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CHAPTER XXI

COMMITTEES AND MILAN EXHIBITION

I HAVE already recorded that I did not go to sea again after coming on shore in February, 1900; but before I offended the Admiralty by criticizing their new scheme for the entry and training of officers, they employed me on two committees. The first was appointed to inquire into the cause of the loss of the Cobra, a torpedoboat-destroyer, which broke in half and sank in the North Sea, drowning the greater part of her crew.

The Cobra was a new thirty-knot destroyer, built on the Tyne. She was not regularly in commission, but was on her passage round from the contractors to Chatham Dockyard, in charge of a navigating crew, to be completed. Twelve men got into the dinghy and were picked up.

The committee originally consisted of Admiral Rawson (President), Dr. Inglis (ship-builder), Mr. A. Denny (ship-builder), Professor Biles, of Glasgow University, and Mr. H. E. Deadman (naval constructor of the Admiralty). Shortly after the formation of the committee, Rawson was appointed to the command of the Australian Station, and I took his place. My colleagues were all experts at ship-building. I was only a sailor, but I found the work extremely interesting, although I was not able to understand all the scientific calculations and elaborate experiments with another destroyer, which were deemed necessary, in order to arrive at a

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conclusion as to the cause of the accident; though I do not doubt that some useful information was obtained with regard to the stresses and strains to which vessels of great proportional length - to their beam and depth - subjected in a seaway.

The destroyers were a novelty in naval architecture; and in their laudable efforts to obtain very high speed with vessels of light scantling and shallow draught, the builders were running it a little too fine. And when you are getting near the border-line of structural strength nothing but good seamanship and very careful handling can avoid grave risk of disaster, when such fragile vessels get into a gale of wind. But the evidence of the survivors went to show that careful handling was entirely lacking in the case of the Cobra, though apparently through no failure in seamanship on the part of the officer commanding. This may sound contradictory, but it is not so; for the fact of the matter was, that all hands were seasick, the stokers were unable to keep steam, the vessel fell off into the trough of the sea, and while in that position she was struck by a sea and broke in half.

I had the misfortune to differ with all my colleagues as to the cause of the disaster. They found that she ought not to have broken in half; and I agreed, so far as the " ought not " went; but when they went on to find that she was not lost through stress of weather and abnormal lightness of structure, I found myself unable to agree, as the only alternative was that she struck something hard, or that something hard struck her; but I was unable to find that anything harder than a sea struck her while she was in an unmanageable condition, broadside on, wallowing in the trough of the sea.

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The term " struck by a sea " is a common one in nautical parlance, though it is probable that only sailors really know what it means. A landsman would say, " Surely, during a gale of wind, you are struck by a sea three or four times every minute." Quite true in one sense; but the point is that, in a gale of wind lasting through several days, you may only be hit by one big sea, and perhaps not even by one if you are lucky. I don't know how to account for the one big sea, except by supposing that by some freak of Nature two seas get rolled into one. Anyhow, every now and then you see a great white-headed thing, many feet higher than its brethren, come bowling along towards the ship. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred it misses you; but if it hits you it gives you something to remember. So I came to the conclusion that the Cobra was not struck by anything harder than a sea; but that was a big one, and that was enough. She offered a fine broadside-on target, and it must have caught her nearly amidships.

The other committee which I took part in was presided over by Lord Camperdown, a good old nautical name. It was called upon to report what steps could be taken to cut the Germans out of the blue ribbon of the Atlantic, which they held for six years. The above was not the exact wording of our instructions, though that was, in plain language, the object with which the committee had to deal.

The Germans had built several Atlantic greyhounds which could make the passage from England or France to New York at a speed of about twenty-three knots, whereas the fastest English or French ships were not good for more than about twenty-one knots. The Germans therefore took the cream of the first-class

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passenger traffic; and when this had been going on for six years, England began to wake up and look round. It was felt to be a reproach to the so-called Mistress of the Seas that an upstart nautical Power like Germany should beat her at her own game. There was no doubt a good deal of sentiment about it; but as our great Transatlantic steamship companies run their ships for profit, not for sentiment, and as their calculations showed them the great expense which would be involved in building and running ships fast enough to beat the heavily subsidized German ships, they came to the conclusion it would not pay them to do so unless they also were subsidized. It was to report upon this subject that Lord Camperdown's committee was appointed.

We had a representative from the Treasury and one from the Post-Office, and my old friend Professor Biles represented Naval Architecture. I was no doubt put on the committee to represent the naval interest, with the view that any ships that might be built, should be suitable for use as auxiliary cruisers in time of war.

We talked a good deal, and examined a large number of witnesses, including Lord Inverclyde, the Chairman of the Cunard Line; and the upshot of it all was the building of the two quadruple-screw turbine liners Mauretania and Lusitania, with a sea-speed of twenty-five knots, thus winning back from the Germans the blue ribbon of the Atlantic. The Treasury advanced money to the Cunard Company to help them to build the two ships, and also guaranteed a subsidy; but I do not think details would interest the general reader, and - as all the world knows - the Lusitania is now at the bottom of the sea.

In March, 1905, I passed on to the retired list of the

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Navy as a full-Admiral, aged sixty-four. I could have remained on the active list for another year, had I wished to do so, as the age for compulsory retirement is sixty-five; but, as there was no prospect of further employment, I did not think the honour and glory of remaining on the active list was worth the difference between half-pay and retired pay; so I retired voluntarily, after fifty-one years' service, and - like the prisoner of Chillon - " regained my freedom with a sigh."

In September, 1906, 1 had a very interesting trip to Milan. It was the year of the Milan Exhibition, and I was asked to serve on the international jury, for the award of prizes to the exhibiters in the naval section; and, as my expenses were to be paid, I gladly accepted the invitation.

I expected it would be hot at Milan in September, and so it was; but it was cooler than London, for when I left Victoria Station at 10 a.m. on September 1st the thermometer stood at 91� in the shade, and when I got to Milan, on the afternoon of the following day, it was only 90�. But it stayed at that during the fortnight I was there.

This was my third visit to Milan, but I saw more of it on this occasion than I did on either of my preceding visits; and the interior of that wondrous Duomo seems to get more and more magnificent and impressive every time one passes from the glaring sunlight into its cool and solemn shades. I never cared much for the exterior. It looks too much like a children's Christmas-cake, with sugar ornaments on the top of it. And although it may be worth while going on to the roof, for the sake of seeing Napoleon amongst the Saints, neither he nor his comrades look impressive from the street. But the interior is, to my mind, the finest in Europe, Cologne

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second, St. Peter's nowhere. I dare say my taste is not orthodox, but we are all entitled to our own opinions.

The Milan Exhibition of 1906 was the most complete and comprehensive, and, I may add, the most attractive. exhibition it has ever been my luck to see; and I saw it all for nothing. The duties of the jury were not too onerous, and we had plenty of time to see other sections besides our own. My brother-jurymen were all very friendly and very pleasant. It was arranged and agreed to by all the nationalities - even including the Germans - that all our discussions were to be carried on in French; and, if this had been done, I might perhaps have understood a little of the proceedings. But as the conversations, after the first five minutes, invariably lapsed into Italian, I was left very much in the dark. This, however, was not of much consequence, as, when it came to assessing the prizes, I was able to give my opinion quite unbiassed by the opinions of the other " nautical experts."

In preparation for the coming era of universal and everlasting peace, there was, of course, a great show of war material: ship models, guns, projectiles, armour, machine-guns, etc.; and it was upon this section that I was employed. They kindly elected me vice-president of our sectional jury, the president being, very properly, an Italian - Admiral de Luca, Royal Italian Navy.

On referring to my report, I see that " Great Britain was not widely represented in the above-named group, many leading British firms being entirely absent." Vickers, Sons, and Maxim, however, made a fairly good show; but by far the most extensive exhibit of warlike appliances was made by the famous Krupp firm, which was only to be expected.

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A rather amusing incident occurred while we were inspecting machine-guns mounted on field-carriages. We first inspected a beautifully finished automatic Krupp gun, minutely examining all the details. Then one of the jurymen said he would like to see the gun dismounted. The Germans were evidently prepared for this request. Out stepped four stalwart, well-drilled soldiers in mufti and stood beside the gun. The jurymen pulled out their watches; the order was given to dismount the gun, which was done very smartly, everything going like clockwork, with thorough German-like order and precision. It was obvious that this was not the first time those four soldiers had dismounted and remounted that gun.

The jury then turned to the British stand, close by, and inspected an equally beautiful and well-finished Vickers-Maxim automatic machine-gun, examining all the details and making their notes. The guns could not - under the circumstances - be fired, but there did not appear to be much difference in the man-slaying power of the two guns, should they happen to catch a body of men within range in the open. I trembled, however, for a British defeat, should the jury ask to see the Vickers-Maxim gun dismounted and remounted again; for I felt sure there would not be four thoroughly drilled British soldiers ready to step out and do the job in as good time as the Germans did theirs. But I felt slightly reassured when I recognized in the Vickers foreman an ex-petty-officer of the Royal Navy. I could have guessed his genus half a mile off, long before I saw the tattoo marks; and when I saw the merry twinkle in his eye (he had been watching the German performance), I hoped he might have something up his sleeve. And he had.

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Sure enough, the jury expressed the wish to see the Vickers gun dismounted and remounted again.

The ex-P.O. turned to his assistant: "'Ere, Bill," says he, " the gents want to see the gun dismounted. Do you think we can do it?" Bill expressed the opinion that he thought they could, and that, anyhow, they would try. Bill also had tattoo marks, and an ill-suppressed smile on his face. " 'Ere, Chawley, you come and lend Bill and me a 'and here to dismount this 'ere gun. Now, gents, we're ready." The jury pulled out their watches and I rapped out, " Dismount the gun!" in my best quarter-deck voice of command.

If the German performance went like clockwork, the British one went like magic. The gun was dismounted and remounted again in little more than half the time taken by the four soldiers. It was obvious to me that the ex-P.O. and Bill and Charley must have been members of a field-gun's crew in the Royal Navy before they transferred their talents to the firm of Vickers-Maxim. They had not forgotten their lessons; and they were good actors, too.

The jury laughed heartily, and gave Vickers-Maxim a " Grand Prix."

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