pieces, only to re-awaken, perhaps, in the bones of the very latest liner.

So, perhaps a story of a voyage in this very same Walmer Castle, which I was fated to take dur- ing October and November, 1917, will not be with- out interest to your readers.

"Light Duty" in India.

¦

THE

CHINA MAIL.

the

in the

three of these solitary snipe In'stecl? You may have, but the particular destination-the rest of separate cabins, I could not be, Zulus and Basutos most assuredly the convoy were bound for Avon- bothered with Courts Martial, be- did not. So, with the shaving soap mouth and other West Coast com sides, ali men ùra liars and irons dry on one side of my face, I re-mercial porta-we were met by a might enter too deeply into alcoholic turned to my muttons and buttons, flotilla of six destroyers. These Bouls. Permissible, of course, as leaving Colonel P and his adjutant little terriará took us under their far as my authority was concerned; to mop up the mess, reorganize his complete control and off we went for a freight-ship at sea in wartime tribes of naughty niggers and re-again, feeling much safer. is a fortress-(see K.R. & O. for suscitate Oom Paul's nephew from Somewhere off Ushant we part- the A.)

the effect of his mess of pottage. ed company with the rest of the Wonderful Singers.

But, all the same, there was, Ro it convoy, proceeding alone, with The Buck Niggers were wonder- happened, a War On. Discipline three attendant destroyers, up ful singers, I will say that for them. had to be preserved. The pos- channel, They sing Moody and Sankey's in áibility of a recurrence of this sort

"Unterzee Boot." parts in a way I would never have of thing, by judging from the past, Somewhere off Falmouth, or 80 thought possible. Their deep had to be guarded against. So, I judged, there were several watch- throated bases and clear falsettos | crdered a Court of Enquiry, giving ful “Blimps in the sky. Present- echoed across the water, making the | my adjutant, an experienced Indian¦ly, right astern, up bobbed an ‘ün- crew of the P. & O., masquerading Army Captain, a watching brief, terzee boot.'

Stations were as a cruiser, line their taffrall to The blame was, rightly perhaps, order of the moment. These evolu- listen to the melody. These colour-fixed on to the two Basuto and Zulutions had been frequently practié- ed sons of Ham were organised by Chiefs. So, under arrest they went, ed and most devoutly had I pray- tribes. Katin, Basutos, Bechuanas, to the astonishment of their sub-led each time that never might the Bautus and all the other names you crdinate tribesmen who, hitherto, real thing come about. But, here could think of. Our Paget M. "F." had been brought up on the prin-it was! The destroyers scooted) had put the Rasutus in the next deck- ciple that "A King can do no backward and forward astern, put- house to the Zulus, so as to have wrong." So away they were march- ting up a most effective smoke- real FRIENDS nice and close to, ed to the cells to await the conven- screen. The dense smother from cach other. Furthermore, he had ing of a properly-constituted Court their triple stacks making visibility given the Zuhs into the charge of martial.

quite nil from our would-be sink- a nephew of the late Oom Paul! Meanwhile we arrived at Sierra The Speaker Frozen into Silence.

¡er's point of view. Ye Gods! the thought of that piece of Leone. I had not seen that Colonel Sharp barks of 4" guns came knowledge of South African history P., well as he knew the K's R's, across the water to my ears as I whipped like a shambok across my and taken any steps to withdraw stood beside the skipper on the brain-if I ever had any. How removable stores in the shape of bridge, when. Lo and Behold! Up ever, life's a gamble after all and blankets and hammocks, so easily the bridge ladder çame my next- one must take chances, though I Now the Colonel of this sald

disposable over the side of door neighbour at meals must say that this one looked very freight-hip, whose rail is a crowd-saloon; no less a personage than I had gone out to India at the Labour Battalion was 7 certain like opening the bidding with aed, shrieking throng of coloured the Speaker of the Cape Assembly. end of 1916 on what is called Colonel P... an M.P. of some good deal less than two and a half gentlefolk from the south passing Past the sentry he wormed his at- "Light duty." In this particular constituency in the Transvaal He, quick tricks. case it consisted in being Mili- of course, knew all about the pro-

the time of day and night-to the tenuated frame, only to be met by Just A Little Affair. tary Secretary to the Governor of visiona láid down in "King's Regala-

assembly of equally dark-skinned, O.C. Troops at the top of the lad- one of our Indian Provinces. The tions and Orders for the Army," Sure enough, the "Intervener" and nimble-fingered, buxom ladies, der. normal duties included the entire especially those bearing on the care beloved of Culbertson-came out dressed in petticoate and "turbans" "Why are you here?” quoth O.C. control and care of three Govern- and safety of temporary stores in quick and sharp. I was balancing of printed Madras cotton, of more "I want to see the show," apoke ment Houses, with their furni- the shape of blankets and hame-Dyself in my cabin on my game than as many colours

as Jacob's the "Speaker.” ture and equipment. The man-mocks, very saleable articles when leg, the result of the dumping of cost. But I must keep the right "I give you just one minute to agement of a staff of 900 serin harbour at some place like Sierra some foreign lead through my sequence of the game.

get to your stafion on the promen vants. A park of 3,000 acres Leone.

sciatic nerve just in front of the Off we went on the morrow, injade deck," replied O.C. watch in which, through neglect, had been

German wire at Tsingtao in Novem-convoy this time. Zigzagging hand, “or else most surely you will allowed to become the untidy play Colonel P knew all about every-

ber 14, when an excited individual across the ocean, G. K. W. Anxious be in irons." ground of several "sounders" of thing, a regular Paget M. "P." He, rushed into the midst of my efforts to avoid the cruiser Unterzee "How dare you say Chat to me!" wild boar. Three large gardens. of course, could control his Labour to shave myself without removing Booten which, rumour had replied Mr. Speaker. "Don't you Often dinner-parties of over a Battalion, 1750 Buck Niggers, may chin, to report that the Zulus it, was lurking about in know who I am?" hundred on some special occasion officered by what seemed to me the were attacking the Basutos on the the neighbourhood of Dakkar.

"Yes. You're a Speaker, but and, on the top of this light duty very worst lot of scallywags I had after-well deck and that Kruger's Men Overboard! Proceed as Usual. this time I'm doing the talking and --not a bit light if it is done pro- | ever seen. Colonel P could control nephew was lying half dead, having

half a minute's gone already." perly I had to raise, and man- them, too, often had done. So when, had the contents of a large bowl of martial assembled and the verdict tall sadly lowered, down the lad The next morning the Court So, tongue between teeth and age the expenditure of, a War after the third day at sea, he boiling mealle poured over his

was "Guilty" of riot on the high der went the would-be Sightseer. Fund of £175,000 a year brought before me one of these head while attempting to quell the

Keas in war time. made possible only

Sentence, a by Officers and gentlemen, who had just riot. 1. of course, sent for Colonel, month in irons.

Home at Last. His Excellency's personal awakened from a trance brought on and told him to handle his own cumstances quite enough but none same afternoon, in we went past Under the cir- Next morning, or perhaps that prestige, of course and, in from drinking three bottles of beastly mess.

But he had already the less lenient. But the faces of the breakwater. All the familiar the early Spring, just as I was get whisky a day since the ship had tried and net

with that success the chiefs were blackened. Оп ting into the swing of all this and started, i told Captain P that he that a politician talks about 80

their way to the cells, two of them, callow subaltern, I had soldiered sights of the Sound where, as a by dint of a system, finding I had must really deal with the spiritual glibly from the cross benches at a little ppare time, His Excellency welfare of his own officers himself St. Stephens'. So, down I had to tribesmen,

fearing ever again to face, their on first joining the Sherwood For asked me to raise, organise and and that I, as 0.C. Ship, only dealt go. My dressing gown covering "Stop the ship"1

jumped overboard.

jesters, quartered in the Citadel, equip a corps of 500 gardeners to wholesale and was no retail dealer. my khaki "slacks," the only article brethren. But ships in the danger Yelled their.

Pay on Demand. go to "Mespot" to grow vegetables Colonel P was, so he frequently im- of uniform. I had on, to find a jolly, zone and in convey, you don't stop at a desk in the War Office, an Some weeks later, while sitting for the troops who were getting pressed on me, a business man, so

turn up going on. However, the scurvy from lack of fresh, green I thought he would understand bust- Chief Officer was equal to the or action might endanger thousands. Branch, was brought in to me. to save two lives, when auch an official envelope from the Q.M.G.'s. food. This, of course, acted like

nese terms. He might have under-casion-more power to his elbow! Ropes were seen being cast from The contents, in the shape of a "T.N.T." on my hopes of an

stood how to deal with men when he So, having got together six British our next astern, but all to no pur letter signed by some Q.M.G. sec- casional "letup." So it was hardly had a 'Veldt' on to which he could N.C.O.'s who, with fixed bayonets, pose. I, of course, made a signal tion, demanded that I, as respon- turn adrift undesirable employees, drove the melee, regardless of any to the Captain of the escorting sible for the stores on board the but there is no 'Veldt' handy that I tribal distinction, into the two deck cruiser asking for orders, for the have ever seen in the South Atlantic houses, the Chief Officer bored matter had passed out of my con- freight ship Walmer Castle, should Ocean.

On the morrow, the stage holes in the doors of those about. trol and had become a "Brigade, such impossible sum) for loss of forthwith pay up. £187 (or some In company with the Bodyguard Prohibition!

was set for the same scene again. to-be watery infernos and through affair. The answer came back No Local Option! these holes he forcibly and accur- simply and sternly, "Proceed as

{blankets and hammocks during the Commander, who Was suffering was my verdict. So, into a spare ately directed the ship's hoses with usual"! from continued malaria, contracted cabin, behind a firmly locked door, a good head of pressure in them. ther rioting.

And, there was no fur-yoyage from Capetown to Plymouth in accordance with paras so-and- There might have in "Meapot" the whole of the per- the key in my Adjutant's pocket, Have you ever stood up against a

so K's R's. been attempts to rescue from cells were war-crocks- went the three-bottle-temporary-

ship's hose turned full in your face but the sea had not yet resched

I replied that, since there was reached Capetown about the second gent, there dispirited, to indulge in with the salt water of the cold, the time to give up her dead.

only one unit on board, in accord- week in October, 1917; having been spiritual reflections. conveyed there in a hospital ship, we reached Plymouth there

By the time South Atlantic coming out of it

like a two-inch bar of cold wet tic, 500 miles from Plymouth, our signed for the said costly articles Somewhere in the North Atlan-ance with the next two paras, the O.C. of the unit could and had the Delto. I think. This ship was commanded by a territorial R.A.M,C. Major who, even on the programme of the concerts he got up so fre quently and at which he sang .80 well, was always called "0.0. Troops."

oc-

to be wondered at that, being in continual pain from a very severe wound, I was invalided home in the -Autumn, owing, in the main, te too

much "Light Duty."

sonal staff

Capetown.

After a week in Capetown, a week I do not look back on with any re- gret at all, but which is not really part of this tale, I embarked on board the Walmer Castle which had been chartered as a "Freight ship," a nasty neither-one-thing-nor-the-. other sort of business, combining, as It does, all the worst parts of passenger ship and a "Trooper.”

Homeward Bound.

Own

Three-Bottle Men.

were

KOWLOON RESIDENTS'

The first meeting of the new General Committee of the Kowloon Residents' Association was held on Monday night, when matters brought up by members at the Annual General Meeting were dis- cussed.

After the President, the Rev. W. W. Rogers, had welcomed the new members of the Committee, and the usual routine business had been dealt with, the various stand- ing aub-committees for the year were appointed, as follows:

Paygrounds

ASSOCIATION

subscription for Life Membership shall be Twenty dollars"; the hope was expressed that as many mem- bers as possible would take advant age of this method of avoiding the inconvenience attendant on collect ing the small annual subscription, and in this connection members are reminded that the subscription for 1982 is now due, and, should be forwarded to the Hon. Treasurer, Mr. R. Pestonji, c/o Messrs. Benjamin and Potts.

Smoke Nuisance.

and was the sole responsible per-

son.

And that was the last I heard of that. But I have frequently wondered. i

BARRING GATE-CRASHERS A CENTURY AGO.

sional Superintendent of Police, with a view to it being tried out experimentally. Arising from, this discussion, the dangerous habit, among school children of boarding and leaving buses while in motion When St. Katherine's Dock and travelling on bus steps was was opened in 1828, precautiona commented on; the Association ap- were taken against the gate peals to the parents and the various crasher. In The Port of London School authorities to endeavour to Authority Monthly for January instil the dangers of this practice quotations are given from the Into the minds of the children... official papers setting forth pre-{

parations for the ceremony.A

Miscellaneous.

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THE

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After being on board for about

Other business dealt with in- century ago, they called a cere- half an hour a staff officer came up

The next business on the agenda, cluded a letter of appreciation monial luncheon a "collation," to me and said:-

Messrs. E. Cock, H. F. Un, H. F. also arising from the General from the Yaumati Ferry Co. for and instructions were "You are 0. C. Troops.

Bunje and Li Chor-chi. Please

Meeting, was the question of the the efforts of the Association to lows:- select your

Adjutant

Bathing Facilities. and Quartermaster from among the in-

Messra. C. M. Manners, G. V. T. valid Officers on board."

Marshall, R. T. Barrett and Dr. Now, the Staff at the Cape had R. A. de Castro Banto. had a full week to think about this,

New Territories Produce, so they might just as well have Mow Furig, L. D'Almada e Castro Messra, C. M. Manners, F. C. warned me a day or two beforehand. However, an order is an order, Jr. and G. V. T. Marshall.

Publication

Was

fortunate as regards the Adjutant and on board ship with

(also in square.pinte

and flasks)

smoke from the Cement works, wards improving traffic facilities. “With a view to general con- which gave rise to a protracted dis- at the Yaumat! Ferry Approach, a venlence, it is earnestly request cassion. All angles of the ques-letter from Sir Henry Pollock ac ed that the Company will not tion were fully ventilated, and knowlegding with thanks hix else. move towards the Collation- from the evidence reviewed there tion as an Honorary Life Member Rooms, until the Directors and nuisance occasioned by this smoketion with regard to the establish have entered the building, and, appeared no doubt that an actual of the Association, and an applies- Visitors who accompany them

exiata. It was finally decided to❘ ment of a bus stop at the La Salle as seats have been provided Messrs F. C. Mow Fung, E. ernment, and ascertain whether in stop would be of considerable bene-ly solicited that the Company

put the question before the Gov College. It was agreed that this for each person, it is particular. V.E.S.O.P. a lot of temporary stores in one's Cock, and C. M. Hall.

view of the repeated complaints fit, and that the authorities should will abstain from pressing for hands, and no time for drill-the ed to represant the Association on contemplated, and whether Gov- jacent to the college entrance, trance doors, The Table-cards Mr. E. C. Tregillus was appoint in this regard any action was be requested to instal a stop ad- ward, or crowding at the en more important Quartermaster; the the committes of the S.F.C.A., andernment would consider obtaining latter, in the shape of a Captain it was decided that the two repre- axpert advics as to the Zeasibility traffic reorganisation at the "Star" point out the Table and Place In view of the fact that the delivered upon admission, will and Quartermaster of the R.A.M.C.

& regular this time, who knew his sentatives on the Committee of of eradicating the nuisance Ferry Approach has proved to be which have been appropriated to job to the Nth, et

the N.T. Agricultural Asso-Ban Traffic

satisfactory, it was agreed that the each Person, and it is requested clation should be nominated by the The point raised at the General prov of cavered ways might that such Cards may N. T. Produce Sub-Committee.

the bus for Production on read Subscription

provide landing places leadi

After he had been appointed about

half an hour he reported to me that res had already been

CO of the Tabour to passed at

In accordance only, unit Me on board. Which please note, read, Inwardly digest for future

Mesting as to the danger pulling out and passi

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