1919-12-01 — Page 10

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THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1919.

Memorial arch erected at Tien-an-men, Peking, on the anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese Republic.

President Wilson and a group of Governors appointed to investigate the high cost of Jiving,

DOROTHY BURNS

Miss Dorothy Burns, cham- pion rough water swimmer of Los Angeles. She took the cup in the recent Los Angeles water carnival

Hawaiian bala-hula girls entertaining naval men.

Three of gun crew that fired the first American shot against the Germans.

THE MOLE "DISASTER."

SIR R. BACON'S COMMENT ON FAMOUS ATTACK.

with their

Often they stood unarmed as out- posts in the Straits of Dover, with neither gua to fight nor speed 10 |avoid the German destroyers.

The trawlers, with their brother fisherfolk, ewept for mines at the If you suddenly learned that rate of 250 miles a day, and dur- at our most vulnerable point, ining the first three years of the some of the most critical moments war swept a total distance equival- ent to 12 times round the earth! of the late war, Great Britain was these men saw their comrades being guarded by two men and a boy, armed with two pop-guns,

blown up, and yet went on steadily one of which was

away for and unfalteringly duties. repairs, you would experience something of the thrill given by Of regular Navy boats-except Admiral Bacon's book, "The for monitors, of whose navigating Dover Patrol, 1915-17," published eccentricities Admiral Bacon tells by Messrs. Hutchinson acd Co. some amusing stories-there were (348. net).

few

The interesting feature is the For the one fact that stands phenomenal small out most clearly in these fascina-destroyers with 4in. guns in the force of ting volumes is that for the very Patrol. For two years, four was gate of England, from which we the greatest number available. had to send every man and every and once we were reduced to cartridge, and every mouthful of single 4in. gun destroyer to hold food for the fighting line in France, the Admiralty could only spare a few odds and ends of obsolete vessels, because, for a chance that never came, we hid away at Scapa all our boasted naval strength. And yet the Dover Patrol was the one unit of the Fleet that was always in touch with the enemy.

Admiral Bacon is a sailor, and ready to carry on cheerfully and improvise good-humouredly with - two men and a boy, if my lords of the Admiralty could spare him nothing more. But his facts are startling.

How splendidly he was served by his men he is eager to tell:-

The men were mostly pisin fisher folk; the vessels ordinary fishing craft. The little drifter with the armament of a single rifle and a few rounds of ammuni- tian who used to accompany us on our bombardments and be shelled with apparent enjoyment, had crews of hardy fellows who were seamen in the truest sense.

the Straits, with a dozen or more shrapnel from the fragments of Evans with two small torpedo) After assuming that plans for while he held the Dover com- German boats barely 60 miles burst cyliner heads, and the es- Dosis off Ostend to fire two running the huge pontoons (laden mand, though the actual opera- away, each superior in armament capes of the engine room staff bouquets of 100 rockets each to with troops, guns and tanks) end tions were carried out by his On these affairs his to our single boat.

were miraculous.. When they give the military command some-on to the shore had been safely successor. Little wonder that, with all did not burst they usually would thing to think about,

and that accomplished,

the comment is: their cheery confidence, the men not start and when once started How plans were made for the monitors were keeping the Ger- It is impossible to have a better of the Dover Patrol, up against no one liked to stop them for fear landing of the 1st Division on the man shore batteries amused, he example of how want of experi

ence wrecked a scheme:... In- the war as no other part of the of not being able to start them Belgian coast in 1917, with tanks continues:

and guns, forms one of Admiral One Fell, and the first 400 troops. stead of this operation. the last Navy was, sometimes coveted, at again. least, one of the countless boats It was when a new captain bad (Bacon's most interesting chapters. burst ashore. The tanks began naval operation of the war, being boarded and cherished in other her in a gale in mid-Caandel, and Huge pontoons, which were in to move, and almos: at once a model, a classical model, the harbours for away from the work. she was doing everything Fut reality 2,500 ton ships, were con- reached the wall. Then a tense Mole landing was a disaster; and But Admiral Bacon made the steer, that the Admiral wirelesed structed, and the scheme con-excitement, the tracks gripped. Ostend, after your having patroll- best of things-and what a jolly him to cheer him up, "The templated the landing of 16,000 up the tanks climbed....A flood ad close to it for nearly a year good best it was we can reailse Marshal Ney usually navigates men in 20 minutes. A replica of of troops swarmed over the well, and a half, was not found on the now when we know how much he the waters of the Patrol side- the Middiekerke sea wall that and the action began. As soon only occasion when it was really

would have to be tackled was set as the troops were clear, carts, necessary. dia for our national safety with ways."

Unable with the forces at his up in France, and tanks were gunlimbers and sledges began to This gives such a new version such inadequate means-and the cheery spirit in which he writes disposal to fight the enemy, as taught to climb it.

move off the pontoons... Such of operations which the public is well illustrated by his descript-his sailor's heart urged him to do. Admiral Bacon gives a vivid is the description of what it was had been led to regard as naval ion of the monitors that were Admiral Bacon was reduced to account of the landing as it was hoped would happen, but, alas, it triumphs that, making all allow- entrusted to him. The Marshal bluffing them, and he has some to have been, but our troubles on never came of!"

saces for the disappointment of a Ney was a special pet-

amusing stories to tell of this: the Passchendale Ridge made Of the plans for the famous man suddenly superseded after Her engines not infrequently To give the enemy a fright and the proposed combined attack attack on Zeebrugge and Ostend he had planned the attacks, we exploded when asked to start, her to give a wakeful night to several impossible, and the scheme was Admiral Bacon has much to say, have probably not heard the last engine room was scarred as if by thousand men, I sent Commander never brought off.

since these were all worked out of the matter.

DO NOS OF THE DUFFS,

GOOD NIGHT, DADDY!

AIL READY FOR BED 'EN? WELL, YOU WANT TO PICK UP YOUR TNS AND PUT

THEM AWAY BEFORE

You Go UP-

And Just Think Danny is not Quite Three Years Old.

AW, DADEN, WHAT FOR?- I'LL WANT 'EM TOMORROW

ANY WAY

·ON BUT YOU MUST PUT THE ANIMALS BACK IN THE ARK FOR THE NIGHT* THEY MUST HAVE. SOME

PLACE TO SLEEP

"Too-

1 Thought You ONLY PUT THE ANIMALS

IN THE ARK WHEN

IT” RAINS, DADOY?

WELL, YOU SEE, IT MIGHT RAIN DURING THE AIGHT-

CAN YOU TELL ME WHO

BUILT THE ARK?

NAW

BY ALLMAN.

YOU'RE RIGHT! MOAH!!

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT KID?

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