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RECORDS 
 
Photo J. Russell and Sons. 
 
 1882. Captain of H.M.S. "Inflexible." 
 
RECORDS 
 
 BY 
 
 ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET 
 
 LORD FISHER 
 
 HODDER AND STOUGHTON 
 
 LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO 
 
 MCMXIX 
 
/•\> A^'jS'o^ 
 
Preambl 
 
 e 
 
 ^^^^HE main purpose of 
 
 ^* ^^^this second book is 
 
 "" obvious from its title. 
 
 ^^^^^It's mostly a collec- 
 tion of '* Records" confirming 
 what has already been written, 
 and relates almost exclusively 
 to years after 1902. As Lord 
 Rosebery has said so well, 
 "The war period in a man's 
 life has its definite limits " ; 
 and that period is what 
 interests the general reader, 
 and for that reason all attempt 
 at a biography has been 
 discarded. 
 
 In our present distress we 
 
certainly want badly just 
 now Nelson's ''Light from 
 Heaven " I Nelson had what 
 the Mystics describe as his 
 "seasons of darkness and 
 desertion." His enfeebled body 
 and his mind depressed used 
 at times to cast a shade on 
 his soul, such as we now feel 
 as a Nation, but (if I re- 
 member right) it is Southey 
 who says that the Sunshine 
 which succeeded led Nelson 
 to believe that it bore with it 
 a prophetic glory, and that 
 the light that led him on was 
 "Light from Heaven." We 
 don't see that "Light" as yet. 
 But England never succumbs. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Napoleon at St. Helena told us what all Englishmen 
 have ever instinctively felt — that we should remain a 
 purely Maritime Power ; instead, we became in this 
 War a Conscript Nation, sending Armies of Millions 
 to the Continent. If we stuck to the Sea, said 
 Napoleon, we could dictate to the World ; so we could. 
 Napoleon again said to the Captain of the British 
 Battleship " Bellerophon " : " Had it not been for 
 you English, I should have been Emperor of the 
 East, but wherever there was water to float a ship, 
 we were sure to find you in ^he way." (Yes ! we 
 had ships only drawing two feet of water with six-inch 
 guns, that went up the Tigris and won Bagdad, 
 Others, similar, went so many thousand miles up 
 the Yangtsze River in China that they sighted the Moun- 
 tains of Thibet. Another British Ship of War so many 
 thousand miles up the Amazon River that she sighted 
 the Mountains of Peru, and there not being room to 
 turn she came back stern first. In none of these cases 
 had any War Vessel ever before been seen till these 
 British Vessels investigated those waters and astounded 
 
 the inhabitants.) 
 
 vu 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Again, Napoleon praised our Blockades (Les Anglais 
 bloquent tr^s bien) ; but very justly of our Diplomacy 
 he thought but ill. Yes, alas ! What a Diplomacy 
 it has been ! ! ! If our Blockade had been permitted 
 by the Diplomats to have been effective, it would 
 have finished the War at once. Our Diplomats had 
 Bulgaria in their hands and lost her. It was ** Too 
 Late " a year after to oifer her the same terms as 
 she had asked the year before. We " kow-towed " 
 to the French when they rebuffed our request for 
 the English Army to be on the Sea Flank and 
 to advance along the Belgian Coast, supported by the 
 British Fleet ; and then there would have been no 
 German Submarine War. At the very beginning of 
 the War we deceived the German Ambassador in London 
 and the German Nation by our vacillating Diplomacy. 
 We wrecked the Russian Revolution and turned it into 
 Bolshevism. 
 
 I mention these matters to prove the effete, apathetic, 
 indecisive, vacillating Conduct of the War — the War 
 eventually being won by an effective Blockade. 
 
 viu 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PACK 
 
 Early Years i 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Further Memories of King Edward and Others . . 24 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 The Bible, and other Reflections 38 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 Episodes 50 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 Democracy 69 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Public Speeches 79 
 
 ix 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 rAGE 
 
 The Essentials of Sea Fighting 88 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 Jonah's Gourd 97 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 Naval Problems 127 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 Naval Education 156 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 Submarines 173 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 Notes on Oil and Oil Engines 189 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 The Big Gun 204 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 Some Predictions , , . 211 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Baltic Project 217 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 The Navy in the War 225 
 
 Postscript . . 249 
 
 APPENDIX I 
 
 Lord Fisher's Great Naval Reforms . . ■ . . 251 
 
 APPENDIX II 
 
 Synopsis of Lord Fisher's Career 259 
 
 Index 271 
 
 XI 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 1882. Captain of H.M.S. " Inflexible " . . Frontispiece 
 
 Facing page 
 
 King Edward VII. and the Czar, 1909 .... 16 
 
 Two Photographs of King Edward VII. and Sir John 
 Fisher on Board H.M.S. " Dreadnought " on her 
 First Cruise 33 
 
 Photograph, taken and sent to Sir John Fisher by the 
 Empress Marie of Russia, of a Group on Board H.M.S. 
 Standard," 1909 48 
 
 (< 
 
 A Group on Board H.M.S. " Standard," 1909 ... 65 
 
 A Group on Board H.M.S. " Standard," 1909 ... 80 
 
 A Group at Langham House. Photograph taken and 
 SENT TO Sir John Fisher by the Empress Marie of 
 Russia 97 
 
 Sir John Fisher going on Board the Royal Yacht. . 112 
 
 Sir John Fisher and Sir Colin Keppel (Captain of the 
 
 Royal Yacht) 129 
 
 xiii 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Facuig page 
 
 " The Dauntless Three," Portsmouth, 1903 . . . 160 
 
 Some Shells for i8-inch Guns 177 
 
 Lord Fisher's Proposed Ship, H.M.S. " Incomparable," 
 
 shown alongside H.M.S. " Dreadnought "... 208 
 
 The Submarine Monitor Mi.. .... 240 
 
 XIV 
 
RECORDS 
 
RECORDS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 EARLY YEARS 
 
 Of all the curious fables IVe ever come across I quite 
 think the idea that my mother was a Cingalese Princess of 
 exalted rank is the oddest ! One can't see the foundation 
 
 of it! 
 
 " The baseless fabric of a vision ! " 
 
 My godfather, Major Thurlow (of the 90th Foot), was the 
 '* best man " at my mother's wedding, and very full of 
 her beauty then — she was very young — possibly it was 
 the " Beaute du diable ! " She had just emerged from 
 the City of London, where she was born and had spent 
 her life ! One grandfather had been an officer under 
 Nelson at Trafalgar, and the other a Lord Mayor ! 
 He was Boy dell, the very celebrated engraver. He left 
 his fortune to my grandmother, but an alien speculator 
 (a scoundrel) robbed her of it. My mother's father 
 had, I believe, some vineyards in Portugal, of which 
 the wine pleased William the Fourth, who, I was told, 
 came to his counting house at 149, New Bond Street, 
 to taste it ! Next door Emma, Lady Hamilton, used to 
 clean the door steps ! She was housemaid there. 
 
RECORDS 
 
 I don't think the Fishers at all enjoyed my father (who 
 was a Captain in the 78th Highlanders) marrying into the 
 Lambes ! The " City '* was abhorred in those days, and 
 the Fishers thought of the tombs of the Fishers in 
 Packington Church, Warwickshire, going back to the 
 dark ages ! I, myself, possess the portrait of Sir Clement 
 Fisher, who married Jane Lane, who assisted Charles the 
 Second to escape by disguising his Majesty as her groom 
 and riding behind him on a pillion to Bristol. 
 
 The Fishers' Baronetcy lapsed, as my ancestor after 
 Sir Clement Fisher's death wouldn't pay 3^500 in the 
 nature of fees, I believe. 1 don't think he had the money— 
 so my uncle told me. This uncle, by name John Fisher, 
 was over 60 years a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, 
 and told me the story of an ancestor who built a wing of 
 Balliol at Oxford, and they — ^the College Authorities — 
 asked him whether they might place some inscription in 
 his honour on the building ! He replied : 
 
 " Fisher — non amplius," 
 
 (but someone else told me it was : — 
 
 " Verbum non amplius Fisher ! ") 
 
 My uncle explained that his ancestor only meant just 
 to put his name, and that's all. 
 
 But the College Authorities put it all on : 
 
 " Fisher ! Not another blessed word is wanted." 
 
 One of my ancestors changed his motto and took these 
 words (I have them on a watch !) : — 
 
 " Ubi voluntas — ibi piscatur." 
 (We fish where we like). 
 
 2 
 
EARLY YEARS 
 
 A Poacher, I suppose ! or was there a ** double 
 entendre " ? 
 
 I'm told in the old days you could change your motto 
 and your crest as often as you liked, but not your coat of 
 arms ! 
 
 A succession of ancestors went and dwelt at Bodmin, in 
 Cornwall — all clergymen down to my grandfather, who 
 was Rector of Wavendon, in Bucks, where is a tablet to 
 his brother, who was killed close to the Duke of Welling- 
 ton at Waterloo, and who ordered his watch to be sent to 
 my uncle's relatives with the dent of the bullet that killed 
 him, and that watch I now have. 
 
 My uncle was telling this story at a table d'hote at 
 Brussels a great many years afterwards, and said he had 
 been unable to identify the spot, when an old white- 
 haired gentleman at the table said he had helped to bury 
 him, and next day he took him to the place. 
 
 I remember a Dean glancing at me in a Sermon on the 
 Apostles, when he said the first four were all Fishers ! 
 
 On the death of Sir Robert Fisher of Packington in 
 1739, a number of family portraits were transferred 
 apparently to the Rev. John Fisher of Bodmin, born 
 January 27th, 1708. The three principal portraits are a 
 previous Sir Robert Fisher, his son Sir Clement Fisher, 
 who died 1683, and Jane Lane, his wife. Another por- 
 trait is a second Sir Clement Fisher, son of the above and 
 of Jane Lane. This Sir Clement Fisher died 1709, and 
 was succeeded by his only brother, Sir Robert Fisher, 
 who died a.d. 1739, one year before his niece, Mary 
 Fisher, wife of Lord Aylesford. All these portraits were 
 
 3 B 2 
 
RECORDS 
 
 transmitted in direct inheritance to Sir John Fisher. The 
 four generations of Reverend John Fishers of Bodmin, 
 commencing with John Fisher born 1708, were none of 
 them in a position to incur the heavy expenses involved 
 for their assumption of the Baronetcy. They were 
 descended from a brother of the Sir Robert Fisher who 
 lived before the year a.d. 1600. 
 
 I was born in 1841, the same year as King Edward VII. 
 There was never such a heahhy couple as my father and 
 mother. They never married for money — they married 
 for love. They married very young, and I was their 
 first child. All the physical advantages were in my favour, 
 so I consider I was absolutely right, when I was nine 
 months old, in refusing to be weaned. 
 
 " She walks in beauty like the iiight 
 Of cloudless climes and starry skies ; 
 
 And aU that's best of dark and bright 
 Meets in her aspect and her eyes : 
 
 Thus mellow'd to that tender light 
 Which heaven to gaudy day denies." 
 
 These lines were written by Lord Byron of my god- 
 mother. Lady Wilmot Horton, of Catton Hall, Burton- 
 on-Trent. She was still a very beautiful old lady at 73 
 years of age when she died. 
 
 One of her great friends was Admiral Sir William 
 Parker (the last of Nelson's Captains), and he, at her 
 request, gave me his nomination for entering the Navy. 
 He had two to give away on becoming Port Admiral at 
 Plymouth. He gave the other to Lord Nelson's own 
 niece, and she also filled in my name, so I was doubly 
 nominated by the last of Nelson's Captains, and my first 
 
 4 
 
EARLY YEARS 
 
 ship was the " Victory " and it was my last ! In the 
 " Victory " log-book it is entered, ** July 12th, 1854, 
 joined Mr. John Arbuthnot Fisher," and it is also en- 
 tered that Sir John Fisher hauled down his flag on October 
 2ist, 1904, on becoming First Sea Lord. 
 
 A friend of mine (a yellow Admiral) was taken 
 prisoner in the old French War when he was a Midship- 
 man ten years old, and was locked up in the fortress of 
 Verdun. He so amused me in my young days by telling 
 me that he gave his parole not to escape ! as if it mattered 
 what he did when he was only four foot nothing ! And he 
 did this, he told me, in order to learn French ; and when 
 he had learned French, to talk it fluently, he then can- 
 celled his parole and was locked up again and then he 
 escaped ; alone he did it by filing through the iron bars of 
 his prison window (the old historic method), and wended 
 his way to England. I consider this instance a striking 
 testimony to the inestimable benefit of sending little boys 
 to sea when they are young ! What splendid Nelsonic 
 qualities were developed ! 
 
 But it was quite common in those days of my old yellow 
 Admiral for boys to go to sea even as young as seven 
 years old. My present host's grandfather went to sea as 
 a Midshipman at seven years old ! Afterwards he was 
 Lord Nelson's Signal Midshipman, his name was Hamil- 
 ton, and his grandson was Midshipman with me in two 
 ships. He is now the 13th Duke of Hamilton ! It is 
 interesting as a Nelsonic legend that the wife of the 6th 
 Duke of Hamilton (she was one of the beautiful Miss 
 Gunnings ; she was the wife of two Dukes and the 
 
 5 
 
RECORDS 
 
 mother of four) peculiarly befriended Emma, Lady 
 Hamilton, and recognised her, as so few did then (and, 
 alas ! still fewer now, as one of the noblest women who 
 ever lived — one mass of sympathy she was ! 
 
 The stories of what boys went through then at sea were 
 appalling. I have a corroboration in lovely letters from a 
 little Midshipman who was in the great blockade of Brest 
 by Admiral Cornwallis in 1802. This little boy was after- 
 wards killed just after Trafalgar. He describes seeing 
 the body of Nelson on board ship on its way to 
 Portsmouth. This little Midshipman was only 
 
 eleven years old when he was killed ! This is how he 
 describes the Midshipman's food : " We live on beef 
 which has been ten or eleven years in a cask, and on biscuit 
 which makes your throat cold in eating it owing to the 
 maggots, which are very cold when you eat them ! like 
 calves-foot jelly or blomonge — being very fat indeed ! " 
 (It makes one shudder ! ) He goes on again : " We drink 
 water the colour of the bark of a pear tree with plenty 
 of little maggots and weevils in it, and wine, which is 
 exactly like bullock's blood and sawdust mixed together ** ; 
 and he adds in his letter to his mother : " I hope I shall not 
 learn to swear, and by God's assistance I hope I shall not ! " 
 He tried to save the Captain of his Top (who had been 
 at the '* Weather earing ") from falling from aloft. This 
 is his description : " The hands were hurried up to reef 
 topsails, and my station is in the foretop. When the men 
 began to lay in from the yards (after reefing the topsails) 
 one of them laid hold of a slack rope, which gave way, and 
 he fell out of the top on deck and was dashed to pieces 
 
 6 
 
EARLY YEARS 
 
 and very near carried me out of the top along with him as 
 I was attempting to lay hold of him to save him ! 1 1 " 
 Our little friend the Midshipman was eight years old 
 at this time ! What a picture ! this little boy trying to 
 save the sailor huge and hairy ! His description to his 
 mother of Cornwallis's Fleet is interesting : " We have 
 on board Admiral Graves, who came in his ten-oared 
 barge, and as soon as he put his foot on shipboard the 
 drums and fifes began to play, and the Marines and all 
 presented their arms. We are all prepared for action, all 
 our guns being loaded with double shot. We have a 
 fine sight, which is the Grand Channel Fleet, which con- 
 sists of 95 sail of the line, each from 120 down to 64 guns.'* 
 That is the Midshipman of the olden day, and one often 
 has misgivings that the modern system of sending boys to 
 sea much older is a bad one, when such magnificent 
 results were produced by the old method, more especially 
 as in the former days the Captain had a more paternal 
 charge of those little boys coming on board one by one, as 
 compared with the present crowd sent in batches of big 
 hulking giants, some of them. However, there is more 
 to learn now than formerly, and possibly it's impossible 
 (all the entrance examination I had to pass was to write 
 out the Lord's Prayer, do a rule of three sum and 
 drink a glass of sherry !) ; but one would like to 
 give it a trial of sending boys to sea at nine years old. 
 Our little hero tried to save the life of the Captain 
 of his Top when he was only eight years old ! Still, the 
 Osborne system of Naval education has its great 
 merits ; but it has been a grievous blow to it, depart- 
 
 7 
 
RECORDS 
 
 ing from the original conception of entry at eleven years 
 of age. 
 
 However, the lines of the modern Midshipman are laid 
 in pleasant places ; they get good food and a good night's 
 rest. Late as I came to sea in 1854, I had to keep either 
 the First or Middle Watch every night and was always 
 hungry ! Devilled Pork rind was a luxury, and a Spanish 
 Onion with a Sardine in the Middle Watch was Paradise ! 
 
 In the first ship I was in we not only carried our fresh 
 water in casks, but we had some rare old Ship's Biscuit 
 supplied in what were known as *' bread-bags." These 
 bread-bags were not preservative ; they were creative. 
 A favourite amusement was to put a bit of this biscuit on 
 the table and see how soon all of it would walk away. 
 In fact one midshipman could gamble away his '* tot " of 
 rum with another midshipman by pitting one bit of 
 biscuit against another. Anyhow, whenever you took a 
 bit of biscuit to eat it you always tapped it edgeways on 
 the table to let the " grown-ups " get away. 
 
 The Water was nearly as bad as the Biscuit. It was 
 turgid — it was smelly — it was animally. I remember so 
 well, in the Russian War (1854-5), being sent with the 
 Watering Party to the Island of Nargen to get fresh water, 
 as we were running short of it in this old Sailing Line 
 of Battleship I was in (there was no Distilling Apparatus 
 in those days). My youthful astonishment was how on 
 earth the Lieutenant in charge of the Watering Party 
 discovered the Water. There wasn't a lake and there 
 wasn't a stream, but he went and dug a hole and there 
 was the water ! However, it may be that he carried out 
 
 8 
 
EARLY YEARS 
 
 the same delightful plan as my delicious old Admiral in 
 China. This Admiral's survey of the China Seas is one 
 of the most celebrated on record. He told me himself 
 that this is how he did it. He used to anchor in some 
 convenient place every few miles right up the Coast of 
 China. He had a Chinese Interpreter on board. He sent 
 this man to every Fishing Village and offered a dollar 
 for every rock and shoal. No rock or shoal has ever 
 been discovered since my beloved Admiral finished his 
 survey. Perhaps the Lieutenant of the Watering Party 
 gave Roubles ! ^ 
 
 I must mention here an instance of the Simple Genius of 
 the Chinese. A sunken ship, that had defied all European 
 efforts to raise her, was bought by a Chinaman for a mere 
 song. He went and hired all the Chinamen from'an adjacent 
 Sponge Fishery and bought up several Bamboo Plant- 
 ations where the bamboos were growing like grass. The 
 way they catch sponges is this — The Chinaman has no 
 diving dress — he holds his nose — a leaden weight attached 
 to his feet takes him down to where the sponges are — 
 he picks the sponges — evades the weight — ^and rises. 
 They pull up the weight with a bit of string afterwards. 
 The Chinese genius I speak of sent the men down with 
 bamboos, and they stuck them into the sunk ship, 
 and soon " up she came " ; and the Chinaman said : 
 
 *' Ship hab Bamboo — 
 No hab Water ! " 
 
 It's a pity there's no bamboo dodge for Sunk Reput- 
 ations ! 
 
 9 
 
< 
 
 RECORDS 
 
 An uncle of mine had a snuff box made out of the 
 Salt Beef, and it was french-polished ! That was his beef 
 — and ours was nearly as hard. 
 
 There were many brutalities when I first entered the 
 Navy — now mercifully no more. For instance, the day 
 I joined as a little boy I saw eight men flogged — and I 
 fainted at the sight. 
 
 Not long ago I was sitting at luncheon next to a dis- 
 tinguished author, who told me I was *' a very interesting 
 person ! " and wanted to know what my idea of life was, 
 I replied that what made a life was not its mature years 
 but the early portions when the seed was sown and the 
 blossom so often blasted by the frost of unrecognition. 
 It was then that the fruit of after years was pruned to 
 something near the mark of success. ** Your great career 
 was when you were young,** said a dear friend to me the 
 other day. I entered the Navy penniless, friendless and 
 forlorn. While my mess-mates were having jam, I had 
 to go without. While their stomachs were full, mine was 
 often empty. I have always had to fight like hell, and 
 fighting like hell has made me what I am. Hunger and 
 thirst are the way to Heaven I 
 
 When I joined the Navy, in 1854, the last of Nelson's 
 Captains was the Admiral at Plymouth. The chief object 
 in those days seemed to be, not to keep your vessel 
 efficient for fighting, but to keep the deck as white as 
 snow and all the ropes taut. We Midshipmen were 
 allowed only a basin of water to wash in, and the basin 
 was inside one's sea-chest ; and if anyone spilt a drop 
 of water on the deck he was made to holy-stone it himself. 
 
 10 
 
EARLY YEARS 
 
 And that reminds nae, as I once told Lord Esher, when I 
 was a young First Lieutenant, the First Sea Lord told me 
 that he never washed when he went to sea, and he didn*t 
 see ** why the Devil the Midshipmen should want to 
 wash now ! " I remember one Captain named Leth- 
 bridge who had a passion for spotless decks ; and it used 
 to put him in a good temper for the whole day if he could 
 discover a *' swab-tail,'* or fragment of the swabs with 
 which the deck was cleaned, left about. One day he 
 happened to catch sight of a Midshipman carefully 
 arranging a few swab-tails on deck in order to gratify 
 *' old Leather-breeches' " lust for discovering them ! And 
 as for taut ropes, many of my readers will remember the 
 old story of the lady (on the North American station) 
 who congratulated the Captain of a " family " ship 
 (officered by a set of fools) because " the ropes hung in 
 such beautiful festoons I " 
 
 There was a fiddler to every ship, and when the anchor 
 was being weighed, he used to sit on the capstan and play, 
 so as to keep the men in step and in good heart. And on 
 Sundays, everyone being in full dress, epaulettes and all, 
 the fiddler walked round the decks playing in front of the 
 Captain. I must add this happened in a Brig com- 
 manded by Captain Miller. 
 
 After the " Victory," my next ship was the " Calcutta," 
 and I joined it under circumstances which Mr. A. G. 
 Gardiner has narrated thus : — 
 
 " One day far back in the fifties of last century a sailing 
 ship came round from Portsmouth into Plymouth Sound, 
 where the fleet lay. Among the passengers was a little 
 
 II 
 
RECORDS 
 
 midshipman fresh from his apprenticeship in the 
 
 * Victory.* He scrambled aboard the Admiral's ship, 
 and with the assurance of thirteen marched up to a 
 splendid figure in blue and gold, and said, handing him a 
 letter : * Here, my man, give this to the Admiral.* The 
 man in blue and gold smiled, took the letter, and opened 
 it. ' Are you the Admiral ? ' said the boy. * Yes, I'm 
 the Admiral.' He read the letter, and patting the boy on 
 the head, said : ' You must stay and have dinner with 
 me.* * I think,* said the boy, ' I should like to be getting 
 on to my ship.* He spoke as though the British Navy had 
 fallen to his charge. The Admiral laughed, and took 
 him down to dinner. That night the boy slept aboard the 
 
 * Calcutta,' a vessel of 84 guns, given to the British Navy 
 by an Indian merchant at a cost of 3^84,000. It was the 
 day of small things and of sailing-ships. The era 
 of the ironclad and the * Dreadnought ' had not 
 dawned." 
 
 I think I must give the first place to one of the first of 
 my Captains who was the seventh son of the last Vice- 
 Chancellor of England, Sir Lancelot Shadwell. The 
 Vice-Chancellor used to bathe in the Thames with his 
 seven sons every morning. My Shadwell was about the 
 greatest Saint on earth. The sailors called him, somewhat 
 profanely. ** Our Heavenly Father.*' He was once heard 
 to say, " Damn,** and the whole ship was upset. When, 
 as Midshipmen, we punished one of our mess-mates for 
 abstracting his cheese, he was extremely angry with us, and 
 asked us all what right we had to interfere with his cheese. 
 He always had the Midshipmen to breakfast with him, and 
 when we were seasick he gave us champagne and ginger- 
 bread nuts. As he went in mortal fear of his own steward, 
 who bossed him utterly, he would say : ** I think the 
 
 12 
 
EARLY YEARS 
 
 aroma has rather gone out of this champagne. Give it to 
 the young gentlemen.'* The steward would reply : 
 '* Now you know very well, Sir, the aroma ain't gone out of 
 this 'ere champagne " ; but all the same we got it. He 
 always slept in a hammock, and I remember he kept his 
 socks in the head clews ready to put on in case of a squall 
 calling him suddenly on deck. I learned from him nearly 
 all that I know. He taught me how to predict eclipses 
 and occultations, and I suppose I took more lunar obser- 
 vations than any Midshipman ever did before. 
 
 Shadwell's appearance on going into a fight I must 
 describe. We went up a Chinese river to capture a pirate 
 stronghold. Presently the pirates opened fire from a 
 banana plantation on the river bank. We nipped 
 ashore from the boats to the banana plantation. I 
 remember I was armed to the teeth, like a Greek 
 brigand, all swords and pistols, and was weighed 
 down with my weapons. We took shelter in the 
 banana plantation, but our Captain stood on the river 
 bank. I shall never forget it. He was dressed in a pair 
 of white trousers, yellow waistcoat and a blue tail coat with 
 brass buttons and a tall white hat with a gold stripe up 
 the side of it, and he was waving a white umbrella to 
 encourage us to come out of the bananas and go for the 
 enemy. He had no weapon of any sort. So (I think 
 rather against our inclinations, as the gingall bullets were 
 flying about pretty thick) we all had to come out and go for 
 the Chinese. 
 
 Once the Chinese guns were firing at us, and as the shell 
 whizzed over the boat we all ducked. ** Lay on your oars, 
 
 13 
 
RECORDS 
 
 my men," said Shadwell ; and proceeded to explain very 
 deliberately how ducking delayed the progress of the 
 boat— apparently unaware that his lecture had stopped 
 its progress altogether ! 
 r^ His sole desire for fame was to do good, and he re- 
 quested for himself when he died that he should be 
 buried under an apple tree, so that people might say : 
 " God bless old Shadwell ! " He never flogged a man in 
 his life. When my Captain was severely wounded, 
 I being with him as his Aide-de-Camp (we landed 
 1,100 strong, and 463 were killed or wounded), he 
 asked me when being sent home what he could do for 
 me. I asked him to give me a set of studs with his motto 
 on them : " Loyal au mort," and I have worn them daily 
 for over sixty years. When this conversation took place, 
 the Admiral (afterwards Sir James Hope, K.C.B.) came to 
 say good-bye to him, and he asked my Captain what he 
 could do for him. He turned his suflFering body towards 
 me and said to the Admiral : *' Take care of that boy." 
 And so he did. 
 
 Admiral Hope was a great man, very stern and stately, 
 the sort of man everybody was afraid of. His nickname 
 was composed of the three ships he had commanded : 
 ** Terrible. . . Firebrand. . . Majestic." He turned to 
 me and said : *' Go down in my boat " ; and everyone 
 in the Fleet saw this Midshipman going into the Admiral's 
 boat. He took me with him to the Flagship ; and I got 
 on very well with him because I wrote a very big hand 
 which he could read without spectacles. 
 
 He promoted me to Lieutenant at the earliest possible 
 
 14 
 
EARLY YEARS 
 
 date, and sent me on various services, which greatly / 
 helped me. ^ 
 
 My first chance came when Admiral Hope sent me to 
 command a vessel in Chinese waters on special service. 
 His motto was " Favouritism is the secret of efficiency," 
 and though I was only nineteen he put me over the heads 
 of many older men because he believed that I should do 
 what I was told to do, and carry out the orders of the 
 Admiral regardless of consequences. And so I did, 
 although I made all sorts of mistakes and nearly lost the 
 ship. When I came back everyone seemed to expect that 
 I should be tried by Court-Martial ; but the Admiral 
 only cared that I had done what he wanted done ; and 
 then he gave me command of another vessel. 
 
 The Captain of the ship I came home in was another 
 sea wonder, by name Oliver Jones. He was Satanic ; 
 yet I equally liked him, for, like Satan, he could disguise 
 himself as an angel ; and I believe I was the only officer 
 he did not put under arrest. For some reason I got on 
 with him, and he made me the Navigating Officer of the 
 ship. He told me when I first came on board that he 
 thought he had committed every crime under the sun 
 except murder. I think he committed that crime while 
 I was with him. He was a most fascinating man. He 
 had such a charm, he was most accomplished, he was a 
 splendid rider, a wonderful linguist, an expert navigator 
 and a thorough seaman. He had the best cook, and the 
 best wines ever afloat in the Navy, and was hospitable to 
 an extreme. Almost daily he had a lot of us to dinner, 
 but after dinner came hell ! We dined with him in tail 
 
 15 
 
RECORDS 
 
 coat and epaulettes. After dinner he had sail drill, or 
 preparing the ship for battle, and persecution then did 
 its utmost. ;^ 
 
 Once, while I was serving with him, we were frozen 
 in out of sight of land in the Gulf of Pechili in the North 
 of China. And there were only Ship's provisions, 
 salt beef, salt pork, pea soup, flour, and raisins. Oliver 
 Jones was our Captain, or we wouldn't have been frozen 
 in. The Authorities told him to get out of that Gulf 
 and that's why he stayed in. I never knew a man who 
 so hated Authority. I forget how many degrees below 
 zero the thermometer was, and it was only by an un- 
 precedented thaw that we ever got out. And with this 
 intense cold he would often begin at four o'clock in the 
 morning to prepare for battle, and hand up every shot 
 in the ship on to the Upper Deck, then he'd strike Lower 
 Yards and Topmasts (which was rather a heavy business), 
 and finish up with holystoning the Decks, which opera- 
 tion he requested all the Officers to honour with their 
 presence. And when we went to Sea we weren't quite 
 sure where we would go to (I remember hearing a 
 Marine Officer say that we'd got off the Chart altogether). 
 Till that date I had never known what a delicacy a sea- 
 gull was. We used to get inside an empty barrel on the 
 ice to shoot them, and nothing was lost of them. The 
 Doctor skinned them to make waistcoats of the skins — 
 the insides were put on the ice to bait other seagulls, 
 and a rare type of onion we had (that made your eyes 
 water when you got within half a mile of them) made 
 into stuffing got rid of the fishy taste. 
 
 i6 
 
King Edward VII. and the Czar, 1909. 
 
EARLY YEARS 
 
 On the way home he landed me on a desert island 
 to make a survey. He was sparse in his praises ; 
 but he wrote of me : ** As a sailor, an officer, a Navigator 
 and a gentleman, I cannot praise him too highly." Con- 
 fronted with this uncommon expression of praise from 
 Oliver Jones, the examiners never asked me a question. 
 They gave me on the spot a first-class certificate. 
 
 This Captain Oliver Jones raised a regiment of cavalry 
 for the Indian Mutiny and was its Colonel, and Sir Hope 
 Grant, the great Cavalry General in the Indian Mutiny, 
 said he had never met the equal of Oliver Jones as a cavalry., 
 leader. He broke his neck out hunting. 
 
 When I was sent to the Hythe School of Musketry as a 
 young Lieutenant, I found myself in a small Squad of 
 Officers, my right hand man was a General and my left 
 hand man a full Colonel. The Colonel spent his time 
 drawing pictures of the General. (The Colonel was really 
 a wonderful Artist.) The General was splendid. He 
 was a magnificent -looking man with a voice like a bull 
 and his sole object was Mutiny ! He hated General 
 Hay, who was in Command of the Hythe School of 
 Musketry. He hated him with a contemptuous disdain. 
 In those days we commenced firing at the target only a 
 few hundred yards off. The General never hit the 
 target once ! The Colonel made a beautiful picture of 
 him addressing the Parade and General Hay : " Gentle- 
 men ! my unalterable conviction is that the bayonet is 
 the true weapon of the British Soldier ! " The beauty 
 of the situation was that the General had been sent to 
 Hythe to qualify as Inspector- General of Musketry. 
 
 17 c 
 
RECORDS 
 
 After some weeks of careful drill (without firing a shot) 
 we had to snap caps (that was to get our nerves all 
 right, I suppose !) ; the Sergeant Instructor walked 
 along the front of the Squad and counted ten copper 
 caps into each outstretched hand. At that critical 
 moment General Hay appeared on the Parade. This 
 gave the General his chance ! With his buU-Hke voice 
 he asked General Hay if it was believable after these 
 weeks of incessant application that we were going (each 
 of us) to be entrusted with ten copper caps I When we 
 were examined viva voce we each had to stand up to 
 answer a question (like the little boys at a Sunday 
 School). The General was asked to explain the lock 
 of the latest type of British Rifle. He got up and stated 
 that as he was neither Maskelyne and Cooke nor the 
 Davenport Brothers (who were the great conjurers of 
 that time) he couldn't do it. Certainly we had some 
 appalling questions. One that I had was, ** What do 
 you pour the water into the barrel of the rifle with when 
 you are cleaning it ? " Both my answers were wrong. 
 I said, " With a tin pannikin or the palm of the hand." 
 The right answer was " with care " ! Another question 
 in the written examination was, '* What occurred about 
 this time ? " Only one paragraph in the text-book had 
 those words in it " About this time there occurred, etc." ! 
 All the same I had a lovely time there ; the British Army 
 was very kind to me and I loved it. The best shot in 
 the British Army at that date was a confirmed drunkard 
 who trembled like a leaf, but when he got his eye on 
 the target he was a bit of marble and '* bull's eyes " 
 
 i8 
 
EARLY YEARS 
 
 every time ! So, as the Scripture says, never judge by 
 appearance. Keble, who wrote the ** Christian Year,'* 
 was exceedingly ugly, but when he spoke Heaven shone 
 through ; so I was told by one who knew him. 
 
 It's going rather backwards now to speak of the time 
 when I was a Midshipman of the " Jolly Boat " in 1854, 
 in an old Sailing Line of Battleship of eighty-four guns. 
 I think I must have told of sailing into Harbour every 
 morning to get the Ship's Company's beef (gale or no 
 gale) from Spithead or Plymouth Sound or the Nore. 
 We never went into harbour in those days, and it was 
 very unpleasant work. I always felt there was a chance 
 of being drowned. Once at the Nore in mid- winter all 
 our cables parted in a gale and we ran into the Harbour 
 and anchored with our hemp cable (our sole remaining 
 joy) ; it seemed as big round as my small body was then, 
 and it lay coiled like a huge gigantic serpent just before 
 the Cockpit. Nelson must have looked at a similar 
 hemp cable as he died in that corner of the Cockpit 
 which was close to it. All Battleships were exactly 
 alike. You could go ashore then for forty years and 
 come on board again quite up to date. On our Quarter 
 Deck were brass Cannonades that had fired at the French 
 Fleet at Trafalgar. No one but the Master knew about 
 Navigation. I remember when the Master was sick and 
 the second Master was away and the Master's Assistant 
 had only just entered the Navy, we didn't go to Sea 
 till the Master got out of bed again. There was a 
 wonderfully smart Commander in one of the other 
 Battleships who had the utmost contempt for Science ; 
 
 19 c 2 
 
RECORDS 
 
 he used to say that he didn't believe in the new-fangled 
 sighting of the guns, ** Your Tangent Sights and Dis- 
 parts ! " What he found to be practically the best 
 procedure was a cold veal pie and a bottle of rum to 
 the first man that hit the target. We have these same 
 " dears " with us now, but they are disguised in a clean 
 white shirt and white kid gloves, but as for believing in 
 Engineers — '* Sack the Lot " ! 
 
 It is very curious that we have no men now of great 
 conceptions who stand out above their fellows in any 
 profession, not even the Bishops, which reminds me of 
 a super-excellent story I've been told in a letter. My 
 correspondent met by appointment three Bishops for 
 an expected attack. Before they got to the business 
 of the meeting, he said, " Could their Lordships 
 kindly tell him in the case of consecrated ground 
 how deep the consecration went, as he specially 
 wanted to know this for important business purposes." 
 They wrangled and he got off his " mauvais quart 
 d'heure." My correspondent explained to me that his 
 old Aunt (a relation of Mr. Disraeli) said to him when 
 he was young " Alfred, if you are going to have a row 
 with anyone — always you begin ! " 
 
 I come to another episode of comparatively early years. 
 
 Yesterday I heard from a gentleman whom I had not 
 seen for thirty-eight years, and he reminded me of a 
 visit to me when I was Captain of the " Inflexible." I 
 was regarded by the Admiral Superintendent of the 
 Dockyard as the Incarnation of Revolution. (What 
 upset him most was I had asked for more water-closets 
 
 20 
 
EARLY YEARS 
 
 and got them.) This particular episode I'm going to 
 relate was that I wanted the incandescent light. Lord 
 Kelvin had taken me to dine with the President of the 
 Royal Society, where for the first time his dining table 
 was lighted with six incandescent lamps, provided by 
 his friend Mr. Swan of Newcastle, the Inventor in this 
 Country of the Incandescent light, as Mr. Edison was 
 in America (it was precisely like the discovery of the 
 Planet Neptune when Adams and Leverrier ran neck 
 and neck in England and France). After this dinner 
 I wrote to Mr. Swan to get these lamps for the " In- 
 flexible," and he sent down the friend who wrote me 
 the letter I received yesterday (Mr. Henry Edmunds) 
 and we had an exhibition to convert this old fossil of 
 an Admiral Superintendent. 
 
 Here I'll put in Mr. Henry Edmunds's own words : — • 
 
 At last we got our lamps to glow satisfactorily ; and 
 at that moment the Admiral was announced. Captain 
 Fisher had warned me that I must be careful how I 
 answered any questions, for the Admiral was of the stern 
 old school, and prejudiced against all new-fangled notions. 
 The Admiral appeared resplendent in gold lace, and 
 accompanied by such a bevy of ladies that I was strongly 
 reminded of the character in ** H.M.S. Pinafore " 
 " with his sisters, and his cousins, and his aunts." The 
 Admiral inunediately asked if I had seen the " Inflexible." 
 I replied that I had. " Have you seen the powder 
 magazine .? " " Yes ! I have been in it." '* What 
 would happen to one of these little glass bubbles in the 
 event of a broadside ? " I did not think it would affect 
 them. '* How do you know ? You've never been in a 
 ship during a broadside ! " I saw Captain Fisher's eye 
 fixed upon me ; and a sailor was dispatched for some 
 
 21 
 
RECORDS 
 
 gun-cotton. Evidently everything had been ready pre- 
 pared, for he quickly returned with a small tea tray about 
 two feet long, upon which was a layer of gun-cotton, 
 powdered over with black gun-powder. The Admiral 
 asked if I was prepared to break one of the lamps over 
 the tray. I replied that I could do so quite safely, for 
 the glowing lamp would be cooled down by the time 
 it fell amongst the gun-cotton. I took a cold chisel, 
 smashed a lamp, and let it fall. The Company saw the 
 light extinguished, and a few pieces of glass fall on the 
 tray. There was no flash, and the gun-powder and 
 gun-cotton remained as before. There was a short 
 pause, while the Admiral gazed on the tray. Then he 
 turned, and said to Lord Fisher, " We'll have this light 
 on the * Inflexible.* " 
 
 And that was the introduction of the incandescent 
 light into the British Navy. 
 
 Talking about water-closets, I remember so well long 
 ago that one of the joys on board a Man-of-War on 
 Christmas Day was having what was called a " Free 
 Tank," that is to say, you could go and get as much 
 fresh water as ever you liked, all other days you were 
 restricted, so much for drinking and so much for washing. 
 The other Christmas Joy was " Both sides of the * Head * 
 open " ! What that meant was that right in the Bows 
 or Head of the Ship were situated all the Bluejackets* 
 closets, and on Christmas Day all could be used ! "all 
 were free.'* Usually only half were allowed to be open 
 at a time. It was a quaint custom, and I always thought 
 outrageous. " Nous avons change tout cela." 
 
 When I was out in the West Indies a French Frigate 
 came into the Harbour with Yellow Fever on board. 
 My Admiral asked the Captain of the English Man-of- 
 
 22 
 
EARLY YEARS 
 
 War that happened to be there what kindness he had 
 shown the French Frigate on arrival ? He said he had 
 sent them the keys of the Cemetery. This Captain 
 always took his own champagne with him and put it 
 under his chair. I took a passage with him once in 
 his Ship, he had a Chart hanging up in his cabin like 
 one of those recording barometers, which showed 
 exactly how his wine was getting on. When he came 
 to call on the Admiral at his house on shore, he always 
 brought a small bundle with him, and after his Official 
 visit he'd go behind a bush in the garden and change 
 into plain clothes ! All the same, this is the stuff that 
 heroes are made of. Heroes are always quaint. 
 
 23 
 
r 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 FURTHER MEMORIES OF KING EDWARD AND OTHERS 
 
 King Edward paid a visit to Admiralty House, 
 
 Portsmouth, 19th February to 22nd February, 1904, 
 
 while I was Commander-in-Chief there ; and after he 
 
 had left I received the following letter from Lord 
 
 KnoUys : — 
 
 Buckingham Palace, 
 
 22nd February, 1904. 
 
 My Dear Admiral, 
 
 I am desired by the King to write and thank you 
 again for your hospitality. 
 
 His Majesty also desires me to express his great 
 appreciation of all of the arrangements, which were 
 excellent, and they reflect the greatest credit both on 
 you and on those who worked under your orders. 
 
 I am very glad the visit was such a great success and 
 went off so well. The King was evidently extremely 
 pleased with and interested in everything. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 Knoll Ys. 
 
 I can say that I never more enjoyed such a visit. 
 The only thing was that I wasn't Master in my ovm house, 
 the King arranged who should come to dinner and 
 
 24 
 
FURTHER MEMORIES OF KING EDWARD 
 
 himself arranged how everyone should sit at table ; I 
 never had a look in. Not only this, but he also had the 
 Cook up in the morning. She was absolutely the best 
 cook I've ever known. She was cheap at £ioo a year. 
 She was a remarkably lovely young woman. She died 
 suddenly walking across a hay field. The King gave 
 her some decoration, I can't remember what it was. 
 Some little time after the King had left — one night I 
 said to the butler at dinner, " This soup was never made 
 by Mrs. Baker ; is she ill ? " The butler repHed, " No, 
 Sir John, Mrs. Baker isn't ill, she has been invited by 
 His Majesty the King to stay at Buckingham Palace." 
 And that was the first I had heard of it. Mrs. Baker 
 had two magnificent kitchenmaids of her own choosing 
 and she thought she wouldn't be missed. I had an 
 interview with Mrs. Baker on her return from her 
 Royal Visit, and she told me that the King had said to 
 her one morning before he left Admiralty House, 
 Portsmouth, that he thought she would enjoy seeing 
 how a Great State Dinner was managed, and told her 
 he would ask her to stay at Buckingham Palace or 
 Windsor Castle to see one ! Which is only one more 
 exemplification of what I said of King Edward in my 
 first book, that he had an astounding aptitude of appealing 
 to the hearts of both High and Low. 
 
 My friends tell me I have done wrong in omitting 
 
 countless other little episodes of his delightful nature. 
 
 " One touch of nature makes the whole world kin ! " 
 
 This is a sweet little episode that occurred at 
 
 Sandringham. The King was there alone and Lord 
 
 25 
 
 J 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Redesdale and myself were his only guests. The King 
 was very fond of Redesdale, and rightly so. He was a 
 most delightful man. He and I were sitting in the 
 garden near dinner time, the King came up and said 
 it was time to dress and he went up in the lift, leaving 
 Redesdale in the garden. Redesdale had a letter to 
 write and rushed up to his bedroom to write the letter 
 behind a screen there was between him and the door ; 
 the door opened and in came the King, thinking he had 
 left Redesdale in the garden, and went to the wash- 
 hand-stand and felt the hot water-can to see if the water 
 was hot and went out again. Perhaps his water had 
 been cold, but anyhow he came to see if his guest's 
 was all right. 
 
 On another occasion I went down to Sandringham with 
 a great party, I think it was for one of Blessed Queen 
 Alexandra's birthdays (I hope Her Majesty will forgive 
 me for telling a lovely story presently about herself). 
 As I was zero in this grand party, I slunk off to my room 
 to write an important letter ; then I took my coat off, 
 got out my keys, unlocked my portmanteau and began 
 unpacking. I had a boot in each hand ; I heard somebody 
 fumbling with the door handle and thinking it was the 
 Footman whom Hawkins had allocated to me, I said 
 '* Come in, don't go humbugging with that door handle I *' 
 and in walked King Edward, with a cigar about a yard 
 long in his mouth. He said (I with a boot in each hand !) 
 " What on earth are you doing ? " " Unpacking, Sir." 
 ** Where's your servant } ** " Haven't got one. Sir." 
 ** Where is he ? " ** Never had one, Sir ; couldn't afford 
 
 26 
 
FURTHER MEMORIES OF KING EDWARD 
 
 it." "Put those' boots down; sit in that arm chair." 
 And he went and sat in the other on the other side of 
 the fire. I thought to myself, " This is a rum state of 
 affairs ! Here's the King of England sitting in my 
 bedroom on one side of the fire and Fm in my shirt 
 sleeves sitting in an armchair on the other side ! " 
 
 " Well," His Majesty said, " why didn't you come and 
 say, ' How do you do ' when you arrived ? " I said, ** I 
 had a letter to write, and with so many great people 
 you were receiving I thought I had better come to my 
 room." Then he went on with a long conversation, 
 until it was only about a quarter of an hour from dinner 
 time, and I hadn't unpacked ! So I said to the King, 
 ** Sir, you'll be angry if Fm late for dinner, and no doubt 
 your Majesty has two or three gentlemen to dress you, 
 but I have no one." And he gave me a sweet smile 
 and went off. 
 
 All the same, he could be extremely unpleasant ; and 
 one night I had to send a telegram for a special messenger 
 to bring down some confounded Ribbon and Stars, 
 which His Majesty expected me to wear. I'd forgotten 
 the beastly things (Fm exactly like a Christmas Tree 
 when Fm dressed up). One night when I got the 
 King's Nurse to dress me up, she put the Ribbon of 
 something over the wrong shoulder, and the King 
 harangued me as if I'd robbed a church. I didn't like 
 to say it was his Nurse's fault. Some of these Ribbons 
 you put over one shoulder and some of them you have 
 to put over the other ; it's awfully puzzling. But the 
 King was an Angel all the same, only he wasn't always 
 
 27 
 
RECORDS 
 
 one. Personally I don't like perfect angels, one doesn't 
 feel quite comfortable with them. One of Cecil Rhodes *s 
 secretaries wrote his Life, and left out all his defects ; 
 it was a most unreal picture. The Good stands out all 
 the more strikingly if there is a deep shadow. I think 
 it's called the Rembrandt Effect. Besides, it's unnatural 
 for a man not to have a Shadow, and the thought just 
 occurs to me how beautiful it is — '' The Shadow of 
 Death " ! There couldn't be the Shadow unless there 
 was a bright light ! The Bright Light is Immortality ! 
 Which reminds me that yesterday I read Dean Inge's 
 address at the Church Congress the day before on 
 Immortality. If I had anything to do with it, I'd make 
 him Archbishop of Canterbury. I don't know him, 
 but I go to hear him preach whenever I can. 
 
 The Story about Queen Alexandra is this. My 
 beloved friend Soveral, one of King Edward's treasured 
 friends, asked me to lunch on Queen Alexandra's sixtieth 
 birthday. After lunch all the people said something 
 nice to Queen Alexandra, and it came to my turn, I 
 said to Her Majesty, ** Have you seen that halfpenny 
 newspaper about your Majesty's birthday ? " She said 
 she hadn't, what was it ? I said these were the words : — 
 
 " The Queen is sixty to-day ! 
 May she live till she looks it ! " 
 
 Her Majesty said " Get me a copy of it ! " (Such a 
 thing didn't exist !) About three weeks afterwards (Her 
 Majesty has probably forgotten all about it now, but she 
 hadn't then) she said, " Where's that halfpenny news- 
 
 28 
 
FURTHER MEMORIES OF KING EDWARD 
 
 paper ? " I was staggered for a moment, but recovered 
 myself and said " Sold out, Ma'am ; couldn't get a 
 copy ! " (I think my second lie was better than my 
 first !) But the lovely part of the story yet remains. A 
 year afterwards she sent me a lovely postcard which I 
 much treasure now. It was a picture of a little girl 
 bowling a hoop, and Her Majesty's own head stuck on, 
 and underneath she had written : — 
 
 *' May she live till she looks it ! " 
 
 I treasure the remembrances of all her kindnesses to 
 me as well as that of her dear Sister, the Dowager 
 Empress of Russia. The trees they both planted at 
 Kilverstone are both flourishing ; but strange to say the 
 tree King Edward planted began to fade away and died 
 in May, 1910, when he died — ^though it had flourished 
 luxuriantly up till then. Its roots remain untouched— 
 and a large mass of " Forget-me-nots " flourishes 
 gloriously over them. 
 
 For very many consecutive years after 1886 I went to 
 Marienbad in Bohemia (eight hundred miles from 
 London and two thousand feet above the sea and one 
 mass of delicious pine woods) to take the waters there. 
 It's an ideal spot. The whole place is owned by a 
 Colony of Monks, settled in a Monastery (close by) 
 called Tepl, who very wisely have resisted all eff^orts 
 to cut down the pine woods so as to put up more 
 buildings. 
 
 I had a most serious illness after the Bombardment of 
 
 29 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Alexandria due to bad living, bad water, and great 
 anxiety. The Admiral (Lord Alcester) had entrusted 
 me (although I was one of the junior Captains in the 
 Fleet) with the Command on shore after the Bombard- 
 ment. Arabi Pasha, in command of the Rebel Egyptian 
 Army, was entrenched only a few miles off, and I had 
 but a few hundreds to garrison Alexandria. For the 
 first time in modern history we organised an Armoured 
 Train. Nowadays they are as common as Aeroplanes. 
 Then it excited as much emotion as the Tanks did. 
 There was a very learned essay in the Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 I was invalided home and, as I relate in my 
 ** Memories," received unprecedented kindness from 
 Queen Victoria (who had me to stay at Osborne) and from 
 Lord Northbrook (First Lord of the Admiralty), who 
 gave me the best appointment in the Navy. I always 
 have felt great gratitude also to his Private Secretary at 
 that time (Admiral Sir Lewis Beaumont). For three 
 years I had recurrence of Malarial Fever, and tried 
 many watering places and many remedies all in vain. 
 I went to Marienbad and was absolutely cured in three 
 weeks, and never relapsed till two years ago, when I was 
 ill again and no one has ever discovered what was the 
 matter with me ! Thanks be to God — I believe I am 
 now as well as I ever was in all my whole life, and 
 I can still waltz with joy and enjoy champagne when 
 I can get it (friends, kindly note !). 
 
 At Marienbad I met some very celebrated men, and 
 the place being so small I became great friends with 
 them. If you are restricted to a Promenade only a 
 
 30 
 
FURTHER MEMORIES OF KING EDWARD 
 
 few hundred yards long for two hours morning and even- 
 ing, while you are drinking your water, you can't help 
 knowing each other quite well. How I wish I could 
 remember all the splendid stories those men told me ! 
 
 Campbell-Bannerman, Russell (afterwards Chief Jus- 
 tice), Hawkins (afterwards Lord Brampton), the first 
 Lord Burnham, Labouchere (of Truth), Yates (of the 
 World), Lord Shand (a Scottish Judge), General Gallifet 
 (famous in the Franco-German War), Rumbold (Am- 
 bassador at Vienna), those were some of the original 
 members. Also there were two Bevans (both delightful) 
 — ^to distinguish them apart, they called the ** Bar- 
 clay Perkins " Bevan " poor " Bevan, as he was supposed 
 to have only two millions sterling, while the other one 
 was supposed to have half a dozen ! (That was the story.) 
 I almost think I knew Campbell-Bannerman the best. 
 He was very delightful to talk to. I have no Politics. 
 But in after years I did so admire his giving Freedom to 
 the Boers. Had he lived, he would have done the same 
 to Ireland without any doubt whatever. Fancy now 
 60,000 British soldiers quelling veiled Insurrection and 
 a Military Dictator as Lord Lieutenant and Ireland 
 never so prosperous ! I have never been more moved 
 than in listening to John Redmond's brother, just back 
 from the War in his Soldier's uniform, making the most 
 eloquent and touching appeal for the Freedom of Ireland ! 
 It came to nothing. I expect Lord Loreburn (who was 
 Campbell- Banner man's bosom friend) will agree with 
 me that had Campbell-Bannerman only known what a 
 literally overwhelming majority he was going to obtain 
 
 31 
 
RECORDS 
 
 at the forthcoming Election, he would have formed a 
 very different Government from what he did, and I 
 don't believe we should have had the War. King 
 Edward liked him very much. They had a bond in 
 their love of all things French. I don't believe any 
 Prime Minister was ever so loved by his followers as 
 was Campbell-Bannerman. 
 
 Sir Charles Russell, afterwards Chief Justice, was 
 equally delightful. We were so amused one day (when 
 he first came to Marienbad) by the Head Waiter whis- 
 pering to us that he was a cardsharper ! The Head Waiter 
 told us he had seen him take a pack of cards out of his 
 pocket, look at them carefully, and then put them back ! 
 Which reminds me of a lovely incident in my own 
 career. I had asked the Roman Catholic Archbishop to 
 dinner ; he was a great Saint — ^we played cards after 
 dinner. We sat down to play — (one of my guests was a 
 wonderful conjurer). " Hullo ! " I said, " Where are 
 the cards gone to ? " The conjurer said, ** It doesn't 
 matter : the Archbishop will let us have the pack of 
 cards he always carries about in his pocket " ! The 
 Holy Man furtively put his hand in his pocket (thinking 
 my friend was only joking !) and dash it ! there they 
 were ! I never saw such a look in a man's face ! (He 
 thought Satan was crawling about somewhere.) 
 
 Lord Burnham was ever my great Friend, he was also 
 a splendid man. I should like to publish his letters. 
 I have spoken of Labouchere elsewhere. As Yates, 
 of the World y Labouchere, and Lord Burnham (those 
 three) walked up and down the Promenade together 
 
 32 
 
FURTHER MEMORIES OF KING EDWARD 
 
 (Lord Burnham being stout), Russell called them " The 
 World, the Flesh, and the Devil/' I don't know if it 
 was original wit, but it was to me. 
 
 Old Gallifet also was splendid company ; he had a 
 silver plate over part of his stomach and wounds all 
 over him. I heard weird stories of how he shot down 
 the Communists. 
 
 Sir Henry Hawkins I dined with at some Legal 
 Assemblage, and as we walked up the Hall arm in arm 
 all the Law Students struck up a lovely song Fd never 
 heard before : " Mrs. 'enry 'awkins," which he greatly 
 enjoyed. On one occasion he told me that when he 
 was still a Barrister, he came late into Court and asked 
 what was the name of the Barrister associated with him 
 in the Case ? The Usher or someone told him it was 
 Mr. Swan and he had just gone out of the Court. (I 
 suppose he ought to have waited for Sir Henry.) Any- 
 how Sir Henry observed that he didn't like him *' taking 
 liberties with his Leda." I expect the Usher, not being 
 up in Lempriere's Dictionary, didn't see the joke ! 
 
 Dear Shand, who was very small of stature, was 
 known as the " Epitome of all that was good in Man." 
 He reeked with good stories and never told them twice. 
 Queen Victoria fell in love with him at first sight (not- 
 withstanding that she preferred big men) and had him 
 made a Lord. She asked after his wife as " Lady 
 Shand " ; and, being a Scottish Law Lord, he replied 
 that *' Mrs. Shand was quite well." There are all 
 sorts of ways of becoming a Lord. 
 
 Rumbold knocked the man down who asked him 
 
 33 D 
 
RECORDS 
 
 for his ticket ! He wasn't going to have an Ambassador 
 treated like that (as if he had travelled without a ticket I) 
 As the Czechs hate the Germans, I look forward to 
 going back to my beloved Marienbad once more every 
 year. The celebrated Queen of Bohemia was the 
 daughter of an English King ; her name was Elizabeth. 
 The Enghsh Ambassador to the Doge of Venice, Sir 
 Henry Wootton, wrote some imperishable lines in her 
 praise and accordingly I worshipped at Wootton*s 
 grave in Venice. The Hnes in his Poem that I love 
 are :— 
 
 " You Common People of the Skies, 
 What are You, when the Moon shall rise ? " 
 
 In dictating the Chapter on " Some Personalities,'* that 
 appears in my '' Memories," I certainly should not 
 have overlooked my very good friend Masterton- 
 Smith (Sir J. E. Masterton- Smith, K.C.B.). I can 
 only say here (as he knows quite well) that never 
 was he more appreciated by anyone in his life than 
 by me. Numberless times he was simply invaluable, 
 and had his advice been always taken, events would 
 have been so different in May 191 5 I 
 
 I have related in *' Memories " how malignancy went 
 to the extent not only of declaring that I had sold my 
 country to the Germans (so beautifully denied by Sir 
 Julian Corbett), but also that I had formed " Syndicates" 
 and *' Rings " for my own financial advantage, using 
 my official knowledge and power to further my nefarious 
 schemes for making myself quickly rich ! I have denied 
 this by the Income Tax Returns — andlhave also explained 
 
 34 
 
FURTHER MEMORIES OF KING EDWARD 
 
 I am still poor — very poor — because one-third of my 
 pension goes in income tax and the remaining two-thirds 
 is really only one-third because of depreciation of the 
 pound sterling and appreciation of food prices ! 
 
 But let that pass. However, I've been told I ought to 
 mention I had another very brilliant opportunity of 
 becoming a millionaire in a.d. 1910, but declined. 
 And also it has been requested of me to state the fact 
 that never in all my life have I belonged to any company 
 of any sort beyond possessing shares, or had any place 
 of profit outside the Navy. That is sufficiently definite, 
 I think, to d n my enemies and satisfy my friends. 
 
 My finances have always been at a low ebb (even 
 when a Commander-in-Chief), as I went on the principle 
 of ** whatever you do, do it with all your might," and 
 there is nothing less conducive to " the fighting efficiency 
 of a Fleet and its instant readiness for war " than a 
 Stingy Admiral ! The applications for subscriptions 
 which were rained upon me I countered with this in- 
 estimable memorandum in reply, invented by my 
 sympathetic Secretary : — '* The Admiral deeply regrets 
 being unable to comply with your request, and he 
 deplores the reason — ^but his Expenditure is in excess of 
 his Receipts." I always got sympathy in return, more 
 especially as the Local Applicants were largely responsible 
 for the excess of expenditure. 
 
 At an early period of my career I certainly did manage 
 on very little, and it is wonderful what a lot you can 
 get for your money if you think it over. I got breakfast 
 for tenpence, lunch for a shilling and dinner for eighteen 
 
 35 D 2 
 
RECORDS 
 
 pence and barley water for nothing and a bed for three 
 and sixpence (but my bedroom had not a Southern aspect). 
 The man I hired a bedroom from was like a Father 
 to me, and I have never had such a polish on my shoes. 
 (I remember saying to a German Boots, pointing to my 
 badly-cleaned shoes, ** Spiegel ! " — looking-glass ; he 
 took away the shoes and brought them back shining 
 like a dollar. Hardly anyone will see the joke !) But 
 what I am most proud of is that, financial necessity once 
 forcing me to go to Marienbad quite alone, I did a three 
 weeks' cure there, including the railway fare and every 
 expense, for twenty-five pounds. I don't believe any 
 Economist has ever beaten this. I preserve to this day 
 the details of every day's expenditure, which I kept in 
 a little pocket-book, and read it all over only a couple of 
 days ago, without any wish for past days. 
 
 I recall with delight first meeting my beloved old 
 friend, Sir Henry Lucy ; he had with him Sir F. C. Gould, 
 who never did a better service to his country than when 
 he portrayed me as an able seaman asking the Con- 
 scriptionists (in the person of Lord Roberts) whether 
 there was no British Navy. The cartoon was repro- 
 duced in my " Memories " (p. 48). In my speech at 
 the Lord Mayor's Banquet in 1907 (see Chapter VI 
 of this volume) I had spoken of Sir Henry Lucy as 
 ** gulled by some Midshipman Easy of the Channel 
 Fleet " (Sir Henry had been for a cruise in the Fleet), 
 who stuffed him up that the German Army embarking 
 in the German Fleet was going to invade England ! 
 And in the flippant manner that seems so to annoy people, 
 
 36 
 
FURTHER MEMORIES OF KING EDWARD 
 
 I observed that Sir Henry might as well talk of embarking 
 St. Paul's Cathedral on board a penny steamer as of 
 embarking the German Army in the German Fleet ! 
 He and Gould came up to me at a seance on board the 
 " Dreadnought," and had a cup of tea as if I had been a 
 lamb ! 
 
 On the occasion of that same speech, a Bishop looked 
 very sternly at me, because in my speech, to show 
 how if you keep on talking about war and always looking 
 at it and thinking of it you bring it on, I instanced Eve, 
 who kept on looking at the apple and at last she plucked 
 it ; and in the innocence of my heart I observed that had 
 she not done so we should not have been now bothered 
 with clothes. When I said this in my speech I was 
 following the advice of one of the Sheriffs of the City of 
 London, sitting next me at dinner, who told me to fix 
 my eyes, while I was speaking, on the corner of the 
 Ladies' Gallery, as then everyone in the Guildhall could 
 hear what I said. And such a lovely girl was in that 
 corner, I never took my eyes off her, all the time, and that 
 brought Eve intojmy mind ! 
 
 37 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE BIBLE, AND OTHER REFLECTIONS 
 
 I HAVE just been listening to another very eloquent 
 sermon from Dr. Hugh Black, whom I mention else- 
 where in this book (see Chapter V). Nearly all these 
 Presbyterians are eloquent, because they don*t write 
 their sermons. 
 
 The one slip our eloquent friend made in his sermon 
 was in saying that the a.d. i6ii edition of the Bible (the 
 Authorised Version) was a better version of the Bible 
 than the Great Bible of a.d. 1539, which according to the 
 front page is stated to be as follows : — 
 
 " The byble in English that is to say the content of all 
 the Holy Scripture both of the old and new testament 
 truly translated after the verity of the Hebrew and Greek 
 texts by the diligent study of diverse excellent learned men 
 expert in the aforesaid tongues. 
 
 " Printed by Richard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch. 
 Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum. 
 
 IS39" 
 
 It is true, as the preacher said, that the 161 1 edition, 
 the Authorised Version, is more the literal translation of 
 
 38 
 
THE BIBLE, AND OTHER REFLECTIONS 
 
 the two, but those " diverse excellent learned men " 
 translated according to the spirit and not the letter of the 
 original ; and our dear brother (the preacher) this morning 
 in his address had to acknowledge that in the text he had 
 chosen from the 27th Psalm and the last verse thereof, 
 the pith and marrow which he rightly seized on — being the 
 words " Wait on the Lord '* — were more beautifully 
 rendered in the great Bible from which (the Lord be 
 thanked !) the English Prayer Book takes its Psalms, and 
 which renders the original Hebrew not in the literal words, 
 " Wait on the Lord," but " Tarry thou the Lord's leisure,** 
 and goes on also in far better words than the Authorised 
 Version with the rest of the verse : "Be strong and He 
 shall comfort thine heart." 
 
 When we remonstrated with the Rev. Hugh Black after 
 his sermon, he again gainsaid, and increased his heinous- 
 ness by telling us that the word " Comfort," which doesn't 
 appear in the 161 1 version, was in its ancient signification 
 a synonym for " Fortitude " ; and the delightful outcome 
 of it is that that is really the one and only proper prayer — 
 to ask for Fortitude or Endurance. You have no right to 
 pray for rain for your turnips, when it will ruin somebody 
 else's wheat. You have no right to ask the Almighty — 
 in fact, He can't do it — to make two and two into five. 
 The only prayer to pray is for Endurance, or Fortitude. 
 The most saintly man I know, daily ended his prayers 
 with the words of that wonderful hymn : 
 
 " Renew my will from day to day, 
 Blend it with thine, and take away 
 All that now makes it hard^to say, 
 Thy will^be done." 
 
 39 
 
RECORDS 
 
 It must not be assumed that I am a Saint in any way in 
 making these remarks, but only a finger-post pointing the 
 way. The finger-post doesn't go to Heaven itself, yet 
 it shows the way. All I want to do is to stick up for those 
 holy men who were not hide-bound with a dictionary, 
 and gave us the spirit of the Holy Word and not the 
 Dictionary meaning. 
 
 Here I feel constrained to mention a far more beautiful 
 illustration of the value of those pious men of old. 
 
 In Brother Black's i6i i version, the most famous of the 
 Saviour's words : " Come unto me all ye that labour and 
 are heavy laden and I will give you rest," is, in the 1539 
 version, *' I will refresh you ! " There is no rest this side 
 of Heaven. Job (iii, 17) explains Heaven as '* Where 
 the wicked cease from troubling and where the weary be 
 at rest." The fact is — ^the central point is reached by 
 the Saviour when He exemplifies the Day of Perfection 
 by saying : ** In that day ye shall ask me nothing," 
 
 I have been told by a great scientist that for the tide 
 to move a pebble on the beach a millionth of an inch 
 further would necessitate an alteration in the whole 
 Creation. And then we go and pray for rain, or to beat 
 our enemies ! 
 
 Again, I say — The only thing to pray for is Endurance. 
 
 Some people in sore straits try to strike bargains with 
 God, if only He will keep them safe or relieve them in the 
 present necessity. It's a good story of the soldier who, 
 with all the shells exploding round him was heard to 
 pray : " O Lord, if You'll only get me out of this d — d 
 mess I will be good, I will be good ! " 
 
 40 
 
THE BIBLE, AND OTHER REFLECTIONS 
 
 I am reminded of what I call the " Pith and Marrow " \ 
 which the pious men put at the head of every chapter of 
 the Bible, and which, alas ! has been expunged in 
 the literary exactitudes of the Revised Version. Re- 
 gard Chapter xxvi, for instance, of Proverbs — how 
 it is all summed up by those '* diverse excellent 
 learned men." They wrote at the top of the chapter 
 " Observations about Fools." Matthew xxii : the Saviour 
 " Poseth the Pharisees." Isaiah xxi : " The set time." 
 Isaiah xxvii (so true and pithy of the Chapter !) : 
 '* Chastisements differ from Judgments " ; and in 
 Mark xv : *' The Clamour of the Common People " — • 
 descriptive of what's in the chapter. All these headings, 
 in my opinion, as regards those ancient translators, are 
 for them a *' Crown of Glory and a Diadem of Beauty " ; 
 and I have a feeling that, when they finished their 
 wondrous studies, it was with them as Solomon said, . 
 " The desire accomplished is sweet to the Soul." ^ 
 
 Dr. Ginsburg 
 
 March 2yth, 1918. 
 
 Dear Friend, \ 
 
 When I was at Bath I read in the local paper a 
 beautiful letter aptly alluding to the Mount Fiesole of 
 Bath and quoting what has been termed that mysterious 
 verse of David's : 
 
 " I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills ." 
 
 Well I the other day a great friend of that wonderful 
 Hebrew scholar, Dr. Ginsburg — he died long since at 
 Capri — ^told me that Ginsburg had said to him that all 
 the Revisers and Translators had missed a peculiar 
 
 41 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Hebraism which quite alters the signification of this 
 opening verse of the 121st Psalm : It should read : 
 
 " Shall I lift up mine eyes to those hills ? DOTH my help 
 come from thence ? " 
 
 And this is the explanation : 
 
 Those hills alluded to were the hills in which were 
 the Groves planted in honour of the idols towards which 
 Israel had strayed. So in the second verse the inspired 
 tongue says : 
 
 " No ! My help cometh from the Lord ! He who hath made 
 Heaven and Earth ! (not these idols)," 
 
 I have had an admiration for Ginsburg ever since he 
 shut up the two Atheists in the Athenaeum Club, Huxley 
 and Herbert Spencer, who were reviling Holy Writ in 
 Ginsburg's presence and flouting him. So he asked the 
 two of them to produce anything anywhere in literature 
 comparable to the 23rd Psalm as translated by Wyclif, 
 Tyndale, and Coverdale. He gave them a week to 
 examine, and at the end of it they confessed that they 
 could not. 
 
 One of them (I could not find out which it was) wrote : 
 
 " I won't argue about nor admit the Inspiration claimed, 
 but I say this — ^that those saintly men whom Cromwell 
 formed as the company to produce the Great Bible of 
 1539 were inspired y for never has the spirit of the original 
 Hebrew been more beautifully transformed from the 
 original harshness into such spiritual wealth." 
 
 Those are not the exact words, I have not got them by 
 me, but that was the sense. 
 
 The English language in a.d. 1539 was at its very 
 maximum. Hence the beauty of the Psalms which come 
 from the Great Bible as produced by that holy company 
 of pious men, who one writer says :* " Did not wish their 
 names to be ever known." I send you the title page. 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 (Signed) Fisher. 
 27/3/18. 
 
 42 
 
THE BIBLE, AND OTHER REFLECTIONS 
 
 I enclosed with this letter the front page of the first 
 edition of the Great Bible, a.d. 1539, often known as 
 Cranmer's Bible, but Archbishop Cranmer had nothing 
 whatever to do with it except writing a preface to it ; 
 it was solely due to Cromwell, Secretary of State to Henry 
 VIII. , who cut off Cromwell's head in July, 1540. Cranmer 
 wrote a preface for the edition after April, 1540. 
 Cranmer was burnt at the stake in Mary's reign. 
 Tyndale was strangled and burnt, Coverdale, Bishop of 
 Exeter, died of hunger. Coverdale headed the company 
 that produced the Great Bible, and Tyndale 's translation 
 was taken as the basis. (So those who had to do with the 
 Bible had a rough time of it !) 
 
 John Wyclif, in a.d. 1380, began the translation of 
 the Bible into English. This was before the age of 
 printing, so it was in manuscript. Before he died, 
 in A.D. 1384, he had the joy of seeing the Bible 
 in the hands of his countrymen in their own 
 tongue. 
 
 Wyclif's translation was quaint and homely, and so 
 idiomatic as to have become out of date when, more than 
 one hundred years afterwards, John Tyndale, walking 
 over the fields in Wiltshire, determined so to translate 
 the Bible into English " that a boy that driveth the 
 plough should know more of the Scriptures than the 
 Pope," and Tyndale gloriously succeeded ! But for 
 doing so, the Papists, under orders from the Pope of 
 Rome, half strangled him and then burnt him at the 
 stake. Like St. Paul, he was shipwrecked ! (Just as he 
 had finished the Book of Jonah, which is curious, but 
 
 43 
 
RECORDS 
 
 there was no whale handy, and so he was cast ashore in 
 Holland, nearly dead !) 
 
 Our present Bible, of a.d. i6ii, is almost word for 
 word the Bible of Tyndale, of round A.D. 1530, but in a.d. 
 1534, Miles Coverdale, Bishop of Exeter, was authorised 
 by Archbishop Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell (who 
 was Secretary of State to Henry VHI.) to publish his fresh 
 translation, and he certainly beautified in many places 
 Tyndale 's original ! 
 
 In 1539, '' Diverse excellent learned men expert in 
 the * foresaid tongues ' " (Hebrew and Greek), under 
 Cromwell's orders made a true translation of the whole 
 Bible, which was issued in 1539-40 in four editions, and 
 remained supreme till a.d. 1568, when the Bishops 
 tried to improve it, and made a heavenly mess of it ! And 
 then the present Authorised Version, issued in a.d. 
 161 1, became the Bible of the Land, and still holds its 
 own against the recent pedantic Revised Version of 
 A.D. 1884. No one Hkes it. It is literal, but it is not 
 spiritual ! 
 
 In the opinion of Great and Holy men, Cranmer's 
 Bible (as it is called), or " the Great Bible "—the Bible 
 of 1539 to 1568 — ^holds the field for beauty of its English 
 and its emotional rendering of the Holy Spirit ! 
 
 Alas ! we don't know their names ; we only know of 
 them as ** Diverse excellent learned men ! " It is said 
 they did not wish to go down to Fame ! 
 
 "It is the greatest achievement in letters ! The Beauty 
 of the translation of these unknown men excels (far 
 excels) the real and the so-called originals ! All nations 
 
 44 
 
THE BIBLE, AND OTHER REFLECTIONS 
 
 and tongues of Christendom have come to admit reluc- 
 tantly that no other version of the Book in the English or 
 any other tongue offers so noble a setting for the Divine 
 Message. Read the Prayer Book Psalms ! They are 
 from this noble Version — English at its zenith ! The 
 English of the Great Bible is even more stately, sublime, 
 and pure than the English of Shakespeare and Elizabeth." 
 
 Action 
 
 ** Ye men of Galilee ! Why stand ye gazing up into 
 Heaven ? " (Acts, Chapter i., verse ii.) 
 
 The moral of this one great central episode of the 
 whole Christian faith (which, if a man don't believe 
 with his utmost heart he is as a beast that perisheth, 
 so Saint Paul teaches in I. Corinthians, Chapter xv.), 
 the moral of it is that however intense at any 
 moment of our lives may be the immediate tension that 
 is straining our mental fibre to the limit, yet we are to 
 " get on ! " and not stand stock still " gazing up into 
 Heaven ! " Inaction must be no part of our life, and we 
 must " get on " with our journey as the Apostles did — 
 *' to our own City of Jerusalem ! " 
 
 It is curious that Thursday (Ascension Day) was not 
 made the Christian Sabbath. No scientific agnostic 
 could possibly explain the Ascension by any such theories 
 as those that try to get over the fact of the Resurrection 
 by cataleptic happenings or an inconceivable trance 1 
 The agnostic can't explain away that He was seen by 
 the Apostles to be carried up into Heaven when in the 
 
 45 
 
 J 
 
RECORDS 
 
 act of lifting up His hands upon them to bless them 
 ** and a cloud received Him out of their sight ! " 
 
 Vide the Collect for the Sunday after Ascension Day ! 
 
 Resentment 
 
 The prophet Zechariah says in Chapter xiv., verse 7 : 
 
 " At evening time 
 It shaU be light ! " 
 
 And I conclude that in the last stage of life, as pointed 
 out so very decisively by Dr. Weir Mitchell (that great 
 American), *' the brain becomes its best," and so we 
 rearrange our hearts and minds to the great advantage 
 of our own Heaven and the avoidance of Hell to others I 
 ** Resentment " I find to fade away, and it merges into 
 the feeling of Commiseration ! (** Poor idiots ! " one 
 says instead of *' D — n 'em ! *') But I can't arrive as yet 
 at St. Paul, who deliberately writes that he's quite ready 
 to go to Hell so as to let his enemy go to Heaven ! You've 
 got really to be a real Christian to say that ! I've not 
 the least doubt, however, that John Wesley, Bishop 
 Jeremy Taylor and Robertson of Brighton felt it surely I 
 Isn't it odd that those three great saints (fit to be numbered 
 " with these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job," 
 Ezekiel, Chapter xiv., verse 14) each of them should have 
 a •' nagging " wife ! 
 
 Their Home was Hell ! 
 
 And I've searched in vain for any one of the three 
 saying a word to the detriment of the other sex ! They 
 might all have been Suffragettes ! (St. Paul does indeed 
 
 46 
 
THE BIBLE, AND OTHER REFLECTIONS 
 
 say that he preferred being single ! But Peter was 
 married ! ) 
 
 But this ** Resentment " section hinges entirely on 
 '* Charity " as defined and exemplified by Mr. Robertson, 
 of Brighton, in one of the best of his wonderful Trinity 
 Chapel Sermons. 
 
 Dean Inge 
 
 I heard the Dean of St. Paul's (Dr. Inge) preach in 
 Westminster Abbey on the 17th Chapter of St. Matthew, 
 verse 19 : *' Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and 
 said, * Why could not we cast him out ? ' " 
 
 The sermon was really splendiferous ! 
 
 The Saviour had just cast out a devil that had been 
 too much for the disciples, and He told them their inability 
 to do so was due to their want of Faith, and added : 
 '* Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer." The 
 Dean explained to us that some ascetic annotator 
 400 years afterwards had shoved in at the end of these 
 two additional words — ■* and fasting." That, of course, 
 was meant by the Dean as " one in the eye " for those 
 who fast like the Pharisees and for a pretence make long 
 prayers ! Then the Dean was just too lovely as to 
 ** Prayer ! " He said he was so sick of people praying 
 for victory in the great War I And speaking generally 
 he was utterly sick of people praying for what they 
 wanted ! (as if that was Prayer I) No 1 the Dean 
 divinely said, ** Ptayer was the exaltation of the Spirit 
 of a Man to dwell with God and say in the Saviour's 
 
 47 
 
RECORDS 
 
 words, * Not my will but Thine be done.' ** " Get right 
 thus with God/' said the Dean, " and then go and make 
 Guns and Munitions with the utmost fury. That (said 
 the Dean) was the way to get Victory, and not by silly 
 vain petitions as if you were asking your Mamma for a 
 bit of barley sugar." (I don't mean to say the Dean used 
 these exact words 1) Then he said an interesting thing 
 that " this event of the disciples ignominiously failing to 
 cast out the devil " happened to these chief of His apostles 
 just after their coming down from the Mount of Trans- 
 figuration, where they had been immensely uplifted by 
 the Heavenly Vision of the Saviour talking with Moses 
 and Elijah. The Dean said " that it was really a curious 
 fact of large experience that when you were thus lifted 
 up in a Heavenly Spirit it was a sure precursor of a fierce 
 temptation by the Devil I " These highly-favoured 
 disciples, after such a communion with God, thought that 
 they themselves, by themselves, could do anything ! 
 Pride had a fall 1 They could not cast out that devil I 
 They trusted in themselves and did not give God the 
 praise ! And so it was that Moses didn't go over Jordan, 
 for he struck the rock and said, " How now, ye rebels ! " 
 (I'll show you who I am I) 
 
 The Dean also observed that it was the Drains that 
 had to be put right when there was an Epidemic of 
 Typhoid Fever ! ** Prayer " wasn't the Antidote ! 
 
 The holy man Saint Francis summed up all religion 
 and the Christian life in his famous line : 
 
 ** How we are in the sight of God ! — That is the only 
 thing that matters ! " 
 
 48 
 
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 THE BIBLE, AND OTHER REFLECTIONS 
 
 ' Forgiveness 
 
 It fortuned this morning that I read Joseph's interview 
 with his Brethren just after the death of their Father 
 Jacob. They, having done their best to murder Joseph 
 quite naturally thought that he would now be even with 
 them, so they told a lie. They said that Jacob their 
 Father had very kindly left word with them that he hoped 
 Joseph would be very nice with his brethren after he died. 
 Jacob said no such thing. Jacob knew his Joseph. 
 But it gave Joseph a magnificent opportunity for reading 
 one of Mr. Robertson's, of Brighton, Sermons — he said 
 to them, ** Am I in the place of God ? " Meaning 
 thereby that no bread and water that he might put them 
 on, and no torturing thumbscrews, would in any way 
 approach the unquenchable fire and the undying worm 
 that the Almighty so righteously reserves for the black- 
 guards of this life. Which reminds me of the best 
 Sermon I ever heard by the present Dean of Salisbury, 
 Dr. Page-Roberts. He said : " There is no Bankruptcy 
 Act in Heaven. No los. in the £i there. Every moral, 
 debt has got to be paid in full," and consequently Page- 
 Roberts, though an extremely broad-minded man, was 
 the same as the extreme Calvinist of the unspeakable 
 Hell and the Roman Catholic's Purgatory. How curious 
 it is how extremes do meet I 
 
 49 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 EPISODES 
 
 I. — Mr. Gladstone's Final Resignation. 
 
 I was Controller of the Navy when Lord Spencer was 
 First Lord of the Admiralty and Sir Frederck Richards 
 was First Sea Lord. Mr. Gladstone, then Prime Minis- 
 ter, was at the end of his career. I have never read 
 Morley's *' Life of Gladstone," but I understand that the 
 incident I am about to relate is stated to have been the 
 cause of Mr. Gladstone resigning — -and for the last time. 
 I was the particular Superintending Lord at the Board 
 of Admiralty, who, as Controller of the Navy, was 
 specially responsible for the state and condition of the 
 Navy ; and it was my province, when new vessels were 
 required, to replace those getting obsolete or worn out. 
 Sir Frederick Richards and myself were on the very 
 greatest terms of intimacy. He had a stubborn will, 
 an unerring judgment, and an astounding disregard of all 
 arguments. When anyone, seeking a compromise with 
 him, offered him an alternative, he always took the alterna- 
 tive as well as the original proposal, and asked for both. 
 Once bit, twice shy ; no one ever oiffered him an alterna- 
 tive a second time. 
 
 50 
 
EPISODES 
 
 However, he had one great incapacity. No one could 
 write a more admirable and concise minute ; but he was 
 as dumb as Moses. So I became his Aaron. The mo- 
 ment arrived when that magnificent old patriot, Lord 
 Spencer, had to choose between fidelity to his life-long 
 friend and leader, Mr. Gladstone, and his faithfulness to 
 his country. Sir Frederick Richards, the First Sea Lord, 
 had convinced him that a certain programme of ship- 
 building was vitally and urgently necessary. Mr. Glad- 
 stone would not have it. Sir Frederick Richards and 
 myself, in quite a nice way, not quite point-blank, 
 intimated that the Sea Lords would resign. (My bread 
 and cheese was at stake, but I did it !) Lord Spencer 
 threw in his lot with us, and conveyed the gentle likelihood 
 to Mr. Gladstone ; whereupon Sir William Harcourt 
 and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman were alternately 
 turned on to the three of us (Lord Spencer, Sir F. 
 Richards and myself) sitting round a table in Lord 
 Spencer's private room. I loved Sir William Harcourt ; 
 he was what might be called " a genial ruffian," as opposed 
 to Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, who, when he was Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer, was a perfect beast, without 
 a single redeeming feature that I ever found out. Sir 
 William Harcourt always started the conversazione by 
 insulting Lord Spencer (quite in a friendly way) ; then 
 he would say to Sir Frederick Richards, '' I always 
 thought that one Englishman was equal to three French- 
 men, and according to this table of ships required, which 
 has been presented to. the Prime Minister, it takes three 
 Englishmen to manage one Frenchman." Old Richards 
 
 51 E 2 
 
RECORDS 
 
 would grow livid with anger ; he wanted to say, " It*s 
 a damned lie ! " but he couldn't get the proper words 
 out ! 
 
 He had an ungovernable temper. I heard him once 
 say to one of the principal Officers in his ship : " Here ; 
 don't you look sulky at me, I won't have it ! " There 
 was a famous one-legged cabman at Portsmouth whom 
 Sir Frederick Richards hired at Portsmouth railway 
 station by chance to drive him to the Dockyard. He 
 didn't recognise the man, but he was an old ship-mate 
 who had been with him when Sir Frederick Richards 
 commanded a brig on the coast of Africa, suppressing 
 the Slave Trade — ^he led them all a dog's life. The fare 
 was a shilling, and ample at that ; and as old Richards got 
 out at the Admiral's door he gave the cabman five shiUings, 
 but the cabby refused it and said to old Richards : *' You 
 drove me for nothing on the Coast of Africa, I will drive 
 you for nothing now," and he rattled off, leaving old 
 Richards speechless with anger. He used to look at Sir 
 William Harcourt in exactly the same way. I thought he 
 would have apoplexy sometimes. 
 
 Dear Lord Spencer was pretty nearly as bad in his 
 want of lucid exposition ; so I usually did Aaron 
 all through with Sir William Harcourt, and one of the 
 consequences was that we formed a lasting friendship. 
 
 When I was made a Lord, Stead came to my house that 
 very morning and said he had just had a message from Sir 
 William Harcourt (who had then been dead for some 
 years), saying how glad Sir William was ; and the 
 curious thing was that five minutes afterwards I got a 
 
 52 
 
EPISODES 
 
 letter from his son, now Lord Harcourt, congratulating 
 me on my Peerage, which had only beeij made known an 
 hour before. I think Stead said Sir William was in 
 Heaven. I don't think he ever quite knew where the 
 departed were ! 
 
 Campbell-Bannerman was a more awkward customer. 
 
 But it was all no use. We got the ships and Mr. 
 Gladstone went. 
 
 II. — The 'Great Lord Salisbury's Brother-in-law. 
 
 It really is very sad that those three almost bulky 
 volumes of my letters to Lord Esher — ^which he has so 
 wonderfully kept — could not all have been published 
 just as they are. This is one of the reasons for 
 my extreme reluctance, which still exists, for these 
 " Memories" and " Records " of mine being 
 published in my lifetime. When I was dead there 
 could be ino libel action I The only alternative is to 
 have a new sort of " Pilgrim's Progress " published — 
 the whole three volumes — and substitute Bunyan names. 
 But that would be almost as bad as putting their real 
 names in — no one could mistake them ! 
 
 I think I have mentioned elsewhere that Lord Ripon, 
 when First Lord, whom I had never met, had a design 
 to make me a Lord of the Admiralty, but his colleagues 
 would not have it and called me '* Gambetta." Lord 
 Ripon said he had sent for me because someone had 
 maligned me to him as ** a Radical enthusiast." Well, 
 the upshot was that in 1886 1 became Director of Ordnance 
 
 53 
 
RECORDS 
 
 of the Navy ; and after a time I came to the definite 
 conclusion that the Ordnance of the Fleet was in a very 
 bad w^ay, and the only remedy was to take the whole 
 business from the War Office, who controlled the Sea 
 Ordnance and the munitions of sea war. A very funny 
 state of affairs ! 
 
 Lord George Hamilton was then First Lord and the 
 Great Lord Salisbury was Prime Minister. Lord SaUs- 
 bury's brother-in-law was the gentleman at the War 
 Office who was solely responsible for the Navy deficien- 
 cies, bar the politicians. When they cut down the total 
 of the Army Estimates, he took it off the Sea Ordnance. 
 He had to, if he wanted to be on B|)eaking terms with his 
 own cloth. I don't blame him ; I expect I should have 
 done the same, more particularly as I believe in a Citizen 
 Army — or, as I have called it elsewhere, a Lord-Lieuten- 
 ant's Army. (The clothes were a bit different ; but Lord 
 Kitchener's Army was uncommonly like it.) Lord 
 George Hamilton, having patiently heard me, as he always 
 did, went to Lord Salisbury. Lord George backed me 
 through thick and thin. The result was a Committee — 
 the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, Chairman ; W. H. 
 Smith, Secretary for War ; Lord George Hamilton, First 
 Lord of the Admiralty ; the Director of Ordnance at the 
 War Office, and myself. It was really a very remarkably 
 unpleasant time. I had an awful bad cold — much worse 
 than General Alderson, the Prime Minister's brother-in- 
 law — and Lord Salisbury never asked after it, while he 
 slobbered over Alderson. I just mention that as a straw 
 indicating which way the wind blew. The result, after 
 
 54 
 
EPISODES 
 
 immense flagellations administered to the Director of the 
 Sea Ordnance, was that the whole business of the muni- 
 tions of war for the Navy was turned over to the Admiralty, 
 " lock, stock and gun barrel, bob and sinker," and by 
 Herculean efforts and the cordial co-operation of Engel- 
 bach, C.B., who had fought against me like a tiger, and 
 afterwards helped like an Angel, and of Sir Ralph Knox, 
 the Accountant- General of the Army, a big deficit, in 
 fact a criminal deficit, of munitions for the Fleet was 
 turned over rapidly into a million sterling of surplus. 
 
 They are nearly all dead and gone now, who worked 
 this enormous transfer, and I hope they are all in Heaven. 
 
 This story has a lovely sequel ; and I forgave Lord 
 
 Salisbury afterwards for not asking after my cold when, 
 
 in 1899, J^any years after, the Hague Peace Conference 
 
 came along and he submitted my name to Queen Victoria 
 
 as the Naval Delegate, with the remark that, as I had 
 
 fought so well against his brother-in-law, there was no 
 
 doubt I should fight at the Peace Conference. So I did, 
 
 though it was not for Peace ; and M. de Staal, who was a 
 
 great friend of mine, and who was the President of the 
 
 Conference, told me that my remarks about boiling the 
 
 crews of hostile submarines in oil when caught, and so 
 
 forth, were really unfit for publication. But W. T. 
 
 Stead tells that story infinitely better than I can. It is 
 
 in the " Review of Reviews " for February, 19 10. 
 
 But there is another providential sequel to the events 
 
 with which I began this statement. I made great friends 
 
 at the Peace Conference with General Gross von 
 
 SchwarzhofF and Admiral von Siegel, the Military and 
 
 m^-:-: ' 55 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Naval German Delegates, and I then (in 1899) imbibed 
 those ideas as to the North Sea being our battle ground, 
 which led to the great things between 1902 and 19 10. 
 
 III. — Ship-building and Dockyard Workers. 
 
 I have been asked to explain how I got rid of 6,000 
 redundant Dockyard workmen, when Mr. Childers 
 nearly wrecked his Government by turning out but a few 
 hundred. Well, this was how it was done. We brought 
 home some 160 ships from abroad that could neither 
 fight nor run away ; enough men were thus provided 
 for the fighting portion of the crews for all the new ships 
 then lying in the Dockyards, which were not only deteri- 
 orating in their hulls and equipment for want of care, 
 but were inefficient for war because officers and men must 
 have practice in the ship they fight as much as the Bisley 
 shot with his rifle, the jockey with his race-horse and the 
 chef with his sauces. It is practice that makes perfect. 
 The original plan for mobilising the Navy for war was 
 that on the outbreak of war you disorganised the ships 
 already fully manned and efficient by taking a portion of 
 the trained crew, thus impairing the efficiency of that ship, 
 and putting them into the un-manned ships and filling 
 up both the old and the new — ^the former efficient ships 
 and those in the dockyards — ^with men from the Reserve. 
 So the whole Navy got disorganised. And that was what 
 they called " Preparing for War ! '* By what Mr. 
 Balfour called a courageous stroke of the pen, in his speech 
 at Manchester ,^when he was Prime Minister, every vessel 
 
 56 
 
EPISODES 
 
 in the Fleet by the new system had its fighting crew 
 complete. 
 
 Those who were to fill up the hiatus were the hewers 
 of wood and the drawers of water. The brains were 
 there ; only the beef had to come, and the beef might 
 have been taken from the Army. 
 
 When are we going to have the great Army and Navy 
 Co-operative Society, which I set forth to King Edward 
 in 1903 — ^that the Army should be a Reserve for the 
 Navy ? When shall we be an amphibious nation ? 
 This last war has made us into a conscript Nation. 
 
 Well, to revert to the subject of how we got rid of the 
 6,000 redundant dockyard workmen. When that mass 
 of Officers and men set free by the scrapping of the 160 
 ships that couldn't fight nor run away came back to 
 Chatham, Portsmouth, Devonport, Pembroke, and 
 Queenstown, then in those dockyard towns the tradesmen 
 had the time of their lives, for the money that had flowed 
 into the pockets of the Chinese, the Chileans, the Peru- 
 vians, the Boers, the Brazilians, made the shopkeepers of 
 the dockyard towns into a mass of Liptons, so that when 
 the 6,000 Dockyard workers tried, as they had done in the 
 time of yore (in the time of Childers), to get the dockyard 
 tradespeople to agitate and turn out their Members of 
 Parliament, the tradespeople simply replied, " You be 
 damned ! " and I arranged to find congenial occupation for 
 these redundant dockyard workmen in private yards 
 where they were much needed. 
 
 When I became Admiral Superintendent of Ports- 
 mouth Dockyard, I took another drastic step in concen- 
 
 57 
 
RECORDS 
 
 trating all the workmen then leisurely building several 
 different ships, and put them all like a hive of bees on to 
 one ship and extended piece-work to the utmost limit 
 that was conceivable. The result was that a battle-ship 
 which would have taken three years to build was built 
 in one year ; for the work of building a ship is so inter- 
 laced, when they are working by piece-work especially, 
 that if one man does not work his fellow workmen cannot 
 earn so much, so this piece-work helps the overseers 
 because the men oversee each other. 
 
 But there is another great principle which this hides. 
 The one great secret of the fighting value of a battleship 
 is to get her to sea quickly :— 
 
 " Build few, and build fast, 
 Each one better than the last." 
 
 You will come across some idiots whose minds are so 
 deliciously symmetrical that they would prefer ten tor- 
 toises to one greyhound to catch a hare, and it was one of 
 the principal articles of the ancient creed that you built 
 ships in batches. They strained at the gnat of uniformity 
 and so swallowed the camel of inferiority. No progress — 
 they were a batch. 
 
 IV. — " Jolly and Hustle." 
 
 I have just been asked by an alluring, though somewhat 
 elusive friend, to describe to you quite an excellent 
 illustration of those famous words in " Ecclesiastes " 
 '' Cast thy bread upon the waters for thou shalt find it after 
 many days." That*s the text this alluring friend sug- 
 
 58 
 
EPISODES 
 
 gested to me to exemplify. For myself, I prefer the more 
 heavenly text where the Scripture says : '* Be not for- 
 getful to entertain strangers : for thereby some have 
 entertained angels unawares." It was quite an angel that 
 I had to do with, and he ate my bread as follows : — 
 
 One day, when I was Admiral in North America, I 
 received a telegram : " The President of the Grand 
 Trunk Railway with forty distinguished American friends 
 was arriving in about an hour's time on some business 
 connected with railway affairs, and could they be per- 
 mitted to see the battleship * Renown.' " The "Renown " 
 was my flagship. I sent a reply to the next station their 
 special train was stopping at, asking them to lunch on 
 board on their arrival at i p.m. I sent for Monsieur 
 Auge, my wonderful chef, who on the produce of his 
 service with me afterwards set up a restaurant in Paris 
 (he really was excellent — but so extravagant !) and told 
 him : " Lunch for forty, in an hour's time." All he said 
 was " Oui, Monsieur," and he did it well ! I myself 
 being really amazed. 
 
 The Company greatly enjoyed themselves. I had some 
 wonderful champagne obtained from Admiral McCrea — • 
 of immortal memory as regards that requisite — ^which 
 effectively seconded M. Auge's magnificent lunch. 
 
 Years after — it was in March, 1902 — -I was in a serious 
 dilemma as to the completion of the necessary buildings 
 at Osborne for the new scheme of entry of Officers to be 
 inaugurated by the King in person, who was to open 
 the new establishment on the fourth day of August 
 following. Every effort had failed to get a satisfactory 
 
 59 
 
RECORDS 
 
 contract, when after a prolonged but fruitless discussion, 
 I was sitting thinking what the devil I should do, when' an 
 Officer came in to see me on some business and mentioned 
 casually that he had just come from lunching at the 
 Carlton and had happened to overhear a man at an adja- 
 cent table say that he would give anything to see Sir 
 John Fisher, as he had given him — ^with many others — 
 the very best lunch he had ever had in his life. I sent the 
 Officer back to the Carlton to bring him. On his arrival 
 in my room I didn't remember him, but he at once thanked 
 me — not for seeing the ** Renown " and all the other 
 things — but only for the lunch. He said he belonged to 
 St. Louis and was over in England on business. He 
 had completed a big hotel in three months, which no one 
 else would contract to build under three years. 
 
 Then I thought of that angel whom I had entertained 
 unawares ; certainly the bread that was cast came back 
 all right. I explained my difficulty to him — I had all the 
 particulars. He said he had his American staff over here, 
 who had been working at the Hotel, and he would attend 
 with the contract and the drawings in forty-eight hours. 
 And he did. The contract was signed, and King Edward 
 opened the buildings on August 4th. 
 
 An expert of our own who participated in the final 
 proceedings asked the American gentleman's foreman how 
 he did it, and especially how he had managed that hotel in 
 the three months. I overheard the American's answer : 
 " Well," he said, ** this is how our boss does it ; when he 
 is a-laying of the foundations he is a-thinking of the roof." 
 *' What is his name ? " said the English expert. " Well," 
 
 60 
 
EPISODES 
 
 replied the American, " his name is Stewart, but we always 
 call him ' JOLLY & HUSTLE.' " " Oh I " said the 
 English expert, " Why that name ? " ** Well, *' he says, 
 ** I will tell you. There's not one of his workmen, not 
 even the lower grades, gets less than fifteen shillings a day> 
 and as much as he likes to eat and drink — free of cost. 
 Well, that's jolly. But we has to work sixteen hours a 
 a day — ^that's hustle.*' ^ 
 
 So when the defences of the Humber came into my 
 mind and no contractor could be got for so gigantic a 
 business, I telegraphed for "Jolly & Hustle," and when he 
 came over and said he would do it and that he was going 
 to bring everything, from a pin up to a pile-driver, from 
 America, it made the contractors at home reconsider the 
 position — and they did the work. 
 
 V. — ''Buying up Opportunities." 
 
 The words I take to head this section are as applicable 
 to the affairs of common life as they are to religion, with 
 reference to which they were originally spoken. 
 
 What these words signify is that Faith governs all 
 things. Victories on Earth have as their foundation the 
 same saving virtue of Faith. 
 
 One great exercise of Faith is ** Redeeming the Time," 
 as Paul says. (I'm told the literal meaning of the 
 original Greek is ** buying up opportunities.") Most 
 people from want of Faith won't try again. Lord 
 Kelvin often used to tell me of his continuous desire of 
 ** redeeming the time." Even in dressing himself he 
 
 6i 
 
RECORDS 
 
 sought every opportunity of saving time (so he told me) 
 in thinking of the next operation. However his busy 
 brain sometimes got away from the business in hand, 
 as he once put his necktie in his pocket and his handker- 
 chief round his neck. (Another wonderfully clever 
 friend of mine, who used to think in the Differential 
 Calculus, I once met immaculately dressed, but he had 
 his trousers over his arm and not on.) And yet I am told 
 he was an extraordinarily acute business man . Every sailor 
 owes him undying gratitude for his " buying up oppor- 
 tunities " in the way he utilised a broken thigh, which 
 compelled him to go in a yacht, to invent his marvellous 
 compass and sounding machine. At the Bombardment 
 of Alexandria the firing of the eighty ton guns of the 
 ** Inflexible " with maximum charges, which blew my 
 cap off my head and nearly deafened me, had no effect 
 on his compasses, and enabled us with supreme advan- 
 tage to keep the ship steaming about rapidly and so get 
 less often hit whilst at the same time steering the ship 
 with accuracy amongst the shoals. So it was with the 
 ancient sounding machine : one had to stop the ship to 
 sound, and it was a laborious operation and inaccurate. 
 Lord Kelvin devised a glass tube which by the height 
 of the discoloration gave you the exact depth, no matter 
 how fast the ship was going ; and the beauty of it was 
 you kept the tubes as a register. 
 
 It was an immense difficulty getting the Admiralty to 
 adopt Lord Kelvin's compass. I was reprimanded for 
 having them on board. I always asked at a Court- 
 Martial, no matter what the prisoner was being tried for, 
 
 62 
 
EPISODES 
 
 whether they had Lord Kelvin's compass on board. It 
 was only ridicule that got rid of the old Admiralty com- 
 pass. At the inquiry the Judge asked me whether 
 the Admiralty compass was sensitive (I was a witness 
 for Lord Kelvin). I replied, '' No, you had to kick 
 it to get a move on." But what most scandalised 
 the dear old Fossil who then presided over the 
 Admiralty compass department was that I wanted 
 to do away with the points of the compass and mark 
 it into the three hundred and sixty degrees of the 
 circle (you might as well have asked them to do away 
 with salt beef and rum !). There could then never be 
 any mistake as to the course the ship should steer. 
 However, a landsman won't understand the beauty of 
 this simplicity, and the " Old Salts " said at that time 
 " There he is again — the d — d Revolutionary ! " 
 
 But to revert to *' buying up opportunities " : I know 
 no more signal instance of the goodness of Paul's advice 
 both to the Ephesians and Colossians in things temporal 
 as in things spiritual than as exemplified by the Gunnery 
 Lieutenant of the '' Inflexible " in discovering a fracture 
 in one of her eighty-ton guns. He was always thinking 
 ahead in everything: — *' Buying up Opportunities." 
 
 After the Bombardment of Alexandria we two were 
 walking along the shore ; he stopped and said, " Hullo ! 
 that's a bit of one of our shell, and it burst in the bore of 
 the gun." As there were no end of pieces of burst shell 
 about, which had exploded in striking the fort, I said, 
 " How do you know it is ? " He pointed to the marks 
 of the rifling on the shell, which showed that it had burst 
 
 63 
 
RECORDS 
 
 in the bore and had been pressed into the grooves of the 
 rifling, instead of being rotated by the copper band on its 
 passage through the bore. Then he put his hand in his 
 pocket, took out his cUnometer, laid it on the marks of 
 the rifling on the bit of burst shell ; and the rifling of 
 our eighty-ton guns having an increasing spiral, he cal- 
 culated the exact spot in the gun where the shell had burst. 
 And when he got on board he had himself shoved up the 
 bore of the gun holding a piece of hot gutta percha,like that 
 with which the dentist takes the impression of your mouth 
 for a set of false teeth, and brought me out the impression 
 of where the gun had been cracked by the explosion of 
 the shell. Younghusband was his name — ^perhaps the 
 most gifted man I ever met, but, as unusual with genius, 
 he was not indolent and was always practising himself in 
 seizing opportunities. When the constituted authorities 
 came to inspect the gun, though Younghusband put the 
 broken bit of shell before them, they took a long time to 
 find that crack. One night at Portsmouth someone told 
 Younghusband, who was having his third glass of port 
 after dinner, that he was too fat to walk. For a con- 
 siderable bet he got up there and then and walked 
 seventy-two miles to London. Younghusband never 
 went to any school in his life ; he never left home ; he 
 never had a governess or a tutor. He was taught by his 
 mother. 
 
 VI. — How THE Great War was Carried on. 
 
 Six weeks after I left the Admiralty on May 22nd, 
 191 5 — that deplorable day, the particulars of which I 
 
 64 
 
A Group on Board H.M.S. " Standard," 1909. 
 
 The Czar, The Grand Duchess Olga, and 
 Sir John Fisher. 
 
EPISODES 
 
 am not at present at liberty to mention — I received most 
 cordial letters from both Mr. Asquith and Mr. Balfour 
 welcoming me to fill a Post of great magnitude. 
 
 I am impelled to digress here for a few moments to 
 tell a very excellent story of Dean Hole (famous for the 
 cultivation of roses). He said to his Curate one day, 
 '' I am sick of hearing the name of that poor man whom 
 we pray for every Sunday ; just say * the prayers of the 
 Congregation are requested for a member of the Con- 
 gregation who is grievously ill.' " Next Sunday the 
 Curate said at the usual place in Divine Service, *' The 
 prayers of the Congregation are requested for a gentleman 
 whose name Fm not at liberty to mention ! " That's 
 my case in regard to what happened between Saturday, 
 May 15th, and Saturday, May 22nd, during which time 
 I received communications which I hold in my hand 
 at this moment, and which some day when made public 
 will be just astonishing ! I am advised that the Law 
 does not permit even an outline of them to be given. 
 
 I was invited by Mr. Balfour to preside over an Assem- 
 blage of the most Eminent Men of Science for War 
 purposes ; the chief point was the German Submarine 
 Menace. Also we had to consider Inventions, as well 
 as Scientific Research. 
 
 My three Super-Eminent Colleagues of the Central 
 Committee of this great Scientific Organisation were 
 very famous men : — 
 
 (i) Sir J. J. Thomson, O.M., President of the Royal 
 Society and now Master of Trinity. I am told (and I 
 believe it) a man unparalleled in Science. 
 
 65 F 
 
RECORDS 
 
 (2) The Hon. Sir Charles Parsons, K.C.B., the 
 Inventor of the Turbine, which has changed the whole 
 art of Marine Engineering, and enabled us to sink 
 Admiral von Spee. We couldn't have sunk von Spee 
 without Parsons 's Turbine, as those two great Fast 
 Battle-Cruisers " Invincible " and " Inflexible " could 
 not have steamed otherwise 14,000 miles without a 
 hitch (there and back). They only arrived at the Falkland 
 Islands a few hours before Admiral von Spee. 
 
 (3) Sir George Beilby, F.R.S., one of the greatest 
 of Chemists, who, if we don't take care, will give us a 
 smokeless England, by getting rid of coal in its present 
 beastly form, and turning it into oil and fertilisers, dyes, 
 etc., etc. The Refuse he sells to the Poor fifty per cent, 
 cheaper than coal and without smoke or ashes. 
 
 The Advisory Panel of other Distinguished Men was 
 as famous as these Magi. There were also many Eminent 
 Associates. 
 
 I felt extreme diffidence in occupying the Chair ; 
 however, I put it to them all in the famous couplet of 
 the French author who, in annexing the thoughts of 
 other people, took this couplet as the text of his book : — 
 
 " I have cull'd a garland of flowers. 
 Mine only is the string that binds them." 
 
 I said to them all at our first Assemblage : " Gentlemen, 
 You are the Flowers, I am the String ! " 
 
 You would have thought that such a Galaxy of Talent 
 would have been revered, welcomed, and obeyed — on 
 the contrary, it was derided, spurned, and ignored. 
 
 66 
 
EPISODES 
 
 The permanent " Expert Limpets " did for us ! AH 
 the three First Lords at the Admiralty whom we dealt 
 with in succession were most cordial and most apprecia- 
 tive, but all three were equally powerless. Just a couple 
 or so of instances will suffice to illustrate the reason why 
 we at last said to Sir Eric Geddes : — 
 
 " Ave Geddes Imperator ! 
 " Morituri te Salutant." 
 
 (i) The chief object of this magnificent Scientific 
 ^Organisation being to counter the German Sub- 
 marine Menace, we naturally asked for a Submarine to 
 experiment with. The answer was " one could not 
 be spared." 
 
 (2) We asked to be furnished with all the details 
 of the destruction of German Submarines that had 
 already taken place, which of course lay at the root 
 of further investigation. This was denied us ! 
 
 (3) A " Submarine Detector " was developed 
 under the auspices of the Central Committee by 
 May, 191 6. A year was allowed to elapse before 
 it was taken up ; and even then its progress was 
 cancelled because nothing more than a laboratory 
 experiment with a competing invention came to 
 the notice of the " Limpets." 
 
 (4) The Scientific Members of our Association 
 had conceived and practically demonstrated a most 
 astoundingly simple method of discovering the 
 passage of German Submarines. It was termed 
 " The Loop Detection " scheme. It was turned 
 
 67 F 2 
 
RECORDS 
 
 down — ^And then two years afterwards was violently 
 taken up, with astoundingly successful results. 
 
 I think I have said enough. And really, after all, what 
 is the good of raking up the past ? 
 
 I have had two pieces of advice given me referring 
 to the trials I had experienced. One was : — 
 
 " When sinners entice thee, consent thou not ! — 
 But take the name and address for future reference." 
 
 And the other was : — *' Fear less — ^hope more ; eat 
 less — chew more ; whine less — breathe more (deep 
 breathing) ; talk less — say more ; hate less — love more, 
 and all good things are yours." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 DEMOCRACY 
 
 " Government of the people — hy the people— for the people. ^^ 
 
 {President Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, 1863.) 
 
 Some time ago the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge 
 University presided at a lecture on Democracy given at 
 Cambridge by the Professor of History at Chicago 
 (A. C. McLaughlin). I gather that he implied that 
 Democracy is helpless in the game of secret diplomacy 
 and secret treaties. Democracy now all depends upon the 
 purpose and desire of the English-speaking people. 
 
 It*s an opportune moment to repeat John Bright's 
 very famous speech on a great federation of the nations 
 that speak the Anglo-Saxon tongue. 
 
 The speech was given me when crossing the Atlantic 
 by a splendid citizen of the United States, where I had 
 just been receiving boundless hospitality and a wonderful 
 welcome, and had realised the truth about a prophet 
 when not in his own country, and had been asked to 
 " stump the Middle West ** to advocate the cause of 
 friendship amongst all those who speak our incomparable 
 tongue, and to establish a Great Commonwealth of Free 
 Nations. There can be no secret treaties and no secret 
 
 69 
 
RECORDS 
 
 diplomacy when the Government is of the People, by the 
 People, for the People. 
 This is John Bright's speech : 
 
 ** Now what can one say of the future of our race and 
 of our kinsmen ? Is that merely a dream ? By no 
 means. . . . Look where we are now ? . . . 
 
 " In this country, in Canada, and in the United States 
 there are, or soon will be, one hundred and fifty millions of 
 population, nearly all of whom owe their birth and origin to 
 the comparatively small country in which we live. It is 
 a fact that is not paralleled in any past history, and what 
 may come in the future to compare with it or excel it, it 
 is not for us to speak of, or even with any show of reason 
 to imagine ; but we have in all these millions the same 
 language, the same literature, mainly the same laws 
 and the institutions of freedom. May we not hope for 
 the highest and noblest federation to be established 
 among us ? That is a question to which I would ask 
 your special and sympathetic attention. The noblest 
 kind of federation among us, under different Govern- 
 ments it may be, but united by race, by sympathy, by 
 freedom of industry, by communion of interests and by 
 a perpetual peace, we may help to lead the world to that 
 better time which we long for and which we believe in, 
 though it may not be permitted to our mortal eyes to 
 behold it." 
 
 That was said by John Bright. 
 
 The time has now come for this great federation which 
 he desired — for this great Commonwealth of Free 
 Nations. 
 
 There is only one type of treaty which is effective — 
 ** Community of Interests." 
 
 All other treaties are " Scraps of Paper." 
 
 70 
 
DEMOCRACY 
 
 It is maintained by eminent men that the late appalling 
 and disastrous war, in which so many millions of human 
 beings have been massacred or maimed, would never 
 have occurred had there been a real Democracy in power 
 in England. They say, as a small instance, that the 
 great Mutiny at the Nore and other mutinies were brought 
 about by trampling on Democracy. 
 
 This is what pure and unadulterated Democracy is, 
 and we have not got it in England : — 
 
 "EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL." 
 
 For instance, no parent with less than nearly a £1000 
 a year can now send his boy into the Navy as an 
 Officer ! 
 
 Nature is no respecter of birth or money power when 
 she lavishes her mental and physical gifts. 
 
 We fight God when our Social System dooms the brilliant 
 clever child of the poor man to the same level as his father. 
 
 Therefore, we must have such State provision and 
 such State education as will enable the very poorest in 
 the land to let their eligible children rise to Admirals, 
 Generals, Ambassadors, and Statesmen. 
 
 Can it be conceived that a real Democracy would have 
 permitted secret treaties such as have been divulged to 
 us, or have scouted the terms of Peace which were 
 allowed only to be seen by Kings and Prime Ministers ; 
 or would a real Democracy have flouted the Russian 
 Revolution in its first agonizing throes when gasping for 
 help and recognition ? 
 
 71 
 
RECORDS 
 
 In a real Democracy, would true Labour leaders have 
 waited on the doormat ? 
 
 Would a real Democracy wave the red rag of " Empire " 
 in front of these noble self-governing peoples all speaking 
 our tongue in their own free Parliaments, and all of them 
 praying for the hastening of the time when " England, 
 the Mother of Free Parliaments, shall herself be free " ? 
 
 But the Glorious Epoch is now fast approaching ! 
 
 A Prime Minister once complimented me on a casual 
 saying of mine at his luncheon table. I was accounting 
 for part of my success against 
 
 " Many giants great and tall," 
 
 and I ventured to state that : — 
 
 " The secret of successful administration was the 
 intelligent anticipation of agitation." 
 
 Anticipate the Revolution, Do the thing yourself in 
 your way before the agitators get in before you and do it 
 in their way. Get rid of the present obsolete Forms and 
 Antique Ceremonies which grate on the masses, and of 
 Figureheads who are laughing-stocks, and of sinecures 
 which are exasperating — and so anticipate another Crom- 
 well, who is certainly now coming fast along to *' Remove 
 another Bauble ! " 
 
 I forget what they did to the man who tried to import 
 poisonous snakes into New Zealand (finding that happy 
 island unblessed with this commodity). It was something 
 quite drastic they did to him ! They killed the snakes. 
 
 The Canadian House of Commons adopted by a 
 majority of 33 a motion by Sir Robert Borden, on behalf 
 
 72 
 
DEMOCRACY 
 
 of the Canadian Government, asking that no more 
 hereditary titles should be bestowed in Canada, and 
 declaring that the Canadian Government should make 
 all recommendations for honours of any kind. This 
 motion was a compromise designed to damp down the 
 popular outcry against titles which has arisen in Canada. 
 In one debate Sir Wilfrid Laurier offered to throw his 
 own title on a common bonfire. He urged that all titles 
 in Canada should be abolished. 
 
 Why should Great Britain lag behind Canada and the 
 United States ? Hereditary titles are ludicrously out of 
 date in any modern democracy, and the sooner we sweep 
 away all the gimcracks and gewgaws of snobbery the 
 better. The fount of so-called honour has become a 
 deluge, and the newspapers are hard put to it to find 
 room for even the spray of the deluge. 
 
 The war has not begotten simplicity and austerity in 
 this respect. On the contrary, it has made what used to 
 be a comedy a screaming farce. There was a time when 
 the Birthday Honours List could be printed on one day, 
 but it is now a serial novel. The first chapter of the 
 latest Birthday list was long, but the Times warned us 
 that it was only " the first of a series which already 
 threatens to outlast the week — quite apart from the 
 gigantic Order of the British Empire.'* 
 
 Chicago's great Professor of History, Mr. McLaughlin, 
 made the statement at the Kingsway Hall, in his address 
 to British teachers, that now the United States have over 
 100 millions of people, and fifty years from now they 
 may well have 200 millions^a great Atlantic and Pacific 
 
 73 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Power. The Professor added that this great War 
 was *' to protect Democracy against the greatest menace 
 it has ever had " (in the present rule of Kings and 
 Secret Treaties, etc., etc.). Another points out as a 
 striking example of present old-time conditions (so 
 pernicious to freedom and efficiency) the positive fact 
 now existing that our Military Leaders, by a class 
 distinction, were only selected from one twenty-fifth of 
 the ore which we have at our disposal though we had 
 brought five million men under arms, as all our generals 
 commanding armies, army corps, divisions, and in most 
 cases brigades, were drawn from among the Regular 
 Forces who handled our small pre-War Army of two 
 hundred thousand men. And the writer adds : 
 
 " If considered purely from the standpoint of the law 
 of averages, one would expect to find more good brains 
 if one searched the entire Army than in merely looking for 
 material in one twenty-fifth of it." 
 
 General Currie, who so ably commands all the Canadian 
 Forces, was a Land Agent before the War. Neither 
 Napoleon nor Wellington ever commanded a regiment. 
 Marlborough never handled an army till he was fifty- 
 two years of age. Clive was a Bank Clerk. Napoleon's 
 maxim was ** La carrier e ouverte aux talents.** Are we 
 ever going to adopt it ? 
 
 Peace 
 
 This truth is (and ever will be) the fact that the only 
 
 pact that ever holds, and the only treaty that ever lasts 
 
 is '. 
 
 '' COMMUNITY OF INTEREST I " 
 
 74 
 
DEMOCRACY 
 
 and we can only have Community of Interest in the 
 masses of a People always being on the side of Peace, 
 because it's the masses who are massacred, not the 
 Kings and Generals and Politicians (they are plentifully 
 fed and comfortably housed, and have the best white 
 bread — vide the American Dentist, Davies, when he 
 stayed with the German Emperor). 
 
 Well ! the only way the masses of the People can act 
 effectively is by means of Republics. Because then no 
 secret diplomacy ever answers, and no one man can make 
 war, or no coterie of men. In a Republic we get " Gov- 
 ernment of the People, by the People, for the People." 
 
 It's a cheap sneer to ask how long the same Govern- 
 ment ever exists in Republican France ! Nevertheless, 
 sooner millions of changes of Government and Peace 
 than a stable Government with War ! A Republic is 
 always Peace-loving ! except when righteous fury in a 
 gust of popular rage sweeps it into war, as lately in 
 America ; but it took four years to move them ! The 
 People pushed the President. We are going to have 
 Bolshevism unless we foster these German Republics, 
 and it will spread righteously to England. "^ 
 
 These Leagues of Nations and Freedoms of the Seas 
 and all the other items are all d — d nonsense ! When War 
 does come, then ** Might is Right." '* La raison du plus 
 fort est toujours la meilleure ! " and every treaty is a 
 Scrap of Paper ! 
 
 The Essence of War is Violence. 
 Moderation in War is Imbecility. 
 
 7S 
 
RECORDS 
 
 You hit first, you hit hard, and keep on hitting. 
 You have to be Ruthless, Relentless and Remorseless. 
 It's perfect rot to talk about " Civilised Warfare ! " 
 You might as well talk about a '* Heavenly Hell ! " 
 
 From Lord Fisher to a Friend. 
 
 My Dear , 
 
 I wrote to a distinguished friend to note (but not 
 to congratulate him) that he had been made " a Com- 
 panion of Honour " (what that is I don't know !), and 
 told him one of the disadvantages of even a " Limited 
 Monarchy " was the making of us all into Christmas 
 Trees to hang Decorations upon ! He replied he had 
 declined it, as he did not wish " to be regarded as a dab 
 of paint to camouflage this new Order instituted for 
 Labour Leaders ! " Haven't I always told you we are a 
 Nation of Snobs, and that even the Labour Leaders don't 
 resent being kept hanging about on the door mat ? 
 
 My dear friend adds : "I feel sure your conception 
 of Democracy will be realised." (I had sent him my 
 Paper on Democracy that you didn't like !) ** Liberty 
 means a Country where every man or woman has an equal 
 chance. ^^ 
 
 " The race of Life in a civilised Country is a race 
 carried out under a system of handicaps, and the people 
 who do the handicapping are the people of the least 
 brains. 
 
 ** The prophecy you send me is wonderful." 
 
 I think the words of this my friend will interest you, 
 though perhaps not convince you ! 
 
 Yours till death, 
 
 F. 
 
 9/6/18. 
 
 76 
 
DEMOCRACY 
 
 The Battle Hymn of the Republic. 
 
 I have been sitting this morning under a Presbyterian 
 Minister, Dr. Hugh Black, whose eloquence so moved 
 the Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd George (who kindly 
 gave me a seat in his pew, on the other side of 
 me being President Wilson, at the Presbyterian Church 
 in Paris on May 25th, 19 19), that the moment the 
 service was ended the Prime Minister went straight 
 to him in the pulpit and told him it was one of the 
 best sermons he had ever heard. And it probably 
 was. One word Dr. Black used was very descriptive. 
 He described us all, except those homeless ones for whom 
 the Saviour pleaded in Dr. Black's text, as the '* sheltered " 
 classes. I think also our feelings in the congregation 
 (not that I wish to derogate from the sermon) had been 
 intensely moved by the magnificent singing on the part 
 of the great congregation (mostly American Citizens) of 
 the Battle Hymn of the American Republic, composed 
 by Julia Ward Howe. The tune (" John Brown's Body "), 
 as Mr. Sankey said, no doubt has much to do with the 
 glorious emphasis of the chorus ; but certainly the words 
 are magnificent : — 
 
 BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Mine eyes have seen the Glory of the Coming of the Lord ; 
 
 He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are 
 
 stored ; 
 He hath loosed the fatal lightning of His terrible swift sword. 
 His truth is marching on. 
 
 Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! 
 Glory ! Glory ! Hallelujah ! His truth is marching on. 
 
 77 
 
RECORDS 
 
 I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circUng camps ; 
 They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps ; 
 I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps, 
 His day is marching on. 
 
 Glory, etc. 
 
 I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel ; 
 " As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal " 
 Let the Hero bom of woman crush the serpent with His heel, 
 Since God is marching on. 
 
 Glory, etc. 
 
 He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat ; 
 He is sifting out the hearts of men before His Judgment seat ; 
 Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him ! be jubilant, my feet ! 
 Our God is marching on. 
 
 Glory, etc. 
 
 In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea ; 
 With the glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me ; 
 As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, 
 While God is marching on. 
 
 Glory, etc. 
 
 It reminded me of the 76th Psalm, sung by those old 
 Covenanters when they vanquished Claverhouse at 
 Drumclog. We see the Battle Field of Drumclog from 
 the room where we are now talking. 
 
 " In Judah's land God is well known, 
 His name's in Isr'l great." 
 
 I began a letter (but diffidence made me stop it) to 
 Sir William Watson the poet, to ask him if he couldn't 
 give us some such great Hymn for the Nation. 
 
 " God Save the King '* is worn out. We don't 
 individualise now. It is as worn out as knee breeches 
 for Court Functions or Gold Lace Coats for Sea Officers. 
 
 78 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 PUBLIC SPEECHES 
 
 I HAVE made four accurately reported public speeches, 
 the fifth one (at Mr. Josephus Daniels's reception by the 
 American Luncheon Club) is too inadequate to include 
 here. For none of these four speeches had I any notes, 
 except for the one of a hundred words and one of fifty 
 words, both delivered in the House of Lords. The 
 other two were simply and solely my exuberant verbosity, 
 and they must be read with that remark in mind. I was 
 saturated with the subject ; and when the Times reporter 
 came and asked me for my speech before Fd made it, I 
 told him with truth that I really didn't know what I was 
 going to say. I might have been like Thackeray (What 
 a classic case his was !). He was the Guest of Honour. 
 He got up, was vociferously cheered, and was dumb. 
 After a death-like silence he said these words, and sat 
 down : — ^^ If I could only remember what I thought of 
 to say to you when I was coming here in the cab, you 
 really would have had a delightful speech ! " 
 
 I. — The Royal Academy Banquet, 1903. 
 
 The Navy always readily appreciates the kind words in 
 which this toast is proposed, and also the kind manner in 
 
 79 
 
RECORDS 
 
 which it is always received. I beg to thank you especially, 
 Mr. President, for your kind reference to Captain Percy 
 Scott, which was so well deserved. He was indeed a 
 handy man. (Cheers.) Personally I have not the same 
 pleasurable feelings on this occasion as I enjoyed last 
 year, when I had no speech to make. I remember quite 
 well remarking to my neighbour : " How good the 
 whitebait is, how excellent the champagne, and how jolly 
 not to have to make a speech." He glared at me and said : 
 ** I have got to make a speech, and the whitebait to me is 
 hete noire y and the champagne is real pain." (Laughter.) 
 He was so ready with his answer that I thought to myself : 
 *' You'll get through it all right," and sure enough he did, 
 for he spoke thirty minutes by the clock without a check. 
 (Laughter.) I am only going to give you three minutes 
 (cries of " No.") Yes. I always think on these occasions 
 of the first time I went to sea on board my first ship, an 
 old sailing two-decker, and I saw inscribed in great big 
 gold letters the one word " Silence." (Laughter.) 
 Underneath was another good motto : *' Deeds, not 
 words." (Cheers.) I have put that into every ship I 
 have commanded since. (Cheers.) This leads me to 
 another motto which is better still, and brings me to the 
 point of what I have to say in reply to the toast that has 
 been proposed. When I was Commander-in-Chief in 
 the Mediterranean I went to inspect a small Destroyer, 
 only 260 tons, but with such pride and swagger that she 
 might have been 16,000 tons. (Laughter.) The young 
 Lieutenant in command took me round. She was in 
 beautiful ofder, and I came aft to the wheel and saw 
 
 80 
 
I. 2. 3. 4. 5. 
 
 A Group on Board H.M.S. " Standard," 1909. 
 I. The Empress Marie of Russia. 3. Sir John Fisher. 
 
 :. The Czarina. 
 
 4. The Grand Duchess Olga. 
 5. The Czar. 
 
PUBLIC SPEECHES 
 
 there the inscription : " Ut Veniant Omnes." *' Hallo," 
 I said, ** what the deuce is that ? " (Laughter.) Saluting 
 me, he said : " Let 'em all come. Sir." (Great laughter 
 and cheers.) Well, that was not boasting ; that was the 
 sense of conscious efficiency — (cheers) — ^the sense that 
 permeates the whole Fleet — (cheers) — and I used to 
 think, as the Admiral, it will be irresistible provided the 
 Admiral is up to the mark. The Lord Chief Justice, 
 sitting near me now, has kindly promised to pull me down 
 if I say too much ! (Laughter.) But what I wish to 
 remark to you is this — and it is a good thing for everybody 
 to know it — ^there has been a tremendous change in Navy 
 matters since the old time. In regard to Naval warfare 
 history is a record of exploded ideas. (Laughter and 
 cheers.) In the old days they were sailors' battles ; 
 now they are Admirals' battles. I should like to recall 
 to you the greatest battle at sea ever fought. What was 
 the central episode of that ? Nelson receiving his death- 
 wound ! What was he doing ? Walking up and down 
 on the quarter-deck arm-in-arm with his Captain. It is 
 dramatically described to us by an onlooker. His 
 Secretary is shot down ; Nelson turns round and says : 
 " Poor Scott ! Take him down to the cockpit," and then 
 he goes on again walking up and down, having a yarn with 
 his Captain. What does that mean ? It means that in 
 the old days the Admiral took his fleet into action ; each 
 ship got alongside the enemy ; and, as Nelson finely said, 
 " they got into their proper place." (Cheers.) And 
 then the Admiral had not much more to do. The ships 
 were touching one another nearly, the Bos'un went with 
 
 8i G 
 
RECORDS 
 
 some rope and lashed them together so as to make them 
 quite comfortable — (laughter) — and the sailors loaded 
 and fired away till it was time to board. But what is the 
 case now ? It is conceivable that within twenty minutes 
 of sighting the enemy on the horizon the action will have 
 begun, and on the disposition of his Fleet by the Admiral 
 — on his tactics — ^the battle will depend, for all the 
 gunnery in the world is no good if the guns are masked by 
 our own ships or cannot bear on the enemy ! In that 
 way I wish to tell you how much depends on the Admirals 
 now and on their education. Therefore, joined with this 
 spirit, of which the remark of the young Lieutenant I 
 mentioned to you is an indication, permeating the whole 
 Service, we require a fearless, vigorous, and progressive 
 administration, open to any reform — (loud cheers)^ 
 never resting on its oars — ^for to stop is to go back — and 
 forecasting every eventuality. I will just take two in- 
 stances at hazard. 
 
 Look at the Submarine Boat and Wireless Telegraphy. 
 When they are perfected we do not knozv what a Revolution 
 will come about. 
 
 In their inception they were the weapons of the weak. 
 Now they loom large as the weapons of the strong. 
 Will any Fleet be able to be in narrow waters ? 
 
 Is there the slightest fear of invasion with them, even 
 for the most extreme pessimist } I might mention other 
 subjects ; but the great fact which I come to is that we 
 are realising — the Navy and the Admiralty are realising 
 — that on the British Navy rests the British Empire. 
 (Loud cheers.) Nothing else is of any use without it, not 
 
 82 
 
PUBLIC SPEECHES 
 
 even the Army. (Here the gallant Admiral, amid laughter, 
 turned to Mr. Brodrick, the Secretary for War, who sat 
 near him.) We are different from Continental nations. 
 No soldier of ours can go anywhere unless a sailor carries 
 him there on his back. (Laughter.) I am not dis- 
 paraging the Army. I am looking forward to their coming 
 to sea with us again as they did in the old days. Why, 
 Nelson had three regiments of infantry with him at the 
 battle of Cape St. Vincent, and a Sergeant of the 69th 
 Regiment led the boarders, and. Nelson having only one 
 arm, it was the Sergeant who helped him up. (Cheers.) 
 The Secretary for War particularly asked me to allude to 
 the Army or else I would not have done it. (Loud 
 laughter.) In conclusion, I assure you that the Navy 
 and the Admiralty recognise their responsibility. I think 
 I may say that we now have a Board of Admiralty that is 
 united, progressive, and determined — (cheers) — and you 
 may sleep quietly in your beds — (loud cheers). 
 
 H. — ^The Lord Mayor's Banquet, 1907. 
 
 As to the strength, the efficiency, and the sufficiency of 
 the Navy, I am able to give you indisputable proofs. 
 Recently, in the equinoctial season in the North Sea we 
 have had twenty-six of the finest battleships in the 
 world and twenty-five of the finest cruisers, some of them 
 equal to foreign battleships, and over fifty other vessels, 
 under eleven Admirals, and all working under a distin- 
 guished Commander-in-Chief, under very trying circum- 
 stances and in a very stormy time, and I look in vain to 
 
 83 G 2 
 
RECORDS 
 
 see any equal to that large Fleet anywhere. (Cheers.) 
 That is only a fraction of our power. (Cheers.) And 
 that large Fleet is nulli secunduSy as they say, whether it is 
 ships or officers or men. (Cheers.) Now, I turn to the 
 other point, the gunnery of the Fleet. The gunnery 
 efficiency of the Fleet has surpassed all records — 'it is 
 unparalleled — and I am lost in wonder and admiration 
 at the splendid unity of spirit and determination that 
 must have been shown by everybody from top to bottom 
 to obtain these results. (Cheers.) I am sure that your 
 praise and your appreciation will go forth to them, 
 because, remember, the best ships, the biggest Navy — 
 my friend over there talked about the two-Power standard 
 — a million-Power standard (laughter) is no use unless 
 you can hit. (Cheers.) You must hit first, you must hit 
 hard, and you must keep on hitting. (Cheers.) If these 
 are the fruits, I don't think there is much wrong with the 
 government of the Navy. (Cheers.) Figs don't grow 
 on thistles. (Laughter and cheers.) But a gentleman 
 of fine feeling has lately said that the recent Admiralty 
 administration has been attended with the devil's own 
 luck. (Laughter.) That interesting personality 
 (laughter) — his luck is due to one thing, and one thing 
 only — hesitates at nothing to gain his object. That is 
 what the Board of Admiralty have done, and our object 
 has been the fighting efficiency of the Fleet and its instant 
 readiness for war ; and we have got it. (Cheers.) And 
 I say it because no one can have a fuller knowledge than 
 myself about it, and I speak with the fullest sense of re- 
 sponsibility. (Cheers.) So I turn to all of you, and I 
 
 84 
 
PUBLIC SPEECHES 
 
 turn to my countrymen and I say — Sleep quiet in your 
 beds (laughter and cheers), and do not be disturbed by 
 these bogeys — invasion and otherwise — which are being 
 periodically resuscitated by all sorts of leagues. 
 (Laughter.) I do not know what league is working this 
 one. It is quite curious what reputable people lend them- 
 selves to these scares. This afternoon I read the effu- 
 sions of a red-hot and most charmingly interesting maga- 
 zine editor. He had evidently been victimised by a 
 Punch correspondent, and that Punch correspondent had 
 been gulled by some Midshipman Easy of the Channel 
 Fleet. He had been there. And this is what the maga- 
 zine editor prints in italics in this month's magazine — 
 that an army of 100,000 German soldiers had been practis- 
 ing embarking in the German Fleet. The absolute truth 
 is that one solitary regiment was embarked for manoeuvres. 
 That is the truth. To embark 100,000 soldiers you 
 want hundreds and thousands of tons of transport. 
 You might just as well talk of practising embarking St. 
 Paul's Cathedral in a penny steamer. (Laughter.) 
 I have no doubt that equally silly stories are current in 
 Germany. I have no doubt that there is terror there 
 that the English Fleet will swoop down all of a sudden 
 and gobble up the German Fleet* (Laughter.) These 
 stories are not only silly — ^they are mischievous, very 
 mischievous. (Hear, hear.) If Eve had not kept on 
 looking at that apple (laughter) — and it was pleasant to 
 the eyes — she would not have picked it, and we should 
 not have been now bothered with clothes. (Loud 
 laughter.) I was very nearly forgetting something else 
 
 85 
 
RECORDS 
 
 that the Punch correspondent said. I put it in my pocket 
 as I came away to read it out to you. He had been a week 
 in the Channel Fleet and he had discussed everything, 
 from the admiral down to the bluejacket. He does not 
 say anything about that Midshipman Easy. " In one 
 matter I found unanimity of admission. It was that in 
 respect to the number of fighting ships, their armament, 
 and general capacity the British Navy was never in so 
 satisfactory a condition as it floats to-day." (Cheers.) 
 So we let him off that yarn about the 100,000 German 
 troops. (Laughter.) 
 
 III.— The House of Lords, November 16, 1915. 
 
 Lord Fisher, rising from the cross-benches im- 
 mediately before public business was called, said :— " I 
 ask leave of your lordships to make a statement. Certain 
 references were made to me in a speech delivered yesterday 
 by Mr. Churchill. I have been 61 years in the service of 
 my country, and I leave my record in the hands of my 
 countrymen. The Prime Minister said yesterday that 
 Mr. Churchill had said one or two things which he had 
 better not have said, and^that he necessarily and naturally 
 left unsaid some things which will have to be said. I 
 am content to wait. It is unfitting to make personal 
 explanations affecting national interests when my 
 country is in the midst of a great war." 
 
 Lord Fisher, having delivered his brief statement, 
 immediately left the House. 
 
 86 
 
PUBLIC SPEECHES 
 
 IV. — The House of Lords, March 21, 1917. 
 
 Lord Fisher addressed the House of Lords. 
 
 Immediately prayers were over he rose from a seat on 
 one of the cross-benches. He said : — 
 
 " With your Lordships* permission, I desire to make a 
 personal statement. When our country is in great 
 jeopardy, as she now is, it is not the time to tarnish great 
 reputations, to asperse the dead, and to discover our 
 supposed weaknesses to the enemy ; so I shall not discuss 
 the Dardanelles Reports — I shall await the end of the war, 
 when all the truth can be made known." 
 
 87 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE ESSENTIALS OF SEA FIGHTING 
 
 Sir William Allan, M.P., with the torso of a 
 Hercules and the voice of a bull and the affectionate 
 heart of Mary Magdalene, did not know Latin, and he 
 asked me what my motto meant : 
 
 ** Fiat justitia — ruat coelum." 
 
 I had sent it to him when he was malignantly attacking 
 me because, as Controller of the Navy, I had introduced 
 the water-tube boiler. Sir William Allan was himself a 
 boiler-maker, and he had to scrap most of his plant 
 because of this new type of boiler. 
 
 I said the translation was : "Do right, and damn the 
 odds." 
 
 This motto has stood me in good stead, for by attending 
 to it I fought a great battle in a righteous cause with Lord 
 Salisbury, when he was Prime Minister, and conquered. 
 I have related this elsewhere. Years after. Lord Salis- 
 bury, in remembrance of this, recalled me from being 
 Commander-in-Chief in America to be British delegate 
 at the First Peace Conference at The Hague in 1899, 
 and from thence I went as Commander-in-Chief of the 
 Mediterranean Fleet. 
 
 88 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SEA FIGHTING 
 
 While I was in command of the Mediterranean Fleet, 
 from 1899 to 1902, when I became Second Sea Lord of 
 the Admiralty, I arranged to have lectures for the officers 
 of the Fleet. I extract now from the notes of my lectures 
 some points which may be of general interest, as illus- 
 trating the new strategy and tactics necessitated by the 
 change from wind to steam. 
 
 After setting forth a few of the problems which would 
 have to be solved in sea-fighting under the new conditions, 
 the lecturer went on to elaborate the themes from such 
 rough notes as I give here of the principal ideas. 
 
 All Officers without exception should be unceasingly 
 occupied in considering the various solutions of these 
 problems, as who can tell who will be in command after 
 the first five minutes of a close engagement, whether in 
 an individual ship or in command of the whole Fleet I 
 Otherwise we may have a stampede like that of riderless 
 horses ! The Captain or Admiral is hors de combat, and 
 the next Officer, and, perhaps, the next, and the next 
 don't know what to do when moments mean victory or 
 defeat ! 
 
 *' The man who hesitates is lost ! " and so it will be 
 with the Fleet if decision is wanting ! 
 
 " Time, Twiss, time is everything ! " said Nelson 
 (speaking to General Twiss when he was chasing the 
 French Fleet under Villeneuve to the West Indies) ; 
 " a quarter of an hour may mean the difference between 
 Victory and Defeat ! " 
 
 This was in sailing days. Now it will be quarters of 
 a minute, not quarters of an hour ! ^^ 
 
 It is said to have been stated by one of the most eminent \ 
 of living men, that sudden war becomes daily more 
 probable because public opinion is becoming greater in 
 power, and that popular emotion, once fairly aroused, 
 
 89 
 
RECORDS 
 
 sweeps away the barriers of calm deliberation, and is 
 deaf to the voice of reason. 
 
 Besides cultivating the faculty of Quick Decision and 
 consequent rapid action, we must cultivate Rashness. 
 
 Napoleon was asked the secret of victory. He replied, 
 " Uaudace^ Vaudace, Vaudace, toujour s Vaudace I " 
 
 There is a rashness which in Peace is Folly, but which 
 in War is Prudence, and there are risks that must be 
 undertaken in War which are Obligatory, but which in 
 peace would be Criminal ! 
 
 As in War, so in the preparation for War, Rashness 
 must have its place. We must also reflect how apt we are 
 to suppose that the enemy will fit himself into our plans ! 
 
 The first successful blow on either side will probably 
 determine the final issue in sea-fighting. Sustained 
 physical energy will be the required great attribute at 
 that time for those in command as well as those who 
 administer. Collingwood wrote two years before Tra- 
 falgar, when blockading Rochefort — and Nelson then off 
 Toulon, Pellew off Ferrol, and Cornwallis off Brest — 
 that ** Admirals needed to he made of iron ! " The pressure 
 then will test the endurance of the strongest, and the 
 rank of Admiral confers no immunity from the operation 
 of the natural law of Anno Domini I Nelson was 39 years 
 old at the Battle of the Nile, and died at 47. What is 
 our average age of those actively responsible for the 
 control, mobilisation, and command of our Fleets ? As 
 age increases, audacity leaks out and caution comes in. 
 
 An instant offensive is obligatory. Mahan truly says: — 
 
 " The assumption of a simple defensive in war is ruin. 
 War, once declared, must be waged offensively, aggres- 
 sively. The enemy must not be fended off, but smitten 
 down. You may then spare him every exaction, relin- 
 quish every gain. But till down he must be struck 
 incessantly and remorselessly."^ 
 
 ^ Was that our Sea Policy during the War? Did we not keep our 
 Fleet in cotton wool ? 
 
 90 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SEA FIGHTING 
 
 All will depend on the instant start, the sudden blow ! 
 Napoleon again, '* Frappez vite et frappez fort ! " That 
 was the whole of his orders. 
 
 The question of armament is all-important ! 
 
 If we have the advantage of speed, which is the first 
 desideratum in every class of fighting vessel {Battleships 
 included)^ then^ and then only, we can choose our distance 
 for fighting. If we can choose our distance for fighting, 
 then we can choose our armament for fighting ! But how 
 in the past has the armament been chosen ? Do we 
 arrange the armament to meet the proposed mode of 
 fighting ? Doesn^t it sometimes look like so many of each 
 sort, as if you were peopling the Ark, and wanted re- 
 presentatives of all calibres ? 
 
 Whoever hits soonest and oftenest will win ! ^ 
 
 " The effectiveness of a fighting weapon," wrote ) 
 Mahan, " consists more in the method of its use and in 
 the practised skill of the human element that wields it 
 than in the material perfection of the weapon itself. The 
 sequel of a long period of peace is a demoralisation of 
 ideals. Those who rise in peace are men of formality 
 and routine, cautious, inoffensive, safe up to the limits 
 of their capacity, supremely conscientious, punctilious 
 about everything but what is essential, yet void altogether 
 of initiative, impulse and originality. 
 
 " This was the difference between Hawke and Mat- 
 thews. Hawke represented the spirit of war, the ardour, 
 the swift initiative, the readiness of resource, the im- 
 patience of prescription and routine, without which no 
 great things are done ! Matthews, the spirit of peace, the | 
 very reverse of all this ! " _^_J 
 
 Peace brings with it the reign of old men. 
 
 The sacred fire never burnt in Collingwood. Nelson, 
 with the instinct of genius, intended the Fleet to anchor, 
 turning the very dangers of the shoals of Trafalgar into 
 a security. Collingwood, simply a naval machine, and 
 never having been his own master all his life, and not 
 
 91 
 
RECORDS 
 
 being a genius, thought a shoal was a thing to be avoided, 
 and, consequently, wrecked the ships unfitted to cope 
 with a gale, and so to weather these shoals I Collingwood 
 ought to have had the moon given him for his crest, for 
 all his glory was reflected from Nelson, the sun of glory I 
 Collingwood was an old woman ! 
 
 History is a record of exploded ideas. In what sense ? 
 Fighting conditions are all altered. The wind formerly 
 determined the course of action ; now it is only the mind 
 of man. One man and the best man is wanted — not a 
 fossil ; not a careful man. Fleets were formerly days 
 coming into action, now only minutes. 
 
 Two Fleets can now be fighting each other in twenty 
 minutes from first seeing each other's smoke. 
 
 Formerly sea battles were Sailors' battles, now they 
 are Officers*. 
 
 At Trafalgar, Nelson was walking up and down the 
 Quarter-Deck and having a yarn with his Flag Captain, 
 Hardy, at the very zenith of the Action ! It was the 
 common sailors only who were then at work. How 
 different now ! The Admiral everything ! 
 
 Now, the different phases of a Naval War are as 
 capable of as exact a demonstration as a proposition in 
 Euclid, because steam has annihilated wind and sea. We 
 are now trained to a higher standard, and the arts of 
 strategy and tactics have accordingly been immensely 
 magnified. Make an initial mistake in strategy or tactics, 
 and then it may be said of them as of women by Con- 
 greve : 
 
 " Hell has no fury like a woman scorn'd." 
 
 The last place to defend England will be the Shores of 
 England. 
 
 The Frontiers of England are the Coasts of the Enemy. 
 We ought to be there five minutes before war breaks out. 
 
 Naval Supremacy once destroyed is destroyed for ever. 
 Carthage, Spain, Holland, the great commercial nations 
 
 92 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SEA FIGHTING 
 
 of the past, had the sea wrested from them, and then they 
 fell. 
 
 A successful Mercantile Marine leads to a successful 
 War Navy. 
 
 It is solely owing to our command of the sea that we 
 have been able to build up our magnificent Empire. 
 
 Admiral Mahan's most famous passage is :— 
 
 " The world has never seen a more impressive demon- 
 stration of the influence of Sea Power upon its history. 
 Those far-distant, storm-beaten ships of Nelson, upon 
 which the Grand Army never looked, stood between it 
 and the dominion of the World." 
 
 " Secrecy and Secretiveness." 
 
 There are three types of Secrecy : — 
 
 I. The Ostrich. 
 II. The Red Box. 
 HI. The Real Thing. 
 
 I. The ostrich buries his head in the sand of the 
 desert when pursued by his enemy, and because he can't 
 see the enemy concludes the enemy can't see him ! Such 
 is the secrecy of the secretive and detestable habit which 
 hides from our own officers what is known to the world 
 in other Navies. 
 
 II. The secrecy of the Red Box is that of a distinguished 
 Admiral who, with great pomp, used to have his red 
 despatch box carried before him (like the umbrella of an 
 African King), as containing the most secret plans ; but 
 one day, the box being unfortunately capsized and burst 
 open, the only contents that fell out were copies of 
 " La Vie Parisienne " ! 
 
 Such, it is feared, was the secrecy of those wonderful 
 detailed plans for war we hear of in the past as having 
 been secreted in secret drawers, to be brought out " when 
 the time comes," and when no one has any time to study 
 
 93 
 
RECORDS 
 
 them, supposing, that is, they ever existed; and, remember, 
 it is detailed attention to minutiae and the consideration 
 of trifles which spells success. 
 
 III. There is the legitimate secrecy and secretiveness 
 of hiding from your dearest friend the moment and the 
 nature of your rush at the enemy, and which of all the 
 variety of operations you have previously practised with the 
 Fleet you will bring into play ! But all your Captains will 
 instantly know your mind and intentions, for you will 
 hoist the signal or spark the wireless message, Plan A, 
 or Plan B . . . , or Plan Z ! 
 
 *' After I have made known my intentions," began 
 Nelson's last order ; and it expressed the experience of 
 a hundred battles — ^that the Second in Conamand (and 
 in these days it may well be amplified into the individual 
 officers in command) are to fulfil the spirit of the peace 
 manoeuvre teaching, and assist by the teaching in carrying 
 out the meaning of brief signals to the destruction of the 
 enemy's Fleet. The secret of success lies in the first 
 part of the sentence : " After I have made knozvn my 
 intentions.'* 
 
 Confidence is a plant of slow growth. Long and 
 constant association of ships of a Fleet is essential to 
 success. A new-comer is often more dangerous than the 
 enemy. 
 
 An Army may be improvised in case of war, but not 
 a Navy. 
 
 Immense importance of constant readiness at all times. 
 A Fleet always ready to go to sea at an hour's notice is a 
 splendid national life preserver ! Here comes in the 
 water-tube boiler ! Without previous notice or even an 
 inkling, we have been ready to start in one hour with 
 water-tube boiler ships. You can't exaggerate this I 
 One bucket of water ready on the spot in the shape of an 
 instantly ready Fleet will stop the conflagration of war 
 which all the Fire Brigades of the world won't stop a 
 little later on 1 Never forget that from the very nature of 
 
 94 
 
THE ESSENTIALS OF SEA FIGHTING 
 
 sea fighting an initial Naval disaster is irretrievable, 
 irreparable, eternal. Naval Colensos have no Paarde- 
 bergs ! 
 
 Suddenness is the secret of success at sea, because 
 suddenness is practicable, and remember that rashness 
 may be the height of prudence. How very rash Nelson 
 was at the Nile to go in after dark to fight the French 
 Fleet with no chart of the shoals of Aboukir ! 
 
 But you must be sure of your Fleet and they must be 
 sure of you ! Every detail previously thought out. Trust 
 no one ! (My friend, Maurice Bourke, used to tell a 
 story of the Yankee barber, who put up in his shop : 
 " To trust is to bust, and to bust is hell ! " which means 
 " no credit given "). Make the very best of things as 
 they are. Criminal to wait for something better. " We 
 strain at the gnat of perfection and swallow the camel of 
 unreadiness." 
 
 " The Great Silent Navy." 
 
 The usual motto is " Silence " or " Deeds, not words,'* 
 which you will see ornamenting some conspicuous place 
 in a ship.i It has been said by landsmen that the most 
 striking feature to them in a British man-of-war when at 
 sea is the noiseless, ceaseless, sleepless, yet unobtrusive, 
 energy that characterises everyone and everything on 
 board ! If so, we sailors don't notice it, and it is the result 
 of nature ! Gales of wind, sudden fogs, immense speeds, 
 the much multiplied dangers of collision and wreck from 
 these terrific speeds, as in Destroyers and even in large 
 ships, all these circumstances automatically react on all 
 on board and are nature's education by environment. 
 There is no place for the unthinking or the lethargic. 
 He is a positive danger ! Every individual in a man-of- 
 war has his work cut out ! " Think and act for yourself " 
 
 ^ These mottoes were painted up in my first ship, and I have had 
 them in every ship I have commanded since. 
 
 95 
 
> % RECORDS 
 
 is to be the motto of the future, not " Let us wait for 
 orders ! " 
 
 Such may be said of sea fights ! No mountains delay 
 us, and, as Scripture says, the way of a ship is trackless ! 
 The enemy will suddenly confront us as an Apparition I 
 At every moment we must be ready ! Can this be acquired 
 by grown men ? No ! it is the force of habit. You must 
 commence early. Our Nelsons and Benbows began the 
 sea life when they first put their breeches on ! The 
 brother of the Black Prince (John of Gaunt) joined the 
 Navy and was in a sea fight when he was lo years of age I 
 Far exceeding anything known in history does our future 
 Trafalgar depend on promptitude and rapid decision, and 
 on every eventuality having been foreseen by those in 
 command. But these attributes cannot be acquired late 
 in life, nor by those who have lived the life of cabbages ! 
 So begin early and work continuously. Then if there is 
 war your opportunity must come ! Like Kitchener, you 
 will then walk over the cabbages ! 
 
 96 
 

 
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CHAPTER VIII 
 
 JONAH S GOURD 
 
 " Came up in a night 
 And perished in a night." 
 
 Jonah, chap, iv, verse lo. 
 
 The above words came into my mind late last night 
 when tired out with destroying masses of papers and 
 letters (mostly malignant abuse or the emanations of 
 senile dotage), I sat back in my chair and soliloquised 
 over what had happened to all these pestilent attackers 
 of mine ;' and I said to myself in those immortal 
 words in Jonah, '' Doest thou well to he angry?'' 
 and for a few brief moments I really quite felt like 
 Stephen praying for his enemies when they stoned 
 him ! What has become of all these stone-throwers 
 and backbiters, I asked myself ! Like Jonah's Gourd 
 — ^* A worm has smote them all " — and they have 
 withered into obscurity. But yet it's interesting, as 
 this is a Book of Records, to tear out one sheet or so and 
 reproduce here some replies to the nefarious nonsense 
 one had to deal with at that time of democratising the 
 Navy. I reprint verbatim a few pages I wrote in October, 
 1906. These particular words that follow here were 
 
 97 H 
 
RECORDS 
 
 directed against those who assailed my principles of 
 (i) The fighting efficiency of the Fleet, (2) Its instant 
 readiness for war. 
 
 Admiralty Policy : Replies to Criticisms. 
 
 [In the autumn of 1906 there was considerable criticism 
 of the Government's naval policy, particularly in the 
 daily and weekly Press. Just before the dissolution of 
 Mr. Balfour's administration. Lord Cawdor, then First 
 Lord, had issued a memorandum on ** Admiralty Work 
 and Progress," dated November 30th, 1905, in which 
 it was stated that " At the present time strategic re- 
 quirements necessitate an output of four large armoured 
 ships annually." In July, 1906, however, it was 
 announced in Parliament that only three battleships 
 would be included in the current programme, the reason 
 for the abandonment of the fourth ship being that there 
 was a temporary cessation of warship building on the 
 Continent caused by the advent of the " Dreadnought " 
 and the *' Invincibles." Coming in the first year of 
 office of the new Liberal administration, however, the 
 reduction in the British programme aroused genuine 
 disquiet among certain people, and by others was utilised 
 for a political attack on the Government, who were 
 alleged to be jeopardising the security of the country. 
 In addition, there was another body of opinion strongly 
 adverse to certain features in the design of the new 
 ** Dreadnoughts." The following notes were prepared 
 by Lord Fisher at the time for use by Lord Tweedmouth 
 and Mr. Edmund Robertson (afterwards Lord Lochee), 
 who were then First Lord and Parliamentary Secretary 
 respectively.] 
 
 The most brilliant preacher of our generation has said 
 what a stimulus it is to have always some friends to save 
 
 98 
 
JONAH'S GOURD 
 
 us from that " Woe unto you when all men shall speak 
 well of you " ! When criticism goes, life is done ! 
 You must squeeze the fragrant leaf to get the delicious 
 scent ! Hence, it may be truly said that the Board of 
 Admiralty should just now heartily shake hands with 
 themselves, because Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (in 
 the shape of three Retrograde Don Quixotes) are 
 trying to raise a rebellion, but the earth will now open 
 and swallow them all up quick as in the days of Moses. 
 They and all their company, with their small battleships 
 and their slow speeds, and their invasion fright and foreign 
 shipbuilding houses of cards are each and all capable of 
 absolute pulverisation ! Why people don't laugh at it 
 all is the wonder ! Here, for instance, is a military 
 correspondent lecturing the Board of Admiralty on types 
 of ships ; and Admirals, whose names were bywords 
 of inefficiency and ineptitude when they were afloat, 
 and who never — one single one of them — left anything 
 better than they found it, are being seriously quoted by 
 serious magazines and serious newspapers as " a most 
 distinguished Admiral," etc., etc. *' These prophets 
 prophesy falsely and the people love to have it so," 
 as Jeremiah says ! This is because of the inherent 
 pessimistic British instinct ! 
 
 Perhaps the most laughable and silly emanation of these 
 Rip Van Winkles is the outcry against large ships and 
 high speeds, and an Admiral has gone so far as to resort 
 to mathematics and trigonometrical absurdities to prove 
 that slow speed and 6-inch guns are of primary import- 
 ance in a sea fight ! ! ! Archbishop Whately dealt 
 
 99 H 2 
 
RECORDS 
 
 with a similar critic by a celebrated jeu d' esprit entitled 
 '* Historic Doubts relative to Napoleon Buonaparte." The 
 Archbishop by a process of fallacious reasoning demon- 
 strated with all the exactitude of a mathematical problem 
 the impossibility of the existence of such a person as 
 Buonaparte ! But as someone has well said, if these strange 
 oddities can convert our enemies (the Germans) to the 
 priceless advantage of slow ships and small guns they are 
 patriots in disguise, and Providence is employing them 
 (as it employs worms and other such things) in assisting 
 to work out the unfailing and invincible supremacy 
 of the British Navy. 
 
 But to say no more — the plain man sees that it is of 
 vital importance that we should obtain the highest 
 possible speed in order that, in face of emergencies on 
 the south or east or west of the British Isles, we may 
 be able to concentrate adequate Naval Force with as 
 little delay as possible, and that had the British Admir- 
 alty held the opinions expressed by " the Blackwood 
 Balaam " our battleships would still be steaming at 
 about 10 knots an hour, because he must remember 
 that the progress which has been made from lo knots 
 to 22 knots (as attained in " Dreadnought " at deep, or 
 war load draught) has been gradual, and at any period 
 during this progression it was quite open to other 
 Balaams to retard the action of the Admiralty by pointing 
 out that the slight gain in speed which has been chron- 
 icled year by year in battleships was really not worth 
 the price which was being paid for it ! But, Blessed 
 be God ! In this and all other criticisms of Admiralty 
 
 100 
 
JONAH'S GOURD 
 
 Policy the public pulse is totally unaffected, and the 
 reputation of the Admiralty unlowered. 
 
 For 12 months past not a single battleship has been 
 laid down in Europe, and this simply and solely owing 
 to the dramatic appearance of the " Dreadnought," 
 which upset all the calculations in Foreign Admiralties 
 and deserved the calculated letter written by Lord 
 Selborne to the Committee on Designs. The Admiralty 
 has done more than all the Peace party with all their 
 dinners to arrest the contest for Sea Power ! 
 
 In the criticisms we are dealing with, ** Party " as 
 usual has come before ** Patriotism," but the Sea Lords 
 can, each one of them, confidently say, with the poet's 
 version of a patriot's motto. 
 
 ■■(»^*^ 
 
 " Sworn to no party, of no sect am I, 
 I can't be silent and I will not lie," 
 
 and so the Sea Lords have no desire to avoid any odium 
 the Tory papers ^ may be pleased to bring upon them. 
 There is undoubted authority for stating that a skilfully 
 organised " Fleet Street " conspiracy aided by Naval 
 Malcontents is endeavouring to excite the British public 
 against the Board of Admiralty, but it has fallen flat. 
 There is, however, a very serious danger in the 
 
 1 One Sample out of Many. — " Lord Tweedmouth and Mr. 
 Robertson, having tasted blood in their reduction of this year's Esti- 
 mates, are about to strike a blow at the vital efi&ciency of the Navy. 
 But what are we to think of the naval officers on the Admiralty Board, 
 men who cannot plead the blindness and ignorance of their civilian 
 colleagues ? No one knows better than Sir John Fisher the real nature 
 and the inevitable consequences of those acts to which he is a con- 
 senting party. And we are not speaking at random when we assert 
 that more than any one man, the responsibility and the guilt for those 
 reductions lies at his door." (The Globe, 21 Sept. 1906,) 
 
 lOI 
 
RECORDS 
 
 propagation of the view so ably combated by Sir C. 
 Dilke in his speech at Coleford, Forest of Dean, on 
 September 27th last, that this country requires a military 
 force of 640,000 men ! 
 
 His comparison of Navy and Army expenditure is 
 illuminating but has been totally ignored by the Press 
 and the country. The " Fiery Cross '* has been sent 
 round to resuscitate the " Invasion Bogey." 
 
 There has been for many years past a general feeling 
 in this country that questions of international relation- 
 ship and of national defence should be withdrawn as 
 far as possible from the arena of party politics. Such 
 divergences of opinion as must exist on these topics 
 have no obvious connection with the divisions of our 
 internal politics ; and it is surely legitimate to go further 
 than this, and say that the main problems in these 
 departments can be dealt with in such a way as to win 
 the assent of every reasonable man, whatever his opinions 
 may be on Trade Unionism or Elementary Education. 
 
 At any rate successive Boards of Admiralty have for 
 something like 20 years acted on the assumption — 
 which has hitherto been justified — ^that their policy 
 would be accepted by the public as based on a fully 
 considered estimate of the requirements of national 
 defence, and, if criticised (as it was bound to be from 
 time to time), criticised on other than partisan grounds. 
 Between the date of the Naval Defence Act and 1904 
 the Navy Estimates were approximately trebled. The 
 increase was continuous under four successive First 
 Lords, and under both Liberal and Conservative Govern- 
 
 102 
 
JONAH'S GOURD 
 
 ments. In 1 904 the maximum of the curve of expenditure 
 was reached, and the Navy Estimates began to decline, 
 at first rapidly, under a Conservative Government, 
 then more slowly, and in part subject to certain provisos, 
 under the present Liberal Government. And this, it 
 appears, is the moment chosen for the first considerable 
 outbreak of political rancour in naval affairs since the 
 modern Navy came into existence ! 
 
 It is, however, of such supreme importance to the 
 Navy that the Admiralty Board should not be suspected 
 of being governed in its decisions on matters of national 
 defence by partisan considerations that it may be well 
 to set out again, and very explicitly, what are the reasons 
 which have led the Board to adopt the policy now 
 impugned. 
 
 Here we have to go back to first principles. It has 
 become too much the fashion to employ the phrase 
 " a two-Power standard " as a mere shibboleth. The 
 principle this phrase embodies has been of the utmost 
 value in the past, and is likely to be so in the future ; 
 but if used unintelligently at the present moment it 
 merely gives the enemy cause to blaspheme. Great 
 Britain must, it is agreed, maintain at all costs the 
 command of the sea. Therefore we must be decisively 
 stronger than any possible enemy. Who then is the 
 possible enemy ? Ten years ago, or even less, we should 
 probably have answered, France and Russia in alliance. 
 As they were then respectively the second and third 
 naval Powers, the two-Power standard had an actuality 
 which it has since lost. The United States and Ger- 
 
 103 
 
RECORDS 
 
 many are competing for the second place which France 
 has already almost yielded. Russia's fleet has practically 
 disappeared. Japan's has sprung to the front rank. 
 Of the four Powers which are primarily in question, 
 Japan is our ally, France is our close friend, America 
 is a kindred State with whom we may indeed have 
 evanescent quarrels, but with whom, it is scarcely too 
 much to say, we shall never have a parricidal war. The 
 other considerable naval Powers are Italy and Austria, 
 of whom we are the secular friends, and whose treaty 
 obligations are in the highest degree unlikely to force 
 them into a rupture with us which could in no possible 
 way serve their own interests. 
 
 There remains Germany. Undoubtedly she is a 
 possible enemy .^ While there is no specific cause of 
 dispute there is a general commercial and — on the 
 German side — political rivalry which has unfortunately 
 but indisputably caused bad blood between the two 
 countries. For the moment, it would be safe to build 
 against Germany only. But we cannot build for the 
 moment : the Board of Admiralty are the trustees of 
 future generations of their countrymen, who may not 
 enjoy the same comparatively serene sky as ourselves. 
 The ships we lay down this year may have their influence 
 on the international situation twenty years hence, when 
 Germany — or whoever our most likely antagonist may 
 then be — may have the opportunity of the co-operation 
 (even if only temporary) of another great naval Power. 
 Hence a two- Power standard, rationally interpreted, ia 
 
 * This was written in October, 1906. 
 104 
 
JONAH'S GOURD 
 
 by no means out of date. But it is not a rational inter- 
 pretation to say that we must instantly lay down as many 
 ships as any other two Powers are at this moment laying 
 down. We must take long views ; we must be sure 
 what other Powers are doing ; we must take the average 
 of their efforts, and average our own efforts in response. 
 
 Now this matter of averaging the shipbuilding, of 
 equalising the programme over a number of years, 
 deserves further consideration. Some Powers, notably 
 Germany, attempt to achieve this end by creating long 
 statutory programmes. The British Admiralty has aban- 
 doned the idea since the Naval Defence Act. For us, 
 in fact, it would be a thoroughly vicious system. For 
 a Power which is trying to '* set the pace," and which is 
 glad to avoid annual discussion of the financial aspect 
 of the question, it, no doubt, has its advantages. But 
 Great Britain does not build to a naval strength that 
 can be determined a priori ; she builds simply and solely 
 to maintain the command of the sea against other 
 Powers. For this end the Admiralty must have its 
 hands free to determine from year to year what the 
 shipbuilding requirements are. But, again, this does 
 not mean that our efforts must be spasmodic, that be- 
 cause foreign Powers lay down six ships one year and 
 none the next, therefore we must do the same. For 
 administrative reasons, which should be obvious, and 
 which in any case this is not the place to dilate upon, 
 it is very necessary that shipbuilding should approximate 
 year by year, so far as practicable, to some normal 
 figure, and that increases or decreases, when they become 
 
 105 
 
RECORDS 
 
 necessary, should be made gradually. This double 
 principle, of determining the programme from year to 
 year, and yet averaging the number of ships built over a 
 number of years, has to be firmly grasped by anyone who 
 desires to understand the Admiralty shipbuilding policy. 
 
 With this preamble we are in a position to discuss 
 the actual situation. And first we have to consider 
 what is the existing relative strength of Great Britain 
 and the other naval Powers. About this there is really 
 no difference of opinion — British naval supremacy was 
 never better assured than at the present moment. Even 
 admitting the combination of two of the three next naval 
 Powers (France, Germany, and the United States) to be 
 conceivable, it is certain that any two of them would 
 hesitate to attack us, and it is more than probable that 
 if they did they would be defeated, even without the 
 assistance of our Japanese allies. The alleged alarm as 
 to our naval strength is therefore admittedly in regard 
 to the future, not in regard to the present. And here 
 (to digress for a moment) we may remark that agitations 
 have occurred in earlier years when it ~was supposed 
 that some foreign Power or combination of Powers was 
 actually in a position to sweep us off the Channel, but 
 never before have we been invited to panic by prophecy. 
 Is there not something slightly absurd in alarm — not 
 calculation, for that is justifiable enough, but alarm — 
 about our position in 1920 ? At any rate, it is clear that 
 it is the future which we are called on to consider. 
 
 In this connection two facts have to be remembered : 
 first, that we start in a position of security, and need 
 
 106 
 
JONAH'S GOURD 
 
 therefore be in no undue haste to build more ships ; 
 secondly y that we are on the threshold of a new era in naval 
 construction, and can therefore not rest content with 
 the advantage which we secured in an era which is 
 passing away. The problem need not be complicated 
 by a somewhat futile attempt to bring the existing and 
 the new ships of our own and foreign navies to a common 
 denominator ; we must build new ships to meet new 
 ships, always, however, remembering that until the new 
 ships are in commission we have got plenty of the old 
 ones to fight with. 
 
 But here it is really impossible to avoid commenting 
 on the gross insincerity of some recent attacks on the 
 Admiralty. It was no doubt only to be expected that 
 the four ships of the Cawdor memorandum, which 
 were explicitly stated to be a maximum, should always 
 be quoted as a minimum by anyone who wishes to 
 belabour the present Board. But there is a further 
 point which the convenient shortness of the journalistic 
 memory has suffered to be overlooked. When the 
 Cawdor memorandum was issued, it was generally 
 (though wrongly) assumed that only two of the four 
 ships would be battleships, and two ** armoured cruisers." 
 And at that time the public had certainly no idea what 
 the " Invincible " Fast Battle Cruiser type was like, 
 with its 6 knots superiority of speed to everything afloat, 
 and the biggest guns alive. The " Invincibles " are, 
 as a matter of fact, perfectly fit to be in line of battle 
 with the battle fleet, and could more correctly be described 
 as battleships which, thanks to their speed, can drive any- 
 
 107 
 
RECORDS 
 
 thing afloat off the seas. But this was not known, ancf 
 the calculations generally made in the Press added only 
 two units per annum to our battle fleet. Yet there 
 was no outcry ; that was reserved to a later date, when 
 it was beginning to be understood that the " Invincibles " 
 could be reckoned side by side with the ** Dreadnought," 
 and it had been announced that three new " Dread- 
 noughts," instead of two, were to be laid down this 
 winter. Surely the ways of the party journalist are 
 past finding out. 
 
 In this connection it may be well also to make some 
 observations on the diminution by the authority of the 
 Board of programmes of shipbuilding already approved 
 by Parliament. The allegation that there is anything 
 unconstitutional in the procedure may be left to the 
 constitutional lawyer to pulverise. Probably all that is 
 usually meant by the statement is that it is desirable 
 to let Parliament know of the change in the programme 
 as soon as convenient after it has been decided, and to 
 this there would usually be no possible objection. But 
 the idea that, because Parliament has voted a certain 
 sum of money for the current year's programme, and 
 certain commitments for future years (a much more 
 important matter), therefore the Board is bound to build 
 ships it really does not want, is not only pernicious, 
 but also ridiculous in the extreme. The only legitimate 
 ground for complaint, if any, would be that the Board 
 had misled Parliament in the first instance by over- 
 estimating the requirements. The Board are faced 
 each summer with the necessity of saying what they 
 
 io8 
 
JONAH'S GOURD 
 
 expect to have to lay down i8 months later. This, 
 of course, is prophecy. Generally it is found to be 
 pretty accurate, but the advent of the new era in ship- 
 building (which is principally due to the lessons of the 
 only big naval war of modern times) has made prophecy 
 more than usually difficult. Moreover, if the matter 
 is at all in doubt, the prophet has special inducements 
 to select the higher rather than the lower figure. In- 
 crease of a programme during a given year will involve 
 a supplementary estimate with all its accompanying 
 inconveniences. If on the other hand it is found that 
 the original programme was unnecessarily extensive, 
 it is a comparatively simple matter to cut it down. It 
 is best of course to have the right number of new ships 
 in the Navy Estimates ; but it is next best to have a 
 number in excess of that ultimately required, which 
 can be pruned as requisite. 
 
 Let us repeat : sufficient unto the year is the ship- 
 building thereof. Panic at the present time is stupid. 
 The Board of Admiralty is not to be frightened by 
 paper programmes. They will cautiously do all that 
 they judge necessary to secure the existing naval suprem- 
 acy of this country : the moment that is threatened they 
 will throw caution to the winds and outbuild our rivals 
 at all costs. 
 
 H.M. Ships " Dreadnought " and " Invincible." 
 
 The accompanying papers^ contain arguments in 
 support of the " Dreadnought " and " Invincible." 
 
 1 Not reprinted. 
 109 
 
RECORDS 
 
 The features of these novel designs, which have been 
 most adversely criticised, are : — 
 
 1. The uniform Big Gun armament. 
 
 2. The great increase in speed. 
 
 It is admitted that strategically speed is of very great 
 importance. It enables the fleet or fleets possessing 
 it to concentrate at any desired spot as quickly as possible, 
 and it must therefore exercise an important influence 
 on the course of a naval war, rapid concentration being 
 one of the chief factors of success. 
 
 Many adverse critics of high speed maintain that it 
 is the weapon of the weaker Fleet, the only advantage 
 conferred being the ability to refuse an action by running 
 away : two cases may be cited from the actions of the 
 late war in the East showing the fallacy of this argument 
 and that the Japanese successes were solely due to a 
 command of speed. 
 
 In the battle of the loth August, 1904, after the 
 preliminary manoeuvres, the Russian Admiral turned to 
 the eastward at 2.30 p.m. to escape to Vladivostok. 
 The Japanese Fleet was then on the starboard quarter 
 of the Russian and practically out of range. Captain 
 Pakenham, the British Naval Attache, who was on 
 board Admiral Togo's flagship, in his report, states 
 that the '' * Tzaesarevitch ' (leading the Russian line) 
 was almost out of sight." A slightly superior speed 
 in the Russian line would have ensured their escape, 
 but the excess of speed lay with the Japanese and they 
 slowly drew up into range and reopened the action ; 
 
 no 
 
JONAH'S GOURD 
 
 but it was late in the evening before they drew far enough 
 ahead to concentrate a heavy fire on the leader of the 
 Russian line and so break up their formation. When 
 this was accomplished it was nearly dark and the Russians, 
 though thrown into confusion and beaten, were not 
 destroyed, for the approaching darkness and the de- 
 stroyer threat necessitated the Japanese Battle Fleet 
 hauling off, yet the retreat to Vladivostok was pre- 
 vented . 
 
 A higher speed in the Japanese line would have wrought 
 confusion to the Russians earlier in the day, and probably 
 have allowed a sufficient period of daylight for their 
 total destruction. 
 
 Again. At the opening of the Battle of the Sea of 
 Japan in May, the Japanese Fleet, due to skilful hand- 
 ling, held a commanding position, giving a concentration 
 of fire on the heads of the Russian lines. Had they 
 not possessed superior speed, the Japanese would 
 rapidly have lost this advantage, as the Russians turned 
 away to starboard and compelled the Japanese to move 
 along a circle of larger radius ; their greater speed 
 enabled the Japanese to maintain their advantage and 
 so continue the concentration of fire on the Russian van 
 until so much damage had been inflicted that the 
 Russians lost all order and were crushed. 
 
 These, therefore, are two of the most convincing 
 instances that could now be given, where speed was of 
 overwhelming tactical value to the victorious side, and 
 such evidence is unanswerable and is a justification of 
 the speeds adopted in the designs of the new ships. 
 
 Ill 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Defects and Repairs 
 
 [Lord Fisher found fruitful scope for his reforming 
 energy in the Royal dockyards, and was very keen on 
 making them efficient in working as well as economical 
 in administration. The former tendency had been for 
 ships to accumulate defects until they went into dock, 
 when their stay was accordingly prolonged, and the 
 longer they were in dockyard hands the more work was 
 provided for the officials and workmen, so that there 
 was a double incentive to spend money. In the following 
 memorandum, Lord Fisher insists that this drain upon 
 the limited funds available for the Navy must stop, and 
 explains how the Admiralty meant to discriminate 
 between vessels which it was essential to keep thoroughly 
 efficient and others which were not worth any, or so 
 much, money for repairs. Elsewhere in this volume 
 Lord Fisher has shown how he got rid of 6,000 redundant 
 dockyard workmen.] 
 
 The head has got to wag the tail. The tail sometimes 
 now wags the head. It is for the Admiralty, and the 
 Admiralty alone, to decide whether^ hozVy or when the 
 defects and repairs of the Fleet are to be taken in hand. 
 
 The sole governing condition is what the Admiralty 
 require for fighting purposes ! It is desirable to put an 
 extreme case to accentuate this : — 
 
 In the secrets of Admiralty Fighting Policy undesir- 
 able to make known to our enemies there are certain 
 vessels never going to be used for actual fighting, but 
 they serve an extremely useful purpose for subsidiary 
 purposes. In such vessels there are defects and repairs 
 of a particular character that might stand over till 
 Doomsday ! whilst there are other vessels where only 
 
 112 
 
Sir John Fisher going on board the Royal Yacht. 
 
JONAH'S GOURD 
 
 defects affecting purely seagoing and actually direct 
 fighting efficiency should be attended to. All this 
 entirely depends on our probable enemy and may vary 
 from time to time, and the sole judge can only be the 
 Admiralty. But what it is feared now obtains is a blind 
 rushing at all defects and repairs of all kinds and classes 
 in all vessels. It is perfectly natural that the Commander- 
 in-Chief and Admirals Superintendent may wish for 
 the millennium of having all their vessels perfect — ^but 
 this cannot be. What does it lead to ? Extreme local 
 pressure accentuated by Parliamentary action to enter 
 more Dockyard workmen. What does this mean ? It 
 means in some recent cases that practically the upkeep 
 of three cruisers is swallowed up in pay to Dockyard 
 workmen ! No — the Admiralty Policy is sound, con- 
 sistent and irrefutable, which is never to exceed the 
 normal number of Dockyard workmen as now fixed 
 by the recent Committee, and have such a great margin 
 of Naval strength — such as we now possess — as admits 
 of a leisurely and economical refit of ships without 
 extravagant overtime or inefficient hustling of work. 
 Therefore, what it comes to is this : — The Admiralty 
 decide what vessels they require first and what defects 
 and repairs in those vessels are most material, and they 
 give orders accordingly. It is not the responsibility of 
 the local authorities at all to say that this vessel or that 
 vessel must be completed at once, for, as before-mentioned, 
 it may be that in the Admiralty scheme of fighting those 
 vessels are not required at all. 
 
 The Controller has great difficulties to contend with 
 
 113 ^ 
 
RECORDS 
 
 because he has not the free hand of a private employer 
 who can discharge or enter men just as he requires. 
 To get rid of a Dockyard workman involves agitation 
 in every direction — in Parliament, at the Treasury and 
 locally, and even Bishops throw themselves into the 
 fray, like the Bishop of Winchester at Portsmouth, 
 instead of looking after his own disorganised and mutin- 
 ous Established Church. There is now a plethora of 
 shipwrights at Chatham, because the Treasury will not 
 allow their transfer to other yards, and a paucity of 
 boilermakers because unwanted men occupy their places, 
 and the scandal exists of men being entered at Devonport 
 with men having no work at Chatham. But, of course, 
 this is one of the blessings of Parliamentary Government, 
 Treasury Control, and a Free Press ! 
 
 Where the special influence of the Commander-in- 
 Chief is desired by the Admiralty is to bring before 
 them cases where defects have not been dealt with in 
 the initial stages by the ship's artificers and so allowed 
 to increase as to necessitate Dockyard intervention. 
 Such cases would be drastically dealt with by the 
 Admiralty if only they could be informed of them, but 
 there is an amiable desire to avoid severe punishments, 
 and the dire result is that the zealous and efficient are 
 on the same footing as the incompetent and the careless 
 who get more leave and time with their friends because 
 their vessels are longer in Dockyard hands. 
 
 It is desired to give prominence to the following 
 facts : — It is a matter of everyday occurrence that vessels 
 come home from Foreign stations, often immense 
 
 114 
 
JONAH'S GOURD 
 
 distances, as from China or Australia, and are inspected 
 by the Commander-in-Chief on arrival home and 
 reported thoroughly efficient, and praise is given by the 
 Admiralty accordingly, and the full-power steam trial 
 is conducted with great care, and the mere fact of the 
 vessel having steamed home those thousands of miles 
 is itself a manifest evidence of her propelling machinery 
 being efficient, and yet instantly after paying off we are 
 asked to believe that such a vessel instantly drops down 
 to a totally incapable condition of either seagoing or 
 fighting efficiency, by our being presented with a bill 
 of thousands upon thousands of pounds. 
 
 The attention of the Commanders-in-Chief of the 
 Home Ports and of the Admirals Superintendent will 
 be specially drawn to a new series of instructions which 
 will specifically detail their responsibility in carrying 
 out the orders of the Admiralty in regard to defects 
 and repairs. It is admitted that no comprehensive 
 statement has as yet been issued as to the order and 
 urgency in which both Fleet and Dockyard labour 
 should be applied. 
 
 This statement is now about to be issued — it is based, 
 and can only be based, on the knowledge of what vessels 
 are most required for war at that particular time, and so 
 must emanate direct from the Admiralty, who alone can 
 decide on this matter. For instance, at this present 
 moment there are vessels, even in the first line as some 
 might suppose, which would not be employed until the 
 last resort, whilst there are others almost believed to 
 be out of the fighting category which under certain 
 
 115 12 
 
RECORDS 
 
 present conditions might be required for the first blow. 
 This fact came so notably into prominence some months 
 since that it has led to the adoption of what may be 
 termed the '* sliding scale " of nucleus crews, with the 
 Torpedo craft and Submarines at almost full comple- 
 ment down to the vessels in *' Special Reserve " with 
 only a '' skeleton " crew capable of raising steam periodi- 
 cally and working only the heavy armament. So no 
 local knowledge could determine from day to day which 
 are the first vessels required. This is changing from 
 day to day and it is the duty of the necessarily very few 
 to determine the daily fighting requirements. The 
 ideal is for only one to know, and the nearer this is 
 adhered to the more likely are we to surprise our enemies. 
 
 The Use of the Gunboat. 
 
 [The notes and letters which follow were prepared by 
 Lord Fisher in the course of his advocacy that the 
 Navy Estimates and the Service itself should not be 
 saddled with establishments not directly contributing 
 to the fighting efficiency of the Fleet and its instant 
 readiness for war. Such services, he maintained, not 
 only reduced the sum of money available for the real 
 work of the Navy, but constituted elements of weakness 
 in the event of hostilities. The first document concerns 
 the maintenance of small craft on foreign stations, on 
 which a number of ** gunboats " were kept to fulfil 
 duties for departments other than the Admiralty. Lord 
 Fisher diff^erentiates between vessels which the Board 
 should rightly supply, and others which had no naval 
 value but were retained for duties connected with the 
 Foreign or Colonial Offices — ^for which, if necessary, a 
 proper fighting ship could be lent temporarily and then 
 
 ii6 
 
JONAH'S GOURD 
 
 returned to her squadron. The second document deals 
 with the Coastguard, which no longer served the purpose 
 of a reserve for the Navy, and which had come to be 
 mainly employed on duties connected with revenue, 
 life-saving, etc., although paid for out of Navy Votes 
 and employing Navy personnel. Thirdly, the Admiralty 
 letter on Observatories shows that heavy expense was 
 borne upon naval funds for duties no longer necessary 
 to the Royal Navy.] 
 
 In the Cawdor memorandum of last year (1905) will 
 be found an exposition of the Admiralty policy in this 
 matter, and attention may particularly be drawn to the 
 following passage : — 
 
 " Gunboats, and all vessels of like class, have been 
 gradually losing value except for definite purposes under 
 special conditions. As far as this country is concerned, 
 the very places consecrated as the sphere of gunboat 
 activity are those remote from the covering aid of large 
 ships. Strained relations may occur at the shortest 
 notice ; the false security of the period of drifting 
 imperceptibly into actual hostilities is proverbial, and 
 the nervous dread of taking any action that might even 
 be construed into mere precautionary measures of de- 
 fence, which experience has shown to be one of the 
 peculiar symptoms of such a period, is apt to deprive 
 these small vessels of their last remaining chance of 
 security by not allowing them to fall back towards 
 material support. The broadcast use of gunboats in 
 peace time is a marked strategic weakness, and larger 
 vessels can generally do the work equally well, in fact 
 far better, for they really possess the strength necessary 
 
 117 
 
RECORDS 
 
 to uphold the prestige of the flag they fly, whereas the 
 gunboat is merely an abstract symbol of the power of 
 the nation, not a concrete embodiment of it. 
 
 " It might be thought that the withdrawal of the 
 small non-effective vessels and the grouping of fleets 
 and squadrons at the strategic positions for war involved 
 the loss of British prestige, and of the * Showing the 
 Flag ' (as it was termed). But the actual fact is that 
 never before in naval history has there been a more 
 universal display of sea power than during this year by 
 this country. The Channel Fleet in the North Sea and 
 Baltic receiving the courtesies of Holland, Denmark, 
 and Germany ; the Atlantic Fleet at Brest ; the Medi- 
 terranean Fleet at Algiers ; the Fourth Cruiser Squadron, 
 consisting of five powerful fighting vessels, now in the 
 West Atlantic ; a powerful squadron of six of the finest 
 armoured cruisers in the world visiting Lisbon, Canada, 
 Newfoundland, and United States ; a squadron of 
 cruisers, under a Commodore, proceeding from Labrador 
 to Cape Horn and back by the coast of Africa, and two 
 cruisers visiting the Pacific Coast and the adjacent 
 islands ; the movements of the Cape Squadron and of 
 the Eastern Fleet in China, Australia, and the Indian 
 Ocean : so imposing and ubiquitous a display of the flag 
 and of naval power has never before been attained by 
 our own Navy.'* 
 
 The statement goes on to explain the special circum- 
 stances — use in shallow inland waters, etc., etc., which 
 alone are held by the Admiralty to justify the use of 
 gunboats. 
 
 ii8 
 
JONAH'S GOURD 
 
 This policy is from time to time impugned by people 
 who have no need to count the cost of the alternative 
 policy. Doubtless it would be convenient, as a tem- 
 porary emergency arises here or there over the surface 
 of the globe, if at that very spot some British cruiser or 
 gunboat promptly appeared ready to protect British 
 interests, or to sink in the attempt. Indeed, for some 
 time this was the ideal at which the Admiralty aimed. 
 But since the redistribution of the Fleet the Empire 
 has had to do without the ubiquitous gunboat, and, if 
 the truth be told, scarcely seems to have missed it. 
 There are one or two valuable cases in point. For a 
 long time the Foreign Office, or rather the Ambassador 
 at Constantinople, pressed for the restoration of the 
 second stationnaire. The Admiralty sternly refused. 
 The only noticeable result of this dangerous policy so 
 far has been that the French have followed our example 
 and withdrawn their second vessel. 
 
 An even more remarkable case occurred in Uruguay. 
 A poaching Canadian sealer had been captured by the 
 Uruguayan authorities, and language was used as if 
 the disruption of the Empire would follow a refusal on 
 the part of the Admiralty to liberate her crew by force. 
 For a time the Admiralty was practically in revolt 
 against H.M. Government, and then — everything blew 
 over. The dispute was settled by diplomatic action and 
 
 ■t 
 
 the local courts of law. 
 
 The question of the small vessel for police duties will 
 long be with us. Vice-Consuls and Resident Commis- 
 sioners will, no doubt, continue to act on the great 
 
 119 
 
RECORDS 
 
 principle : When in doubt wire for a gunboat. The 
 Foreign and Colonial Offices, to whom the dispatch of 
 a gunboat means no more than persuading a gentleman 
 in Whitehall to send a telegram saying she is to go, will 
 probably never quite realise why the gentleman should 
 be so perverse as to refuse. But the matter is really 
 now a ** chose jugde " ; the Admiralty battle has been 
 fought and won, and it only remains for the Admiralty 
 to adhere to its principles and decline to give way 
 simply for the sake of a quiet life. 
 
 Coast Guard 
 
 June, 1906. 
 
 The Coast Guard Service was transferred from the 
 control of the Commissioners of Customs to that of the 
 Admiralty by the Coast Guard Service Act, 1856, in 
 order to make better provision for — 
 
 (i) The defence of the coasts of the realm ; 
 (ii) The more ready manning of His Majesty's 
 Navy in case of war or sudden emergency ; 
 (iii) The protection of the Revenue ; 
 
 and there is little doubt that at that time the Coast 
 Guard force was required for these three purposes. 
 
 Since that date, however, these requirements have 
 been greatly modified by the great developments that 
 have taken place in steam, in electricity, and generally 
 in the conduct of Naval warfare, and also as regards 
 the inducements and facilities for smuggling. 
 
 It is now considered that about 170 War Signal and 
 
 120 
 
JONAH'S GOURD 
 
 Wireless Telegraphy Stations in the United Kingdom 
 are sufficient to give warning of the approach of an 
 enemy's ships, and that, as far as the use of the Coast 
 Guard for Coast Defence is concerned, the remaining 
 530 Stations and their personnel are quite unnecessary. 
 
 As an Active Service force the Coast Guard is far 
 from fulfillifig modern fighting requirements^ which are so 
 exacting that a man's efficiency depends upon his being 
 continuously associated with highly technical duties on 
 hoard ship^ and employment in the Coast Guard (even 
 with the arranged periodical training in the Fleet) is found 
 to he inconsistent with these requirements. 
 
 Again, as a Reserve, though it fulfils the requirements 
 of such a force, yet its cost (largely due to the heavy 
 expense of housing the men and their families) is out 
 of all proportion to that at which the efficient Royal 
 Fleet Reserve can now be maintained. 
 
 The Coast Guard being treated as an Active Service 
 force in the Estimates, the numbers are included in the 
 number of men voted for the Fleet, and help to make 
 up the total of 129,000 ; but as the 4,000 Coast Guard 
 men are appropriated for duties away from the chief 
 Naval ports, they are not available for the ordinary work 
 of the Fleet, and the peace resources are correspondingly 
 reduced, while the extra charges for the Coast Guard 
 tend largely to increase the expense of maintaining the 
 Active Service force. 
 
 If, on the other hand, the Coast Guard be treated as 
 a Reserve only, the expense is still more disproportionate, 
 as, in comparison with the small retainers, charges for 
 
 I3J 
 
RECORDS 
 
 a week's annual drill and small prospective pension, 
 which make up the whole expense entailed in the main- 
 tenance of the Royal Fleet Reserve, there are the Full 
 Pay, Victualling, Housing, and numerous miscellaneous 
 allowances and charges of a permanent force maintained 
 in small units under the most expensive conditions. 
 
 Therefore, the maintenance of the Coast Guard by 
 the Admiralty not only entails a reduction of the number 
 of highly-trained active service ratings in the Fleet at 
 sea, but also an unnecessarily large expenditure on a 
 Reserve. 
 
 As regards the use of the Coast Guard for the 
 protection of the Revenue, the arrangements made 
 when the Coast Guard was transferred to the control of 
 the Admiralty might now be considerably modified. A 
 large proportion of the coast of the United Kingdom is 
 still patrolled nightly by the Coast Guard as a precaution 
 against smuggling, but looking to the increase in popula- 
 tion and the number of towns and villages round the 
 coasts, the development of telegraphic communication, 
 and the great reduction in the inducements to smuggling, 
 this service seems to be no longer required ; and some 
 other adequate arrangement for the protection of the 
 Revenue might be made by a small addition to the 
 present Customs Force, assisted by the local Police, in 
 addition to the watch still kept at those Coast Guard 
 Stations which would be maintained as Naval Signal 
 Stations. 
 
 Even in the cases in which the existing Coast Guard 
 may be considered to afford valuable protection to the 
 
JONAH'S GOURD 
 
 Revenue, it must be remembered that in case of War 
 or for Great Manoeuvres, the men would be withdrawn 
 to the Fleet from all stations except the Naval War 
 Signal Stations. 
 
 In any case the employment of highly-trained seamen 
 to perform simple police duties on shore cannot be 
 justified, and the expense is much greater than it would 
 be were a civilian force to be employed. 
 
 Certain other duties, principally in connection with 
 life-saving and wrecks, under the Board of Trade, have 
 also been undertaken by the Coast Guard ; but these, 
 however valuable, do not constitute a raison d'etre for 
 the Coast Guard, and it is quite feasible to make adequate 
 local arrangements for carrying out these services, should 
 the Coast Guard be removed. No more striking illus- 
 tration of the feasibility of this can be given than the 
 National Lifeboat Organisation, and to that body, aided 
 perhaps by a Government grant, these services could, 
 no doubt, be easily, economically, and efficiently trans- 
 ferred. 
 
 Owing to the growing naval armaments of other 
 Nations, and the consequent necessary increase in the 
 Navy, the Admiralty has found it necessary carefully to 
 consider the whole question of the expenditure under 
 the Naval Votes in order to eliminate therefrom any 
 services which are unnecessary from the point of view 
 of immediate readiness and efficiency for war. About 
 £1,000,000 of the Naval Votes is diverted to services 
 which only indirectly concern the Navy, and are not 
 material to the fighting efficiency of the Service. Of 
 
 123 
 
RECORDS 
 
 this about half (^£500,000) is annually absorbed by the 
 Coast Guard. 
 
 From a Naval point of view the greater part of this 
 heavy annual expenditure is wholly unnecessary, and it 
 is also very doubtful, from what has been before pointed 
 out, whether for Revenue purposes a force such as the 
 Coast Guard is now required ; while if it be still required 
 in certain localities, it would be more economical to 
 replace the present expensive Naval detachments by a 
 CiviUan service. By such a transfer the whole of the 
 present expense of training men as a fighting force 
 would be saved and there would be no deterioration in an 
 important part of the Naval active personnel such as is 
 now inevitable. 
 
 There can be no comparison between the cost of a 
 Revenue force and that of a Naval force, the cost of 
 Naval training, which is very considerable, being dis- 
 pensed with in the former case. Therefore, there is no 
 doubt that, from the point of efficiency and economy, 
 the substitution of civilians for Naval ratings would be 
 a great saving to the State. 
 
 Observatories. 
 
 21st August, 1906. 
 
 In the past Greenwich Observatory has been of great 
 importance to the Navy, inasmuch as all the data neces- 
 sary for the navigation of ships by astronomical observa- 
 tion have been compiled there. The testing of chrono- 
 meters has been carried out at Greenwich since their 
 invention in 1763, while the Cape Observatory was 
 
 124 
 
JONAH'S GOURD 
 
 instituted in 1820 in order to supply data concerning 
 Southern stars not visible from Greenwich. 
 
 In recent years, however, the familiarity with Ocean 
 routes that has been attained ; the greatly extended area 
 of coast surveys, and the admirable system of lights and 
 beacons established throughout the navigational zones 
 of the world, have in the course of years caused the work 
 of the Observatories to become of less importance to 
 practical navigation, and more a matter of scientific 
 research. The photographic mapping of the heavens, 
 by which stars invisible to the naked eye are discovered, 
 is not a necessity to navigation, nor to the Naval Service. 
 
 At the present time, therefore, it may be said that the 
 only work done by the Observatories which is directly 
 useful to the Navy, is the testing and storing of chrono- 
 meters ; observing the astronomical changes connected 
 with the heavenly bodies for the purpose of obtaining 
 data for the correction of the Nautical Almanack ; sup- 
 plying accurate time for time signals and meridian distance 
 work, and taking magnetic observations. 
 
 This sphere of usefulness is not of advantage to the 
 Navy alone. The Mercantile Marine derives equal 
 benefit from the work of the Observatories. Greenwich 
 time is indispensable to Railway Companies to enable 
 them to work their complicated systems with accuracy, 
 and it is equally indispensable to the Postal Authorities 
 for the proper working of every post and telegraph office 
 in the Kingdom. Although the staff of the Observa- 
 tories is very largely occupied upon services of this public 
 character, neither the Board of Trade, nor Lloyd's, nor 
 
 125 
 
RECORDS 
 
 the various Mercantile Shipping Associations, nor the 
 Railway Companies, nor the General Post Office, have 
 made any contribution towards their cost, while, on the 
 other hand, in one case, that of the Post Office, the Ad- 
 miralty is charged with a heavy annual payment for 
 postal and telegraphic communications. The London 
 Water Companies are greatly assisted by the Greenwich 
 rainfall observations, but they pay nothing for them, 
 neither do they supply the Admiralty with water gratuit- 
 ously. 
 
 It is fitting that the British Empire should possess a 
 National Observatory, but it is not equitable that Naval 
 funds should bear the whole expense. 
 
 When criticism is directed against the magnitude of 
 the Navy Estimates, it rarely happens that the critic 
 takes the trouble to ascertain of what Items the Votes 
 are made up ; on the other hand, money voted for the 
 Royal Observatories is passed by the House without much 
 question, because it happens to form part of Estimates 
 which are of such great magnitude. 
 
 The present procedure tends therefore to obscure the 
 actual sum total of the Navy Estimates, and at the same 
 time it prevents the application to the Royal Observa- 
 tories of the same Parliamentary criticism which is 
 applied to the Civil Service Estimates. 
 
 126 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 [The three privately printed volumes entitled " Naval Necessi- 
 ties," 1904, 1905, and 1906, contain papers written or collected 
 by Sir John Fisher, as Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth and as 
 First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, bearing upon the Naval Reforms 
 which he then introduced or contemplated. The following selec- 
 tions from these papers tell their own story.] 
 
 Sir John Fisher to Lord Selhorney First Lord of 
 
 the Admiralty, 
 
 Dear Lord Selborne, . . . 
 
 You remember you glanced through some manuscript 
 in my office at Portsmouth the day you embarked in 
 " Enchantress," and I gathered that you saw much in 
 them that commended itself to you. Well ! having 
 thus more or less got a favourable opinion from you, 
 I elaborated that manuscript which you had read, and 
 printed it with my confidential printer ; . . . then I 
 gave it secretly to the five best brains in the Navy below 
 the rank of Admiral to thresh out ; and associated two 
 other brains for the consideration of the types of future 
 fighting vessels ; then I selected out of those seven brains 
 the one with the most facile pen and . . . said to 
 him : *' Write a calm and dispassionate precis for me to 
 give the First Lord." You may be confident (as confident 
 as I know you are) that the First Sea Lord won*t ever 
 sell you ! that these seven brains may be absolutely 
 
 127 
 
RECORDS 
 
 relied upon for secrecy. I have tested each of them for 
 many years ! 
 
 These are the seven brains : Jackson, F.R.S., Jellicoe, 
 C.B., Bacon, D.S.O., Madden, M.V.O., Wilfred Hender- 
 son (who has all the signs of the Zodiac after his name !), 
 associated with Gard, M.V.O., Chief Constructor of 
 Portsmouth Dockyard, and who splendidly kept the 
 Mediterranean Fleet efficient for three years, and Gracie, 
 the best Marine Engineer in the world ! 
 
 This is the " modus operandi " I suggest to you. If 
 these proposals in their rough outline commend them- 
 selves to you and our colleagues on the Board, then let 
 me have these seven, assisted by Mr. Boar (who is a 
 mole in the Accountant- General's Department — ^you 
 know of him only by upheavals of facts and figures !), 
 and secretly these eight will get out a detailed statement 
 supported by facts and figures for consideration before 
 we take a step further ! . . . 
 
 Please now just a few words of explanation at the 
 possibly apparent (but in no ways real) slight put on 
 those at the Admiralty who might be thought the right 
 persons to conduct these detailed inquiries instead of 
 the eight brains I've mentioned ! 
 
 In the first place, any such heavy extraneous work 
 (such as is here involved) means an utter dislocation of 
 the current work of the Admiralty if carried out by the 
 regular Admiralty staff ! and as any such extraneous 
 work must of necessity give place to any very pressing 
 current work, then the extraneous work doesn't get done 
 properly — so both suffer ! — But further ! these seven 
 other spirits (not more wicked than any of those at the 
 Admiralty!) will be absolutely untrammelled by any 
 remarks of their own in the official records in the 
 Admiralty, and will not be cognisant (and so not in- 
 fluenced !) by the past written official minutes of the 
 High and Mighty Ones, and so we shall get the directness 
 and unfettered candour that we desire ! (Parenthesis : — 
 
 128 
 
WK 
 
 Sir John Fisher and Sir Colin Keppel (Captain of the Royal Yacht). 
 
NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 A most distinguished man at the War Office used to 
 think he had gained his point and blasted the Admiralty 
 by collecting extracts 20 years old with opposing decisions I 
 absolutely regardless that what is right to-day may be 
 wrong to-morrow ! but he traded on what we all dislike 
 — the charge of inconsistency I — Why ! the two most 
 inconsistent men who ever lived, the two greatest men 
 who ever lived and the two most successful men who 
 ever lived, were Nelson and Napoleon !) 
 
 Nelson most rightly said that no sailor could ever be 
 such a born ass as to attack forts with ships {he was 
 absolutely right), and then he went straight at them at 
 Copenhagen. Napoleon said, " Uaiidace, Vaudace, 
 toujour s Vaudace ! " and then he went and temporised 
 at Warsaw for three solid weeks (was it a Polish 
 Countess ?), and so got ruined at Moscow in conse- 
 quence of this delay. 
 
 Circumstances alter cases I That's the answer to the 
 charge of inconsistency. So please let us have this 
 excellent and unparalleled small working Committee to 
 thresh out all these details (when the general outlines 
 have been considered), but this very special point will no 
 doubt be borne in mind : — " Until you have these details 
 how can you say you approve of the outline ? '* So 
 what has to be said finally is that if the facts and figures 
 corroborate what is sketched out, then the proposals can 
 be considered for adoption, so the ultimate result is this ; — 
 " Let the Committee get on at once." 
 
 J. A. Fisher. 
 19/10/04. 
 
 Main Principles of Scheme. 
 
 Future Types of Fighting Vessels. 
 
 Four classes only of fighting vessels. 
 Uniform armament (except torpedo attack guns) in all 
 classes of fighting vessels. 
 
 129 K 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Inviolate watertight bulkheads. 
 
 Subdivision of magazines. 
 
 Protection of magazines. 
 
 Abolish Ram. 
 
 No guns on main deck (so splendid light and airy 
 accommodation for officers, and crew, with huge square 
 ports and magnificent deck space). 
 
 Reduction of all weights and scantlings. 
 
 *' Out of Date " Fighting Ships. 
 
 Removal as soon as possible of all '' out of date " 
 ships (that is, ships unfit for fighting). 
 
 To abolish gradually the employment of all slow vessels 
 below I St Class Armoured Cruisers. 
 
 To substitute efficient fighting vessels with nucleus 
 crews for all the stationary obsolete vessels now in 
 commission, and also for all the training vessels and all 
 the Coastguard Cruisers. 
 
 Revision of Stations, 
 
 South Atlantic, West Indies, and Cape to form a 
 squadron under chief command of the Admiral of the 
 Cape Station, who will be a Vice-Admiral in the future 
 with three Rear- Admirals under him.^ 
 
 The Commander-in-Chief in China to have the chief 
 command and strategic handling of the squadrons in 
 China, Australia, East Indies, and Pacific. He can be 
 a full Admiral with two Vice-Admirals and two Rear- 
 
 ^ There are two alternative schemes which may possibly be preferred 
 to this. 
 
 130 
 
NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Admirals under him. The object is to employ Flag 
 Officers as much as possible at sea. 
 
 Effective Cruisers to be substituted for the present 
 varying types of vessels forming all these squadrons. 
 
 Personnel, 
 
 Reduction in entry of Boys, and increase of entry of 
 Non-continuous Service Men and of " Northampton " 
 lads. 
 
 Introduction of new system of Reserve (long service 
 tempered by short service !) 
 
 Nucleus Crews. 
 
 Two-yearly commissions to be instituted, and with no 
 material change of officers and men during the two 
 years. 
 
 All the fighting vessels in Reserve to have an efficient 
 nucleus crew of approximately two-fifths of the full 
 crew, together with all important Gunnery ratings as 
 well as the Captain of the ship and the principal Officers. 
 
 The periodical exercise and inspection of the ships by 
 the responsible Flag Officer who will take them to the 
 war. 
 
 This Flag Officer will suffer for any want of efficiency 
 and preparation for war of these vessels. These vessels 
 to be collected in squadrons at Portsmouth, Plymouth, 
 and Chatham, according to the Station to which they are 
 going as the reinforcements. 
 
 131 K 2 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Signals. 
 
 Revision of our methods of Signalling to be based on 
 the class of Signals that will be used in war. 
 
 To abolish all systems and all Signals that are only of 
 use in peace time. 
 
 The Signal and Exercise Books of the Fleet to be 
 ruthlessly revised and cut down with this in view. 
 
 The present establishment of Signalmen on board 
 all vessels to be reduced to the numbers. that are necessary 
 in war (present system of superabundance of Signalmen 
 embarked in Flagships criminally wrong). 
 
 Defence of Naval Ports, 
 
 Modern conditions necessitate certain floating defences 
 requiring seamen to manipulate them. Soldiers appar- 
 ently can't do it ! 
 
 Divided control of defence of Naval Ports impossible 
 between Navy and Army. 
 
 Admiralty must have sole responsibility that all our 
 Naval Arsenals are kept open for egress and ingress of 
 our Fleet in war. 
 
 Local defences should, therefore, apparently be under 
 the Naval Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 But all these arrangements for any such transfer of 
 responsibility from War Office to Admiralty must be so 
 planned as to obviate all possibility of Fleet men being 
 used for shore work in war, and there must he no risk of 
 lessening the sea experience of the officers and men of the 
 Fleet ; hence it will be imperative that there should be 
 
 132 
 
NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 an entire transference of the whole of the Garrison 
 Artillery from Army to Navy, as well as the responsibility 
 for all ordnance. 
 
 All this involves so immense an addition to the 
 responsibilities of the Admiralty, apart from the one chief 
 function of the Navy of seeking out and fighting the 
 enemy's fleets, that we have to hesitate ; but we can't let 
 matters go on as at present. 
 
 Notes by Sir John Fisher on New Proposals. 
 
 Organisation for War. 
 
 " // the Trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall 
 prepare himself to the battle ? " 
 
 (St. Paul, I Corinthians, xiv. 8.) 
 
 The object of the following remarks is to make clear 
 what has now to be done to organise and prepare for war. 
 What are the two great essentials ? 
 /. The Sufficiency of Strength and the Fighting Efficiency 
 
 of the Fleet. 
 II. Absolute Instant Readiness for War. 
 
 To get these two essentials an immense deal is involved ! 
 It is believed they can both be got with a great reduction 
 in the Navy Estimates ! 
 
 This reduction, combined with an undeniable increase 
 in the fighting efficiency of the Navy, involves great 
 changes and depends absolutely on one condition : — 
 The Scheme herein shadowed forth must be adopted as a 
 whole ! 
 
 Simply because all portions of it are absolutely essential 
 
 133 
 
RECORDS 
 
 — and it is all so interlaced that any tampering will be 
 
 fatal ! 
 
 The country will acclaim it ! the income-tax payer 
 
 will worship it ! the Navy will growl at it ! (they always 
 
 do growl at first !) 
 
 But we shall he Thirty per cent, more fit to fight and we 
 
 shall he ready for instant war ! 
 
 and in time when we get rid of our redundancies in 
 
 useless ships and unnecessary men it will probably be 
 
 30 per cent, cheaper ! 
 
 The outline of the various proposals will first be given. 
 
 No one single point must he taken as more important than 
 
 another. Each is part of a whole ; As St. Paul well 
 observes in the xii. Chapter of the I Corinthians : — 
 
 " The eye cannot say unto the hand^ I have no need of thee : 
 nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, 
 
 much more those members of the body, which seem to he 
 more feeble, are necessary.''^ 
 
 So is it of this scheme ! All its parts are essential for 
 the perfection we must have if England is to remain 
 the " Mistress of the Seas " ! 
 
 The British Nation floats on the British Navy ! So 
 we must have no doubt whatever about its fighting 
 supremacy and its instant readiness for war ! To 
 ensure this and at the same time to effect the economy 
 which the finances of the country render imperative there 
 must be drastic changes ! To carry these out we must 
 have the three R*s ! We must be Ruthless, Relentless, 
 Remorseless ! We must tell interested people whose 
 interests are going to be ignored that what the Articles 
 
 134 
 
NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 of War have said since the time of Queen Elizabeth is 
 truer than ever ! 
 
 ** It is the Navy whereon under the good providence of 
 God, the wealth, peace, and safety of this country doth 
 chiefly depend / " 
 
 If the Navy is not supreme, no Army however large 
 is of the slightest use. It's not invasion we have to fear 
 if our Navy is beaten, 
 Ifs Starvation ! 
 
 What's the good of an army if it has got an empty 
 belly ? In Mr. John Morley's famous and splendid 
 words at Manchester on November 8th, 1893: "Everybody 
 knows. Liberals as well as Tories, that it is indispensable 
 that we should have not only a powerful Navy, but I may 
 say, an all-powerful Navy." And when we have that — 
 then History may repeat itself, and Mahan's glorious 
 words will be applicable in some other great national 
 crisis I the finest words and the truest words in the 
 English language ! 
 
 " Nelson's far-distant, storm-beaten ships, upon which 
 the Grand Army never looked, stood between it and the 
 dominion of the worlds — (Mahan, Vol. II., page 118.) 
 
 And the Navy must always so stand ! Supreme — 
 unbeaten ! So we must have no tinkering ! No pander- 
 ing to sentiment ! No regard for susceptibilities ! No 
 pity for anyone ! We must be Ruthless, Relentless, and 
 Remorseless ! And we must therefore have The Scheme | 
 The Whole Scheme ! ! And Nothing But The Scheme ! ! ! 
 
 Just let us take one instance as an illustration of a 
 mighty reform (lots more will follow later, but the sledge 
 
 135 
 
RECORDS 
 
 hammer comes in handy here !). During the 12 months 
 ending June 30th, 1904 (this last month !) the ships of 
 the Home Fleet, the Channel Fleet, and the Cruiser 
 Squadron were in Portsmouth Dockyard for over 30 per 
 cent, of the year ! Disorganised and unfit for sea ! 
 See what this means ! A battleship costs over j£ 100,000 
 a year for its up-keep, irrespective of repairs, but it*s 
 not the money waste ! it*s the efficiency waste I 
 
 Every day those Fleets and Squadrons are not together ^ 
 they are deteriorating ! 
 
 It is only human nature that when in Portsmouth 
 Dockyard, from the Admiral downwards, all are hankering 
 after their homes ! and somehow or other they get 
 there ! the fictions are endless and ingenious, and extend 
 from " the cradle to the grave ! " From an unexpected 
 confinement to the serious illness of an aged relative I 
 (nearly always a grandmother 1 and the baby is always 
 the first one !) 
 
 What is the remedy ? 
 
 It's Nelsonic — and so simple ! 
 ^ Nelson could not leave Toulon with all his Fleet for 
 nearly four months out of the year ! No ! he stayed 
 there for two years without putting his foot on shore I 
 What he did was to send one or two ships away at a time 
 to get provisions and water, and to effect any needed 
 repairs. Let us do the same ! We want a fixed base 
 for each Fleet (and so fixed for war reasons). Thus, for 
 example, the Channel Fleet at Gibraltar, the Home 
 Fleet at Bantry, or the Forth, and so on. But this is 
 going into unnecessary detail, and anticipating other 
 
 136 
 
NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 parts of the scheme which must be adopted to make this 
 work ! Thus it will be seen later on, that to enable this 
 great economy in money to be effected (putting aside 
 increase of fighting efficiency /), we must have two years' 
 commissions ! But we can't have two years' commis- 
 sions unless we have fewer ships in commission ! But 
 we can't have fewer ships in commission unless we have 
 a redistribution of our Fleet 1 But we can't have a 
 redistribution of our Fleet until we rearrange our 
 strategy ! and this strategy, strange to say, depends on 
 our reserves, and our reserves depend on a fresh allocation 
 of our personnel, and on a fresh system of service. We 
 must have the new scheme of Long Service tempered by 
 Short Service ! And this again largely hangs on the 
 types of fighting ships we are going to have ! But what 
 is the type of ship ? Not one that goes to the bottom in 
 two minutes from the effect of one torpedo, and drowns 
 nearly a thousand men, and takes three years to replace, 
 and costs over a million sterling ! How many types do 
 we want I This is quite easy to answer if we make up 
 our minds how we are going to fight I Who has made up 
 his mind ? How many of our Admirals have got minds ? 
 
 It will be obvious then that the whole of this business 
 is a regular case of " the house that Jack built," for one 
 thing follows on another, they are all interlaced and inter- 
 dependent I That's why it was said to begin with : — • 
 
 The Scheme! The Whole Scheme!! And Nothing 
 but the Scheme ! ! ! 
 
 One essential feature which has been overlooked 
 must be mentioned before going further because impera- 
 
 137 
 
RECORDS 
 
 lively necessary to ensure instant readiness for war, but it 
 hangs on all the other points previously mentioned and 
 which are going to be examined in detail. 
 
 The reduction in the number of ships in commission 
 which is as necessary for fighting efficiency (when the whole 
 Navy is mobilised for war) as it is conducive to an immense 
 economy must he accompanied by and associated with two 
 vital requisites : 
 
 I. Every fighting ship in reserve must have a nucleus 
 crew. 
 
 II. The reinforcements for the fighting fleets and 
 squadrons must be collected together while in the reserve 
 at the most convenient ports and be placed under the 
 Flag Officer who will take them to their war stations, 
 and this Flag Officer to understand he will be shot like 
 a dog in case of any inefficiency in these ships in war. 
 
 Unless this is carried out the great strategic scheme 
 in contemplation could not be entertained nor could the 
 number of ships in commission be reduced as is absolutely 
 essential for the efficiency of those in reserve, not on the 
 score of economy at all, but the reduction of ships in com- 
 mission is imperative for the fighting efficiency of the whole 
 fleet when mobilised. 
 
 So we thus get one more illustration of the inter- 
 dependence of all portions of the scheme and beg again 
 to refer to St. Paul as previously quoted. 
 
 It is convenient here to mention that the paucity of 
 efficient Admirals is a most serious matter, and will 
 probably compel the manufacture of Commodores or of 
 Acting Admirals under a resuscitated Order-in-Council. 
 
 138 
 
NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 The least capable in the respective ranks of the Navy are 
 the Admirals. It's not their own fault solely, they have 
 had no education, and this blot will continue till we have 
 a Naval War College established at Portsmouth, and Flag 
 Officers and Captains, hoping for employment, can 
 practically prove their capacity by manoeuvring two fleets 
 of destroyers against each other. This will be much 
 cheaper and less risky to the Empire than their man- 
 oeuvring with the big ships. Experiments on the scale of 
 12 inches to a foot are not economical ! 
 
 Mr. Childers was our Attila ! He was the " scourge " 
 of the Navy in many ways, but most of all by his dis- 
 astrous and frightfully costly retirement schemes. The 
 secret of efficiency lies in large lists of Officers ! You have 
 then a large field of selection, and a great flow of promo- 
 tion, and also no Officer considers it a stigma to be 
 passed over in company with forty others, and so not to 
 pose as a solitary monument of ineptitude as he appears 
 at present to himself and his friends when passed over 
 with the present small lists of Flag Officers. 
 
 Also ** Selection by non-employment " goes so easily 
 with large lists (and with large lists is accepted as a 
 necessity, and not resented as a personal affront !). 
 
 Purging the Navy of Obsolete Vessels. 
 
 Out of 193 ships at present in commission (not counting 
 destroyers) organised in fleets, 63 only are of such calibre 
 as not to cause an Admiral grave concern if allowed to 
 wander from the protection of larger ships. There are 
 
 139 
 
RECORDS 
 
 among these several ships which should be paid off as 
 soon as possible, being absolutely of no fighting value. 
 And there are, further, several ships having trained 
 naval crews doing the work usually performed by small 
 merchant tramps. Further still, there are in our Home 
 Ports many ships taking up valuable berthing space, 
 requiring maintenance and repair, which never under any 
 circumstances whatever would be used in war time. 
 
 The above useless vessels being in commission means 
 awful waste of money. 
 
 Every ship that has defects taken in hand, and which 
 would not be of use in war, is a waste of money to the 
 country. 
 
 Of course objections will be raised, and it will be 
 shown that the Navy cannot be run without them, but 
 wipe them out, and in a year no one will remember that 
 they ever existed. 
 
 It is well to review generally our distant stations and 
 the composition of their squadrons. 
 
 The Navy and the country have grown so accustomed 
 to the territorial nomenclature of our distant squadrons 
 that their connection with the sea is considerably ob- 
 scured, and their association with certain lands has led 
 to a tacit belief that those particular squadrons are for 
 the protection of the lands they frequent, and not 
 generally for the destruction of the enemy's fleet wherever 
 it may happen to be. Of course no such idea is accepted 
 by the Admiralty, but, in spite of the broad principles 
 of strategy involved, certain fleets are composed largely 
 with a view to work in restricted waters, which vessels 
 
 140 
 
NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 would be a source of danger and weakness on the sudden 
 outbreak of war with a combination of Powers. 
 
 Take the combination of ships on each of the following 
 stations : North America, Cape of Good Hope, East 
 Indies, and Australia. Remember the '* Variag." What 
 happened in the small area of the theatre of operations 
 in the present war will be repeated in the larger theatre 
 of operations of a conflict of European Powers when the 
 whole world will be involved. What will happen to 
 our " Odins," " Redbreasts," '* Fantomes," " Dwarfs," 
 etc. ? aye ! and what will happen to our " Scyllas," 
 " Katoombas," and " Hyacinths," if caught sight of by 
 first class cruisers of modern armament on foreign 
 stations ?^ Lucky if they can reach a neutral port, 
 disarm, and have their crews interned for the remainder 
 of the war. Lucky, indeed, if a far worse fate does not 
 befall them. At all events, such wholesale scattering of 
 the British foreign fleets would lead to irreparable loss 
 of prestige among the smaller States where these little 
 vessels were usually located. 
 
 Now is there any necessity for such numbers of 
 useless fighting ships ? Cannot more efficient classes 
 be substituted for them, or, at all events, some of 
 them ? 
 
 What we have to face is the probability of a serious 
 combination of strong Powers against us, for then we 
 will be unable to spare two first class cruisers to go in 
 search of individual enemy's first class cruisers, who, if 
 
 1 The "Pegasus" was massacred at Zanzibar by the Germans 1 — 
 F. 1919. 
 
RECORDS 
 
 not caught, may sweep round and lick up or force into 
 neutral ports all our inefficient small fry. 
 
 Surely the three Atlantic squadrons should be of such 
 strength as to be able to rendezvous and form a fleet 
 more or less absolutely self-protective, to say nothing of 
 being oflfensive. Such a squadron, under one admiral 
 in war time, would be an effective Atlantic squadron, 
 and would protect our interests by holding the ocean 
 against enemy's cruisers. 
 
 Such squadrons can be formed without increasing the 
 personnel of the Navy, and, moreover, the crews would 
 be in ships that would be used in war instead of being 
 in " floating anxieties." 
 
 Now for the present, sufficient cruisers, first class, do 
 not exist to meet the requirements of supplying ships 
 to take the place of smaller obsolete ones, and also for 
 reserve purposes. 
 
 For the present a large proportion of cruisers, second 
 class, must be retained, but it is hoped that these will 
 in time be replaced by cruisers, first class, in the propor- 
 tion of one cruiser, first class, to three cruisers, second 
 or third class. No one can argue that one first class 
 cruiser is not a superior fighting unit to three cruisers 
 second or third class. Also one defect list instead of 
 three I 
 
 If it should be insisted on that certain ports require 
 certain small vessels, then they should be earmarked for 
 that purpose, and only such places be recognised which 
 larger vessels cannot frequent, such as the rivers on the 
 West Coast of Africa (our territory), shallow rivers in 
 
 142 
 
NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 China where no question of neutrality can arise, or special 
 places of this nature. It should be overwhelmingly 
 proved to the satisfaction of the Admiralty that essential 
 conditions necessitate the presence of useless fighting 
 ships before they relax their efforts to have such useless 
 ships removed. 
 
 It should be accepted as a principle that the great 
 aim and object of the Admiralty is to have nothing 
 floating on the waters except the four fundamental 
 types of fighting vessels, and that (for the present) lack 
 of ships of the necessary classes prevents this being 
 realised, but that as the delivery of ships takes place, 
 'he substitution will automatically follow. 
 
 The Foreign Office will in time be bound to recognise 
 the real efficiency of the scheme, even if a consul is 
 robbed of the shadow of support of a gunboat under his 
 window, but has the substantial strength of a first class 
 cruiser substituted at the end of a telegraph wire. 
 
 The danger that is eternally present to the Navy is 
 over confidence in our preparedness for war. 
 
 The chief cause of unpreparedness for war is want 
 of appreciation of the cumulative effect of daily small 
 changes in our ships and armament on the whole question 
 of strategy and shipbuilding. 
 
 Changes have slipped so gradually from wooden 
 sailing ships through slow steam iron vessels to our 
 present splendid ships of war that the tendency has 
 always been to subordinate our strategy to our ship 
 construction, rather than to mould our war ship design 
 to suit our strategy. 
 
 143 
 
— RECORDS 
 
 Strategy should govern the types of ships to be designed. 
 
 Ship design^ as dictated by strategy^ should govern 
 tactics. 
 
 Tactics should govern details of armaments. 
 
 In approaching the important question of ship design 
 the first essential is to divest our minds totally of the 
 idea that a single type of ship as now built is necessary, 
 or even advisable, then to consider the strategic use of 
 each different class, especially weighing the antagon- 
 istic attributes of nominally similar classes in the old 
 wars. 
 
 To commence with the battleship. 
 
 The sole reason for the existence of the old line of 
 
 battleship was that that ship was the only vessel that 
 
 could not be destroyed except by a vessel of equal class. 
 
 This meant that a country possessing the largest number 
 
 of best equipped battleships could lay them alongside 
 
 the enemy, or off the ports where the enemy were. 
 
 Transports with the escort of a few battleships could 
 
 then proceed to make oversea conquests. Squadrons 
 
 of battleships or cruisers escorting the convoy of merchant 
 
 ships and keeping the line of communications open. In 
 
 each case the battleship, being able to protect everything 
 
 it had under its wing from any smaller vessel, was the 
 
 ultimate naval strength of the country. Then it was 
 
 that, by means of the battleship only, was the command 
 
 of the sea gained and held. Let us he quite clear on the 
 
 mattery it was solely from the fact that the battleship was 
 
 unassailable by any vessel except a battleship that made 
 
 the command of the sea by battleships a possibility ! 
 
 144 
 
NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Hence battleships came to symbolise naval sea strength 
 and supremacy. For. this reason battleships have been 
 built through every change of construction and material, 
 although by degrees other vessels not battleships have 
 arisen which can attack and destroy them. 
 
 Here therefore there is good ground for inquiry 
 whether the naval supremacy of a country can any 
 longer be assessed by its battleships. To build battle- 
 ships merely to fight enemy's battleships, so long as 
 cheaper craft can destroy them, and prevent them of 
 themselves protecting sea operations, is merely to breed 
 Kilkenny cats unable to catch rats or mice. For fighting 
 purposes they would be excellent, but for gaining prac- 
 tical results they would be useless. 
 
 This at once forces a consideration as to how a battle- 
 ship differs from an armoured cruiser. Fundamentally 
 the battleship sacrifices speed for a superior armament 
 and protective armour. It is this superiority of speed 
 that enables an enemy's ships to be overhauled or evaded 
 that constitutes the real difference between the two. 
 At the present moment naval experience is not sufficiently 
 ripe to abolish totally the building of battleships so long as 
 other countries do not do so. 
 
 But it is evidently an absolute necessity in future con- 
 struction to make the speed of the battleship approach 
 as nearly as possible that of the armoured cruiser. 
 
 Next consider the case of the armoured cruiser. 
 
 In the old days the frigate was the cruiser, she was 
 unarmoured, that is, her sides were so much thinner 
 than those of the battleship that she was not able to 
 
 145 L 
 
RECORDS 
 
 fight in the line of battle, but the weak gun fire of those 
 days permitted close scouting by such unprotected vessels, 
 she could approach a battleship squadron very closely 
 without fear of damage, she could sail round a fleet and 
 count their numbers without danger to herself, unless 
 chased off by other frigates, she was a scout and a 
 commerce destroyer. Similarly with present day ar- 
 moured cruisers, they can force their way up to within 
 sight of a fleet, and observe them, unless chased off by 
 other armoured cruisers, but to do this they have to be 
 given a certain amount of protective armour. 
 
 The range of eyesight has remained constant, that of 
 gunfire has increased. Speed is a necessity to ensure 
 safety, armour protection to ensure vision. 
 
 It is evident, from the above considerations, that the 
 functions of the frigate have devolved on the armoured 
 cruiser to a greater extent than have the functions of 
 the line of battleship devolved on the modern battleship. 
 
 But how about the unarmoured cruisers and those of 
 low speed } 
 
 With loss of protection a cruiser loses her power of 
 reasonable approach for observation purposes, and if to 
 this be added a loss of reasonable speed her safety is 
 gone. Cruisers without high speed and protection are 
 entirely and absolutely useless. 
 
 Every vessel that has not high scouting speed, or the 
 highest defensive and offensive powers, is useless for 
 fighting purposes. 
 
 This is true of every class of vessel between the first 
 class armoured cruiser and the fast torpedo vessel. 
 
 146 
 
NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Nucleus Crews. 
 
 It is impossible to exaggerate the vital importance to 
 the nation of having all the reserve ships absolutely 
 ready for instant war. 
 
 Our reserve ships, as they are now, are not, and cannot 
 be made really efficient fighting units under several 
 months of commission. There is no doubt that great 
 strides towards rapid mobilisation have been made of 
 late years, but merely to hustle a complement of the 
 required ratings into a ship, is not to make her a really 
 efficient fighting machine. 
 
 The keystone of our preparedness for war has now to he 
 inserted^ namely^ the provision of efficient nucleus crews. 
 
 This can he done to-morrow. 
 
 A nucleus crew should consist of approximately 
 two-fifths of her engine-room complement, the whole of 
 her turret crews, gun layers and sight-setters for all 
 guns, all important special ratings, and two-fifths of her 
 normal crew, her captain, and all important officers. 
 
 The ship can proceed half-yearly, or quarterly, as 
 may be required, to sea with her fighting ship's company 
 to carry out firing exercises, or to work under the Admiral 
 or Commodore who will command her and her consorts 
 in war, and be as nearly perfectly efficient as any ship, 
 not always at sea, can be. 
 
 No more men above our present requirements need 
 
 be entered, training in gunnery and torpedo schools 
 
 need not be interfered with, and a saving of money to 
 
 the taxpayer effected. 
 
 147 L 2 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Subsidiary Services of War. 
 
 We are now busily engaged in perfecting each and all 
 of these subsidiary services ; but they are not yet perfect. 
 In some important respects we are as yet far from it 
 (Rome was not built in a day !), but we now emphasise 
 the fact in order that matters may be pushed on by all 
 concerned, from the Prime Minister downwards, with 
 the utmost energy and vigour ! 
 
 The items are not taken in the order of their relative 
 importance, but for convenience of argument. 
 
 There is the service of all the auxiliary vessels of the 
 Fleet for supplying coal, ammunition, stores, provisions, 
 water, materials for repairs, &c., and also the multitudes 
 of fast mercantile vessels we require as Scouts ; and there 
 is also the nature of the employment of the armed 
 mercantile cruisers to be settled. All these points have 
 been carefully considered in the past, but in all and 
 every one of them there is that most deadly of all deadly 
 drawbacks to fighting readiness, the leaving certain 
 things to be dealt with " when the time comes ^ The 
 time will come like the Day of Judgment ! There won't 
 be time for doing anything, not even for repentance ! 
 We must go to the very utmost limit of preparedness, 
 not one little item must be left to be dealt with " when 
 the time comes." We want all these vessels, without 
 any exception whatever, to be as ready for a sudden 
 emergency as is now the main Fighting Fleet ! So there- 
 fore, day by day, we must know by name each vessel 
 for every service, and the orders for every captain of 
 
 148 
 
NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 every single one of this multitude of mercantile auxiliaries 
 must be prepared, and he (each several captain) must 
 thoroughly understand these orders beforehand ; they 
 must be explained to him by " one who knows," and 
 when that captain leaves England for his next trade voyage 
 (and his ship is therefore no longer available), then the 
 operation must be repeated with the captain of the 
 substituted vessel ! It must be laid down where every 
 ship is to load, what route she is to follow, what even- 
 tualities she has to guard against ! All, and together ^ 
 must he detailed and day by day kept perfect ! 
 
 Again, who are the officers at every port superintending 
 the imparting of this information every day of the year, 
 to the daily fresh captains of daily fresh ships, replacing 
 others daily, going on their usual trade voyages ? Who 
 is the Flag Officer in supreme charge of all these super- 
 intending Port Officers ? What are the names of the 
 retired Commissioned or Warrant Officers who may be 
 allocated to take passage in all the more important 
 auxiliary vessels ? such, for instance, and above all, as 
 the Ammunition and Repair ships, so as to ensure the 
 proper control and distribution of the cargo, as well as 
 the efficient and prompt action of the ship herself, to 
 be at the right place at the right time. Every Comman- 
 der-in-Chief must know in minute detail every particular 
 about every one of these vessels that are coming to him. 
 He must know it now. He must know it day by day I 
 He must have his own agent at home to look after his 
 interests and to be responsible to him (the Conmiander- 
 in-Chief) for the completeness of all the^^arrangements, 
 
 149 
 
RECORDS 
 
 — if not complete, then this agent must report the 
 Superintending Port Officers for their incompetency. 
 
 All this scheme above sketched out may involve 
 immense labour and great expense, hut it has got to he 
 done ! Not a bit of use having the Fleet at all, if you 
 don't feed it, and also feed it well ! 
 
 Quite as a separate service, apart from all that has 
 been mentioned above, is the dissemination of intelli- 
 gence and its suppression. 
 
 We must not (as has been hitherto accepted) 
 permit the splendid costly fighting vessels of the Fleet 
 to be criminally wasted by being sent here and there as 
 messengers ! Fast unarmoured mercantile steamers must 
 constitute the squadrons of the Sea Intelligence Depart- 
 ment, and instead of our Admirals running after informa- 
 tion with costly armoured cruisers, we must run after 
 the Admirals with the information, with easily obtainable 
 cheap (because non-fighting), fast mercantile vessels. 
 
 All this is but a brief review of what is in progress, 
 and what has to be done, but there remains above all 
 that daily consideration at the Admiralty, and by every 
 Admiral in command, of what would have to be done 
 that very day in case of war, with the most unexpected, 
 as well as the most expected opponent ! 
 
 A Retrospect (July, 1906). 
 
 The most striking fact to an outsider is the astonishing 
 confidence and loyalty of the Navy in its rulers which 
 has been exhibited during he last two years of relentless 
 reorganisation. 
 
 150 
 
NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 Naval Officers, as a class, are conservative and dislike 
 change, and as a rule are prepared to resist it. The 
 manner in which the recent changes have been received, 
 root and branch and sweeping as they were, shows, as 
 nothing else can, the necessity for reforms. Compare 
 the insignificant agitation (which has, however, now 
 entirely collapsed), in the Navy over the vast and drastic 
 reforms of the last two years with the agitation in the 
 Army over the trifling matter of getting rid of two bat- 
 talions of Guards ! 
 
 So let us be grateful — adequately grateful — ^to the 
 officers and men of the Navy for their splendid loyalty 
 during the introduction of reforms, some of which have 
 hit them very hard, notably the sudden bringing home 
 and paying off of the large number of vessels that were 
 wiped out of the Navy as not being up to the required 
 standard of fighting efficiency. And there was also the 
 redistribution of the Fleet, which deprived many officers 
 of advantageous appointments and seriously disturbed 
 domestic arrangements. 
 
 But the fact is that the Navy sees the fighting advan- 
 tages we have gained, and so has loyally responded to 
 the demands on its sense of duty. 
 
 As an excellent writer in the " North American Re- 
 view " for June so aptly ^presses it, the Navy saw that 
 it was steam-manship that was wanted, and so, as a 
 body, they welcomed the new scheme of training both 
 of officers and men. They saw also that to have every 
 vessel of the Navy, large and small, mobilised and 
 efficient to fight within three hours in the dead of night, 
 
 151 
 
RECORDS 
 
 as practically exemplified in the recent Grand Manoeuvres, 
 is a result which justifies all the drastic measures of the 
 Board of Admiralty. 
 
 The Navy also recognises the incomparable fighting 
 advantages of the new era in giving us an unparalleled 
 gunnery efficiency, as exemplified in the fact that before 
 that new era there were 2,000 more misses than hits in 
 the annual gunlayers' competition, while in the year 
 after there were 2,000 more hits than misses ! In the 
 new order the best ship is the one that can catch the 
 enemy soonest, and hit him hardest and oftenest ; under 
 the old system these considerations were certainly not 
 the primary ones. 
 
 The Navy sees also that, while the fighting efficiency of 
 the British Fleet and its instant readiness for war has 
 become a household word amongst the Admiralties of 
 the world, at the same time vast economies — ^to be 
 reckoned in many millions — have been eff^ected ; for 
 instance, our harbours, docks, and basins are ridded of 
 obsolete vessels and thus made adequate for the accom- 
 modation of our fighting fleet, for which there was no 
 room previously, and no less a sum than 13 millions 
 sterling was at one time contemplated as necessary to 
 give the required accommodation. The whole of that 
 13 millions in proposed works has been cancelled. 
 
 Nor have the officers and men been forgotten. The 
 men have had a quarter of a million sterling practically 
 added to their pay ; one item alone is ^75,000 a year 
 for increase of pensions to petty officers, and another 
 j(^47,ooo a year in giving them their food allowance when 
 
 152 
 
NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 on leave, and other similar and just concessions make up 
 the balance. Further improvements in the position of 
 the lower deck are now under consideration and will 
 shortly be ready for announcement, i.e.y Ratings Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 The officers, again, no longer pay for the bands out 
 of their own pockets, and the system of Nucleus Crews 
 gives them an amount of Home Service combined with 
 sea-time, with all its domestic advantages, beyond 
 anything ever before obtaining in the Navy. 
 
 Again, it is recognised by all but a few misguided 1 
 misanthropes that the new shipbuilding policy is a mag- 
 nificent departure in fighting policy. We ask the officers 
 who are going to fight^ what they want^ and we build 
 thereto. Formerly vessels were simply belated improve- 
 ments on their predecessors. Admirals had to make 
 the best use they could of the heterogeneous assemblage 
 of vessels which the idiosyncrasies of talented designers 
 and Controllers of the Navy had saddled us with, to the 
 embarrassment of those whose business it was to use 
 them in battle, and to the bitter bewilderment of types 
 in the brain of the Board of Admiralty ! Theory was 
 entirely divorced from practice, with the lamentable 
 result that when the two were recently brought together, 
 and the " Dreadnought " was evolved, it was found 
 that the whole Navy had practically become obsolete ! 
 
 ** First catch your hare " is the recipe in Mrs. Glasse's 
 Cookery Book for ** jugged hare," and so speed has 
 been put in the forefront in every class of vessel from 
 battleship to submarine, and as it's no use having the 
 
 153 
 
RECORDS 
 
 speed without the wherewithal to demoUsh the enemy, 
 the armament of our new ships, as so fully exemplified 
 in the " Dreadnought," has received such a development 
 that that vessel is equal to any two and a half battleships 
 at present existing. 
 
 The efficacy of the Nucleus Crew system has also 
 been obvious to the whole Fleet in the unprecedented 
 exemptions from machinery defects, and the unexampled 
 gunnery efficiency, coupled with a saving of about 
 50 per cent, in repairs of ships, which incidentally has 
 led in a large measure to the reduction of 6,000 Dockyard 
 workmen. And it must never be forgotten that every 
 penny not spent in a fighting ship or on a fighting man is a 
 penny taken away from the day of battle ! 
 
 The management of the Royal Dockyards has now 
 been placed on a much sounder footing, more akin to 
 the organisation in similar commercial establishments, 
 where any undue extravagance or unnecessary executive 
 machinery means loss of money to the shareholders, 
 and is visited by pains and penalties on the officials 
 directly responsible. At the same time the desirable 
 possibilities of ready expansion in war time to suit the 
 varying requirements of a purely naval repairing and 
 building estabHshment have been maintained. 
 
 The Navy also sees the great strategic advantages of 
 our Fleets exercising where they are likely to fight. 
 As Nelson said, " The battle ground should be the drill 
 ground y 
 
 The placid waters and lovely weather of the Mediter- 
 ranean do not fit our seamen for the fogs and gales of 
 
 154 
 
NAVAL PROBLEMS 
 
 the North Sea, or accustom them to the rigours of a 
 northern winter, when the icicles hang down over the 
 bed or the hammock of the Torpedo Boat Commander 
 and his men, as in the North Sea last winter when we 
 sent 147 Torpedo Craft suddenly to exercise at sea ; and 
 though sent on a full power trial of many hours, on first 
 being mobilised, not a single defect or breakdown was 
 experienced. Since that date the arrangements for the 
 Torpedo Craft have been still further perfected, and now 
 the Destroyers are all organised according to the strategic 
 requirements of the situation of the moment, and are 
 definitely detailed in flotillas and divisions, with their 
 store and repair ships and reserves, according to the 
 approved modern methods of torpedo warfare as exempli- 
 fied in the Russo-Japanese War. 
 
 The Navy also sees and welcomes the untold advantage 
 given by the Nucleus Crew system of instant war 
 readiness, as exemplified when last July all our vessels, 
 large and small, in reserve went to sea unnoticed by the 
 Press and engaged in fighting Manoeuvres in the Channel 
 with 200 pendants under the chief command of the 
 Admiral of the Channel Fleet. 
 
 No calling out of Reserves or such disorganisation as 
 was incidental to the old system, when the crews of 
 ships in commission had to be broken up to leaven the 
 ships of the^Reserve that then had no crews at all. 
 
 155 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 NAVAL EDUCATION 
 
 I. — Common Entry. 
 {Written in 1905). 
 
 On the 25th of December, 1902, the new system of 
 entry and training of officers for the Navy was 
 inaugurated. 
 
 The fundamental principles of this great reform are : — 
 
 (a) The common entry and training of officers of the 
 
 three principal branches of the Service, viz., 
 Combatant or Executive, Engineer, and Marine. 
 
 (b) The practical amalgamation of these three branches 
 
 of officers. 
 
 (c) The recognition of the fact that the existence of 
 
 the Navy depends on machinery, and that, 
 therefore, all combatant officers must be 
 Engineers. 
 
 (d) The adoption of the principle that the general 
 
 education and training of all these officers 
 must be completed before they go to sea, 
 instead of, as heretofore, dragging on in a 
 perfunctory manner during their service as 
 midshipmen, to be finally completed by a 
 short ** cram " at Greenwich and Portsmouth. 
 
 156 
 
NAVAL EDUCATION 
 
 When the details of the new scheme were published, 
 it was stated that at about the age of 20 these officers, 
 who up till then had all received an identical training, 
 would be appropriated by selection to the three branches, 
 viz., Executive, Marine, or Engineer ; however, this is 
 unlikely to be carried out in its entirety, and when the 
 time comes, the march of progress will have prepared 
 us to recognise that differentiation to this extent is 
 unnecessary, and that the Fleet will be officered by the 
 combatant officer, who will be equally an Executive, 
 Marine, or Engineer Officer. 
 
 Let us assume this to be true. In spite of the great 
 revolution that has been brought about since Christmas, 
 1902, in the Navy, and the consequent awakening and 
 development of the minds of all officers, there is not one 
 in one hundred who realises fully what the effects of 
 this great reform will be. 
 
 The Cadets who are at present at Osborne College 
 are being educated primarily as Mechanical Engineers 
 concurrently with the special training necessary to make 
 them good seamen, good navigators, and good com- 
 manders. The most important training they have to 
 receive is undoubtedly that of the Mechanical Engineer, 
 which will ultimately make them capable of dealing with 
 and handling anything of a mechanical nature. In 
 process of learning this they acquire a mathematical 
 training of a very high order, and, as pure mathematics 
 are the same all the world over, the various other subjects 
 which the Naval Officer of the future will be required 
 to be proficient in only necessitate a little training in the 
 
RECORDS 
 
 special application of the mathematics of which they 
 possess a firm grasp. Navigation and nautical astronomy 
 are simplicity exemplified once the student has learned 
 trigonometry and algebra. Gunnery, torpedo, and elec- 
 tricity are simply special cases of mechanical problems. 
 Modern seamanship is practically nothing else but a 
 practical application of simple mechanical " chestnuts.*' 
 
 What, therefore, is the meaning of it all ? 
 
 It means that the Naval Officer of the future will 
 regard machinery, mechanical work, and mechanical 
 problems as his ** bread and butter." He will think no 
 more of handling machinery of any sort than the ordinary 
 mortal does of riding a bicycle ; guns, gun-mountings, 
 torpedoes, and electrical instruments and machines he 
 will regard as special types, but differing no whit in 
 principle from the primitive stock. Mystery will dis- 
 appear. At present it is an unfortunate thing that 
 departmental jealousy leads the members of each and 
 every department of the Service to make a mystery of 
 their particular speciality. The Gunnery Lieutenant, 
 Torpedo Lieutenant, Engineer, and Marine Officer each 
 resent discussion by " outsiders " of any point in con- 
 nection with their speciality, as a piece of unwarrantable 
 presumption, with the result that each knows all about 
 his own job, and pursues it diligently, taking care not to 
 poach on anybody else's preserves, but without any 
 regard as to whether the Service might not gain in 
 efficiency by a little more co-operation and collaboration. 
 
 From one point of view they are right in being 
 exclusive, because they know that no one else knows 
 
 158 
 
NAVAL EDUCATION 
 
 anything about their work, and therefore discussion 
 with *' outsiders " is mere waste of breath, but in future 
 all this will be changed. Specialities will disappear ; 
 the Naval Officer of the future will see no greater differ- 
 ence between a gun-mounting and a torpedo, than an 
 Engineer sees between the main engines and the feed 
 pump. 
 
 However, although specialities will disappear, it will 
 always be necessary to have " experts " in each depart- 
 ment. We shall still require our Lieutenants G., T., 
 and E. ; but as at the present time when a Lieutenant G. 
 is promoted to Commander he drops the G., so also it 
 seems logical to conclude that the future Lieutenant E. 
 on promotion to Commander should drop the E. 
 
 It is absolutely safe to predict that the Naval Officer 
 of 50 years hence will smile when he reads that his 
 forefathers had to have an officer of Commander's rank 
 appointed to a ship solely for charge of the main engines. 
 Foreigners gasp when they hear that Lieutenants of two 
 or three years standing command our destroyers ; in 
 other navies destroyers are usually commanded by 
 Captains de Corvette ; and then we smile when we 
 remember youngsters like Lieutenant Rombulow-Pearse 
 of the " Sturgeon," who rescued the crew of the sinking 
 *' Decoy " in a gale of wind, with only his small whaler 
 to help him, and with the loss of only one man, who 
 disappeared nobody knows how. 
 
 The ideal complement of officers of the future there- 
 fore will be : i Captain, i Commander, i Lieutenant G., 
 I Lieutenant E., i Lieutenant T., i Lieutenant M., 
 
 159 
 
RECORDS 
 
 I Lieutenant N., i Lieutenant P., and as many other 
 watchkeepers as necessary. 
 
 Enough has been said in the meantime to show how 
 completely the new system of entry and training of 
 officers has remodelled the British Navy, and it is with 
 the object of using the case of the officers as an argument 
 in considering the case of the men, that it has been dilated 
 on at such length. 
 
 State Education in the Navy. 
 
 {This Paper was prepared in 1902 under great obligations 
 
 to Mr. J. R. Thursfield.) 
 
 Everyone must now feel that the new system of Entry 
 and Education of Naval Officers must have a fair trial, 
 and all reasonable people will hold that it deserves one. 
 
 There still remains to be faced an argument which 
 is certain to appeal to democratic sentiment. Broadly 
 stated, it is this — ^that the new system, as at present 
 organised, must of necessity take all officers of the Navy 
 from among the sons of parents who can afford to spend 
 about £120 a year on their sons from the age of 12J 
 until they become Lieutenants at the age of about 20, 
 or even over. In other words, the officers of the Navy 
 will be drawn exclusively from the well-to-do classes. 
 
 Democratic sentiment will wreck the present system 
 in the long run, if it is not given an outlet. But let us 
 take the far higher ground of efficiency : is it wise or 
 expedient to take our Nelsons from so narrow a class ? 
 
 Surely some small percentage of promising and intelli- 
 gent boys from the other classes could be secured and 
 
 160 
 
WMlaiMHMlldlliMHMHMi 
 
 " The Dauntless Three," Portsmouth, 1903. 
 
 Sir John Fisher, Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth. 
 
 Viscount Esher, President of the Committee of War Ofl&ce 
 Reconstruction. 
 
 Sir George Sydenham Clarke, late Governor of Victoria. 
 
NAVAL EDUCATION 
 
 (if caught early enough, as is now the case) trained to be 
 officers and gentlemen by the time they are grown up. 
 
 Nor is it the money barrier alone which excludes 
 them. An exclusive system of nomination is distasteful, 
 if not alien, to the democratic sentiment. Combined 
 with the cost of the subsequent training, our present 
 system absolutely excludes all but a very small fraction 
 of the population from serving the King as naval officers. 
 It admits the duke's son if he is fit, but it excludes the 
 cook's son whether he is fit or not. It ought to admit 
 both, but only if both are fit. The cook's son may not 
 often be fit, but when he is, why exclude him ? Brains, 
 character, and manners are not the exclusive endowment 
 of those whose parents can afford to spend ^i ,000 on their 
 education. 
 
 There seems to be only one way of solving this problem. 
 Initial fitness must be secured, as at present, by careful 
 selection at the outset, and if the promise is not fulfilled 
 as time goes on, ruthless exclusion, whether of duke's 
 son or of cook's son, must be the inflexible rule. But 
 do not exclude for poverty alone, either at the outset or 
 afterwards. Let every fit boy have his chance, irrespec- 
 tive of the depth of his parents' purse. This might, of 
 course, be done by a liberal system of reduced fees for 
 cadets, midshipmen, and sub-lieutenants whose parents 
 were in poor circumstances. But in the first place 
 there would be a certain element of invidiousness in the 
 selection of the recipients of the national bounty, and, 
 in the second, mischievous class distinctions would 
 inevitably arise among the cadets themselves — between 
 
 161 M 
 
RECORDS 
 
 those who were supported wholly or partially by the 
 State and those who were not. It is most essential that 
 there should be no such distinctions — that the cadets 
 should be taught to look up only to those who are eminent 
 in brains, character, and manners, and to look down only 
 on those who are idle, vicious, vulgar, or incorrigibly 
 stupid. Now, a common maintenance by the State 
 would put them all on a common level of equality. 
 Though the additional cost to the State would doubtless 
 be great, the result would be well worth the extra 
 expenditure. 
 
 The quarter of a million sterling required would be 
 lost and unnoticeable in the millions of the Education 
 Vote, yet it would be worth all the millions of the Educa- 
 tion Vote if it makes the Navy more efficient, because 
 
 The British Nation Floats on the British Navy. 
 It would put the Navy once for all on a basis as broad as 
 the nation ; it would immeasurably widen the area of 
 selection, and place at the disposal of the Admiralty all 
 the intellect and all the character of all classes of the 
 people. 
 
 The New Naval Education. 
 
 Masts and sails disappeared irretrievably with the 
 demand for high speed. 
 
 Now, what went with them ? Why ! The education 
 that the sole use of sail power gave to the eye, brain, and 
 body, in battling with the elements ! 
 
 It was a marvellous education which we had in the 
 pure sailing days ! 
 
 162 
 
NAVAL EDUCATION 
 
 One was alert by instinct ! You never knew what 
 might happen ! A topsail-sheet carrying away, or a 
 weather brace going, or a sudden shift of wind, or 
 squall ! 
 
 One thus got habituated to being quick and resourceful, 
 and it was more or less a slur and a stigma not to be so ! 
 Also (as Officer of the Watch) men^s lives were in your 
 hands ! For instance with men on the yards, and any 
 lubberly stupidity with braces or helm ! 
 
 Both for Officers and Men then we no longer have this 
 magnificent education by the Elements ! 
 
 Steam has practically annihilated the wind and the 
 sea ! 
 
 What are we to do to get the same ready and resource- 
 ful qualities by other methods ? 
 
 The answer is : The Gymnasium, Boat Sailing, the 
 Destroyer, the Submarine, and the Engine Room. 
 
 Apparently, we are in this country in the infancy of 
 Gymnastics for the training of the body when one reads 
 of the Swedish system and its results. (" Mens sana in 
 corpore sano.'*) 
 
 The one solitary element in which we are behind, 
 and must be behind all nations, is " Men.'* We have no 
 Conscription with the unlimited resources it gives ! 
 How should we counterbalance this want ? "By intro- 
 ducing every possible form of labour-saving appliance," 
 regardless of cost, weight, and space ; for instance, is it 
 really impossible to devise mechanical arrangements for 
 feeding the fires with coal instead of using the mass of 
 men we now are obliged to employ for the purpose ? 
 
 163 M 2 
 
RECORDS 
 
 The coal is got out of the bunkers in the same way now 
 as in the first steamship ever built. It is not only we 
 thereby save men — we ensure success (for the next 
 Naval War will be largely a question of physical endurance 
 and nerves). 
 
 *' A machine has no nerves and doesn*t tire ! " 
 
 The other point necessary to consider is " not to 
 waste educated labour, and to utilise and cultivate 
 specialities ! " 
 
 The present system of education both of Men and 
 Officers is that we all go in at one end like the pigs of 
 every type at Chicago, and come out a uniform pattern 
 of sausages at the other ! 
 
 Thus, what we want is, above all things, a '* Corps 
 d'Elite '* of gun-firers ! I should call them the " Bull's 
 Eye Party " (and give them all los. a day extra pay !) 
 
 They must do nothing else but practise hitting the 
 target and lose their pay when they don't ! 
 
 Where would your violin player be if he didn't daily 
 practise } And if you made him pick oakum, where 
 would his touch be ? 
 
 This is what Paganini said : " The first day I omit 
 to practise the violin I notice it myself ! 
 
 ** The second day my friends notice it ! ! 
 
 " The third day the public notice it ! ! ! " 
 
 But if the " Bull's Eye Party " are to hit the enemy 
 as desired (and as they can be made competent to do !) 
 then the Admirals and Captains, and all others, must 
 equally play their parts to allow the *' Bull's Eye Party " 
 to get within range and sight of the enemy. Their 
 
 164 
 
NAVAL EDUCATION 
 
 education is therefore equally important. Scripture 
 comes in here appropriately, ** The eye cannot say to the 
 hand, nor the hand to the foot,'* etc., etc. 
 
 To put the matter very briefly : 
 
 " The education of all our Officers, without distinction, 
 must be remodelled to cope with machinery, instead of 
 sails ! " 
 
 The Gymnasium, the Engine-room, the Destroyer, 
 the Submarine, and Boat Sailing must be our great 
 educational instruments. 
 
 Not for a single moment is it put forward that a year 
 in a workshop and a year in an engine-room will make 
 an efficient Engineer Officer ! It is long experience in 
 such work that does that ! — as in every other thing 1 
 But in a small way, the argument of the abolition of the 
 old Navigating Class applies here very forcibly. It was 
 said their abolition would be absolutely fatal to the 
 efficient navigation of the Fleet. 
 
 But what has been the result } There have been 
 fewer cases of bad navigation since the old Navigating 
 Class was done away with than in the whole history of 
 the Navy ! And with this immense gain — ^that the 
 knowledge of navigation is now widely diffused through 
 the Fleet. 
 
 One can suppose cases where it would be of the utmost 
 value to us were engineering knowledge and the handling 
 of mechanical appliances more widely diffused amongst 
 our Officers ! 
 
 But that is not the vital point ! The vital point is 
 that were a Midshipman to be continuously serving in 
 
 165 
 
RECORDS 
 
 the engine-room of Destroyers and larger vessels (con- 
 tinuously under weigh) at high speeds, he would get a 
 training assimilating in its nature to that marvellous 
 training of the old sailing days, which kept the wits of 
 Officer of the Watch in the utmost state of tension, and 
 produced the splendid specimens of readiness and 
 resource which we read of in the sea Officers of Nelson's 
 time and later ! 
 
 Training of Boys : No masts and sails — Gymnasium 
 — Rifle and gun practice — Boat sailing — Little or no 
 school. (No Binomial Theorem) — Destroyer work for 
 sea-sickness — Sent straight from training-ships to hot 
 foreign stations on the hot-house principle before 
 bedding-out — Select from the very beginning the good 
 shots and the smart signalmen and train them 
 specially. 
 
 Training of the Men : Re-model instruction in 
 Gunnery and Torpedo Schools — " Corps d*Elite " of 
 three classes of (i) gun firers or " Marksmen " ; (2) gun 
 loaders ; (3) gun manipulators — From the time the boy 
 enters the Navy in the training-ship till he gets his 
 pension, the sole object to be to select, train, and improve 
 and retain " the good shot,*' and all training sub- 
 ordinated to this ! 
 
 Training of Officers : Return to early entry at 12 
 years of age — A much lower standard of entrance, 
 educational examination, and a high standard of physical 
 entrance examination— Colloquial French obligatory, no 
 grammar, and no other language, dead or alive I — A 
 combined course of ** Britannia " and ** Keyham " 
 
 166 
 
NAVAL EDUCATION 
 
 Colleges with at least two years of engine-room and shop 
 work and Destroyer practice. 
 
 These great changes are not fanciful ideas ! 
 
 The stubborn fact that we cannot provide what is 
 required on the present system forces the change both 
 as regards Officers as well as Men and Boys. 
 
 Naval Officers' Training. 
 Some Opinions on the Admiralty Scheme (1902). 
 
 I. Admiral Lord Charles Beresford. 
 
 In 1902 Lord Charles Beresford, in an interview on 
 the then recent Admiralty memorandum on the subject 
 of the entry, training, and employment of officers and 
 men of the Royal Navy, said : — 
 
 " The strongest opponent of the scheme will acknow- 
 ledge that it is a brilliant and statesmanlike effort to 
 grapple with a problem upon the sound settlement of which 
 depends the future efficiency of the British Navy. To-day 
 the commander of fleets must possess a greater com- 
 bination of characteristics than has ever before been 
 required of him. He must not only be a born leader of 
 men, but he must have the practical scientific training 
 which the development of mechanical invention renders 
 an absolute and indispensable essential. The executive 
 officer of to-day should possess an intimate knowledge 
 of all that relates to his profession. Up to now he has 
 been fairly educated in the different branches. The 
 most important, however — in that we depend entirely 
 upon it — ^that relating to steam and machinery, has been 
 sadly neglected. The duties of this branch have been 
 delegated to, and well and loyally performed by,[a^body 
 
 167 
 
RECORDS 
 
 of officers existing for this special purpose, and there 
 have been two resuhs. The executive officer has remained 
 ignorant of one of the most important parts ofhisprofession ; 
 the engineer officer has never received that recognition to 
 which the importance of his duties and responsibilities so 
 justly entitled him. The Board of Admiralty have now 
 unanimously approved a plan which provides that 
 naval officers shall have an opportunity of adding to their 
 professional attainments the essential knowledge of 
 marine engineering. Further than this, the Board have 
 recognised that the present status of naval engineer 
 officers could not continue, in fairness either to themselves 
 or to the Service. The abolition of distinction regarding 
 entry has settled this point once and for ever^ and it is 
 satisfactory to find that constituted authority has taken the 
 matter in hand before it became apolitical or party question. 
 
 *' There seems to be a doubt as to whether it will be 
 possible under the new scheme for an executive officer 
 to have the knowledge he should possess of marine 
 engineering. There is no cast-iron secret or mystery 
 with regard to marine engineering, as some seem to 
 imagine. This being so, there is no reason why lieu- 
 tenants (E.) should not be just as good and useful experts 
 in their speciality as the gunnery, torpedo, or navigating 
 lieutenant of the present day, without in the slightest 
 degree detracting from their ability to become excellent 
 executive officers. It is imperative that all officers of 
 the present day should be well acquainted with all the 
 general duties connected with the management of ships 
 and fleets. The wider and fuller the education the naval 
 officer receives in matters relating to science within his 
 own profession, the more likely the Service is to produce 
 men who will be capable of seeing that the fleet in its 
 entirety is perfect for its work, and that there is no weak 
 link in the chain that may jeopardise the whole. 
 
 " The memo, referring to the marines will be, I believe, 
 received with the greatest satisfaction by that splendid 
 
 i68 
 
NAVAL EDUCATION 
 
 corps as a whole as by the Service as a whole. It is a 
 marvel that the zeal and ability of the officers of the Royal 
 Marines has not been effectively utilised long ago. Many 
 important positions will now be open to them, and 
 they will feel that they are taking a real part in the executive 
 working of the ship and fleet which is so proud to own them 
 as a component part. It is to be hoped the way will 
 now be open to give them appointments as general 
 officers commanding at many of the naval bases. No 
 part of the scheme will give the Service in its entirety 
 more sincere pleasure than the improvements promised 
 with regard to the position of the warrant officers. 
 Promotion of warrant officers to lieutenant's rank has 
 long been urged by those who argued that the lower 
 deck were fully entitled to a right that had from time 
 immemorial been engaged by the non-commissioned 
 ranks of the sister Service. Placing the signal ratings 
 on an equality with gunnery and torpedo ratings is of 
 far more importance than is generally realised. The 
 vital necessity of a good line of communication and good 
 signalmen has never been thoroughly appreciated. 
 
 '* I consider the return to the early age of entry of infinite 
 value. It has not yet been decided whether on first 
 going to sea midshipmen will be appointed to ships 
 ordinarily in commission or to ships specially in com- 
 mission for training purposes. I am strongly of opinion 
 that it would be by far the best plan to send them to 
 learn their duties in the ordinary ships of the regularly 
 commissioned fleet. With regard to the proposed 
 arrangement of nomination to branches, I consider it a 
 fair contract, and it keeps the power of appointment to 
 the various branches in the hands of the constituted 
 authorities. In my opinion this gives the best young 
 officer the fairest chance of holding the best positions. 
 
 " In conclusion, I am of the opinion that the plan is 
 one that has been thoroughly matured and well thought 
 out, and I believe that when its details have been definitely 
 
 169 
 
RECORDS 
 
 settled it will make more complete the well-being, content- 
 ment, and efficiency of that Service on which the safety 
 of the empire absolutely depends." 
 
 2. Sir John Hopkins. 
 
 I succeeded Admiral Sir John Hopkins, one of the 
 most distinguished Officers in the Navy, in seven 
 different appointments — as Head of the Gunnery School 
 at Portsmouth, as Director of Naval Ordnance at the 
 Admiralty, as Admiral Superintendent of Portsmouth 
 Dockyard, as Controller of the Navy, as 3rd Sea Lord, 
 as Commander-in-Chief in North America, and as 
 Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean. In each 
 of these appointments force of circumstances compelled 
 me to have a revolution. So the following spontaneous 
 letter, which he wrote me long after, is the more gratifying 
 and shows his magnanimity : 
 
 Greatbridge, Romsey, 
 
 16th April, 1906. 
 
 My Dear Fisher, 
 
 There is a small band of writing critics " making 
 mouths and ceasing not '* at the Education Scheme ; but 
 let them not trouble you. The wonder will be in twenty 
 years' time how such a bold forecast could have been 
 made, that produced such excellent results ; and, in my 
 opinion, the " Common Entry " man will be as great a 
 success as the best friends of the Service could wish. 
 
 Believe me, 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 (Signed) J. O. Hopkins, 
 
 170 
 
NAVAL EDUCATION 
 
 3. Chief Inspector of Machinery, Sir Henry 
 Benbow, K.C.B., D.S.O., R.N. 
 
 Habeshi, Dorman's Park, 
 Surrey, 
 20th April, 1908, 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Permit me to congratulate you on the success of the 
 new system of Entry and Education of Naval Cadets, 
 which has always elicited my warmest sympathy as the 
 only means of doing away with class prejudice. A 
 relative and namesake of mine, a Lieutenant in the 
 Service, only the other day spoke to me most highly of 
 the mental and physical development of the present-day 
 Cadets, and remarked how very favourably they compared 
 with the Cadets entered under the old regime. 
 
 I remain, dear Sir, 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 Henry Benbow. 
 Admiral of the Fleet 
 
 Sir John Fisher, G.C.B., O.M. 
 
 A Naval Candidate's Essay. 
 
 I give here an essay written on 20th February, 1908, 
 by a candidate for entry at Osborne as a Naval Cadet. 
 His age was i2| ; his height four foot nothing. The 
 subjects were suddenly set to the candidates by the 
 Interview Committee, and they were allowed only ten 
 minutes to write the essay in. The original of this 
 essay I sent to King Edward. 
 
 What Nation ought we to protect ourselves most against 
 
 — and why ? 
 
 171 
 
RECORDS 
 
 *' In my opinion we should protect ourselves most 
 against Germany. 
 
 " The most important reason is that they have the 
 second largest Navy in the world ; to which (their Navy) 
 they are rapidly adding. They are also building three 
 ships equal to our * Dreadnought.' Their Army also 
 is very formidable ; though they are suffering from 
 flat-feet. It is also rumoured that the present German 
 Emperor has a feud against King Edward ; namely, 
 when they were young | King Edward punched the 
 German Emperor's head ; how far that is true, I don't 
 know. 
 
 " I always think that Englishmen and Germans are, 
 more or less, natural enemies. One of the reasons for 
 this is, I think, that Englishmen and Germans are so 
 different ; for most of the Germans I've met in Switzer- 
 land were not quarter so energetic as our English friends. 
 They (the Germans) would never go much above the 
 snow line. Also I think we rather despise the Germans, 
 because of their habit of eating a lot. The Germans 
 also would like a few of our possessions." 
 
 172 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 SUBMARINES 
 
 I BEGIN this chapter with a letter written to me on 
 April 1 8th, 1918, by Colonel Sir Maurice Hankey, 
 Secretary to the War Cabinet : — 
 
 My Dear Lord Fisher, 
 
 Last night I dined with Lord Esher. He showed me 
 letters of yours dated 1904 describing in detail the 
 German Submarine Campaign of 19 17. It is the most 
 amazing thing I have ever read ; not one letter only, but 
 several. 
 
 Also some astonishing remarks of yours about the 
 Generals who ought to man the War Office in case of 
 war. All men who have come to the top were your 
 nominees. Finally, General Plumer (whom few people 
 knew about) you picked out for Quartermaster- General, 
 with this remark : " Every vote against Plumer is a 
 vote for paper boots and insufficient shells ! "^ 
 
 Priceless, the whole thing ! Neck-busy though I am, 
 I have come to the Office early to pay this tribute of my 
 undying admiration, and to beg you to get hold of these 
 astounding documents for your Memoirs. But anyhow, 
 they will appear in Lord Esher *s Memoirs, I suppose. 
 
 Yours ever, 
 (Signed) M. P. A. Hankey. 
 
 * For these predictions, see Letter to Lord Esher of (?) Jan., 1904 
 " Memories," p. 173. 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Now follows a letter which I wrote to a High Official 
 in 1904, and which I had forgotten, until I came across 
 it recently. It's somewhat violent, but so true that I 
 insert it. I went as First Sea Lord of the Admiralty 
 shortly after — ^very unexpectedly — and so was able to 
 give effect (though surreptitiously) to my convictions. 
 Not only Admirals afloat, but even Politicians ashore, 
 dubbed submarines as " playthings," so the money had 
 to be got by subterfuge (as I have explained in Chapter V. 
 of my " Memories "). 
 
 Admiralty House, 
 
 Portsmouth. 
 April 20th, 1904. 
 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 I will begin with the last thing in your letter, which 
 is far the most important, and that is our paucity of 
 submarines. I consider it the most serious thing at 
 present affecting the British Empire ! — That sounds Mg^ 
 but it's true. Had either the Russians or the Japanese 
 had submarines the whole face of their war would have 
 been changed for both sides. It really makes me laugh 
 to read of " Admiral Togo's eighth attack on Port 
 Arthur ! " Why ! had he possessed submarines it would 
 have been one attack and one attack only I It would 
 have been all over with the whole Russian Fleet, caught 
 like rats in a trap ! Similarly, the Japanese Admiral 
 Togo outside would never have dared to let his transports 
 full of troops pursue the even tenor of their way to 
 Chemulpo and elsewhere ! 
 
 It's astounding to me, perfectly astounding^ how the 
 very best amongst us absolutely fail to realise the vast 
 impending revolution in naval warfare and naval strategy 
 
 174 
 
SUBMARINES 
 
 that the submarine will accomplish ! (I have written a 
 paper on this, but it's so violent I am keeping it I) 
 Here, just to take a simple instance, is the battleship 
 ** Empress of India," engaged in manoeuvres and knowing 
 of the proximity of Submarines, the Flagship of the 
 Second Admiral of the Home Fleet nine miles beyond 
 the Nab Light (out in the open sea), so self-confident of 
 safety and so oblivious of the possibilities of modern 
 warfare that the Admiral is smoking his cigarette, the 
 Captain is calmly seeing defaulters down on the half- 
 deck, no one caring an iota for what is going on, and 
 suddenly they see a Whitehead torpedo miss their stern 
 by a few feet ! And how fired ? From a submarine of 
 the " pre-Adamite " period, small, slow, badly fitted, 
 with no periscope at all — it had been carried away by a 
 destroyer lying over her, fishing for her 1 — ^and yet 
 this submarine followed that battleship for a solid two 
 hours under water, coming up gingerly about a mile 
 off, every now and then (like a beaver !), just to take a 
 fresh compass bearing of her prey, and then down 
 again i 
 
 Remember, that this is done (and I want specially to 
 emphasise the point), with the Lieutenant in command 
 of the boat out in her for the first time in his life on his 
 own account, and half the crew never out before either ! 
 why, it's wonderful ! And so what results may we expect 
 with bigger and faster boats and periscopes more power- 
 ful than the naked eye (such as the latest pattern one I 
 saw the other day), and with experienced officers and 
 crews, and with nests of these submarines acting to- 
 gether ? 
 
 I have not disguised my opinion in season and out 
 of season as to the essential, imperative, immediate, vital, 
 pressing, urgent (I can't think of any more adjectives !) 
 necessity for more submarines at once, at the very least 
 25 in addition to those now ordered and building, and a 
 hundred more as soon as practicable, or we shall be 
 
 175 
 
 \ 
 
RECORDS 
 
 caught with our breeches down just as the Russians have 
 been I 
 
 And then, my dear Friend, you have the astounding 
 audacity to say to me, " I presume you only think they 
 (the submarines) can act on the defensive !".... Why, 
 my dear fellow ! not take the offensive ? Good Lord I 
 if our Admiral is worth his salt, he will tow his 
 submarines at i8 knots speed and put them into the 
 hostile Port (like ferrets after the rabbits !) before war 
 is officially declared, just as the Japanese acted before 
 the Russian Naval Officers knew that war was declared ! 
 
 In all seriousness I don*t think it is even faintly 
 realised — 
 
 The immense impending revolution which the submarines 
 will effect as offensive weapons of war. 
 
 When you calmly sit down and work out what will 
 happen in the narrow waters of the Channel and the 
 Mediterranean — how totally the submarines will alter 
 the effect of Gibraltar, Port Said, Lemnos, and Malta, 
 it makes one's hair stand on end ! 
 
 I hope you don't think this letter too personal ! 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 J. A. Fisher. 
 
 Note made on January 5th, 1904 : 
 
 Satan disguised as an Aiigel of Light wouldn't succeed 
 in persuading the Admiralty or the Navy that in the 
 course of some few years Submarines will prevent any 
 Fleet remaining at sea continuously either in the Medi- 
 terranean or the English Channel. 
 
 Now follows a paper on " The Effect of Submarine 
 Boats," which I wrote while I was Commander-in-Chief 
 at Portsmouth, October, 1903. 
 
 These remarks can only he fully appreciated by those who 
 witnessed the Flotilla of Submarine Boats now at Ports- 
 mouth practising out in the open sea. 
 
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 p It is an historical fact that the British Navy stubbornly 
 resists change. 
 
 A First Sea Lord told me on one occasion that there 
 were no torpedoes when he came to sea, and^he didn't 
 see why the devil there should be any of the beastly 
 things now ! 
 
 This was a propos of my attracting the attention of his 
 serene and contented mind to the fact that we hadn't got 
 any torpedoes at that time in the British Navy, and that 
 a certain Mr. Whitehead (with wiiom I was acquainted) 
 had devised an automobile torpedo, costing only £500, 
 that would make a hole as big as his Lordship's carriage 
 (then standing at the door) in the bottom of the strongest 
 and biggest ship in the world, and she would go to the 
 bottom in about five minutes. 
 
 Thirty-five years after this last interview, on Sep- 
 tember 4th, 1903, at II a.m., the ironclad *' Belleisle," 
 having had several extra bottoms put on her and strength- 
 ened in every conceivable manner that science could 
 suggest or money accomplish, was sent to the bottom of 
 Portsmouth Harbour by this very Whitehead automobile 
 torpedo in seven minutes. 
 
 This Whitehead torpedo can be carried with facility 
 in Submarine Boats, and it has now attained such a range 
 and such accuracy (due to the marvellous adaptation of 
 the gyroscope), that even at two miles' range it possesses 
 a greater ratio of power of vitally injuring a ship in the 
 line of battle than does the most accurate gun. This 
 is capable of easy demonstration (if anyone doubts it). 
 
 There is this inmiense fundamental difference be- 
 tween the automobile torpedo and the gun — the torpedo 
 has no trajectory : it travels horizontally and hits below 
 water, so all its hits are vital hits ; but not so the gun — 
 only in a few places are gun hits vital, and those places 
 are armoured. It is not feasible to armour the bottoms 
 of ships even if it were effectual — which it is not. 
 
 But the pith and marrow of the whole matter lies in 
 
 177 N 
 
RECORDS 
 
 the fact that the Submarine Boat which carries this 
 automobile torpedo is up to the present date absolutely 
 unattackable. When you see Battleships or Cruisers, 
 or Destroyers, or Torpedo Boats on the horizon, you can 
 send others after them to attack them or drive them 
 away ! You see them — ^you can fire at them — ^you can 
 avoid them — you can chase I them — but with the Sub- 
 marine Boat you can do nothing I You can't fight them 
 with other Submarine Boats — ^they can't see each 
 other ! 
 
 Now for the practical bearing of all this, and the special 
 manner it affects the Submarine Boat and the Army and 
 the Navy — for they are all inextricably mixed up together 
 in this matter : — 
 
 As regards the Navy, it must revolutionise Naval 
 Tactics for this simple reason— that the present battle 
 formation of ships in a single line presents a target of 
 such a length that the chances are altogether in favour of 
 the Whitehead torpedo hitting some ship in the line even 
 when projected from a distance of several miles. This 
 applies specially to its use by the Submarine Boat ; but 
 in addition, these boats can, in operating defensively, 
 come with absolute invisibility within a few hundred 
 yards to discharge the projectile, not at random amongst 
 the crowd of vessels but with certainty at the Admiral's 
 ship for instance, or at any other specific vessel desired 
 to be sent to the bottom. 
 
 It affects the Army, because, imagine even one Sub- 
 marine Boat with a flock of transports in sight loaded 
 each with some two or three thousand troops ! Imagine 
 the effect of one such transport going to the bottom in a 
 few seconds with its living freight ! 
 
 Even the bare thought makes invasion impossible ! 
 Fancy 100,000 helpless, huddled up troops afloat in 
 frightened transports with these invisible demons known 
 to be near. 
 
 Death near — momentarily — sudden — awful — 
 
 178 
 
SUBMARINES 
 
 invisible — unavoidable 1 Nothing conceivable more 
 demoralising ! 
 
 It affects the existence of the Empire, because just as 
 we were in peril by the non-adoption of the breech- 
 loading gun until after every Foreign nation had it, and 
 just as we were in peril when Napoleon the Third built 
 *' La Gloire " and other French ironclads, while we were 
 still stubbornly building wooden three-deckers, and 
 just as we were in peril when, before the Boer War, we 
 were waiting to perfect our ammunition and in conse- 
 quence had practically no ammunition at all, so are we 
 in peril now by only having 20 per cent, of our very 
 minimum requirements in Submarine Boats, because 
 we are waiting for perfection ! We forget that " half a 
 loaf is better than no bread " — ^we strain at the gnat of 
 perfection and swallow the camel of unreadiness I We 
 shall be found unready once too often ! 
 
 In 19 1 8 I wrote the following letter to a friend on 
 ** Submarines and Oil Fuel." 
 
 You ask for information in regard to a prophecy I 
 made before the War in relation to Submarines, because, 
 you say, that my statement made in 19 12 that Submarines 
 would utterly change Naval Warfare is now making a 
 stir. However, I made that same statement in 1904, 
 fourteen years ago. 
 
 I will endeavour to give you a brief, but succinct, 
 synopsis of the whole matter. I have to go some way 
 back, but as you quite correctly surmise the culmination 
 of my beliefs since 1902 was the paper on Submarine 
 Warfare which I prepared six months before the 
 War.i .... 
 
 In May, 1912 (I am working backwards), Mr. Asquith, 
 the Prime Minister, and Mr. Churchill, First Lord of the 
 Admiralty, came to Naples, where I then was, and I was 
 
 1 See below, p. 181. 
 
 179 N 2 
 
RECORDS 
 
 invited to be Chairman of a Royal Commission on Oil 
 Fuel for the Navy, and on Oil Engines. What most 
 moved me to acceptance was to push the Submarine, 
 because oil and the oil engine had a special bearing on 
 its development. 
 
 Continuing my march backwards in regard to the 
 Submarine, there was a cessation in the development of 
 the Submarine after I left the Admiralty as First Sea 
 Lord on January 25th, 19 10. When I returned as First 
 Sea Lord to the Admiralty in October, 19 14, there were 
 fewer Submarines than when I left the Admiralty in 
 January, 19 10, and the one man incomparably fitted to 
 develop the Submarine had been cast away in a third- 
 class Cruiser stationed in Crete. No wonder ! An 
 Admiral, holding a very high appointment afloat, derided 
 Submarines as playthings ! 
 
 In one set of manoeuvres the young officer command- 
 ing a Submarine, having for the third time successfully 
 torpedoed the hostile Admiral's Flagship, humbly said 
 so to the Admiral by signal, and suggested the Flagship 
 going out of action. The answer he got back by signal 
 from the Admiral was : " You be damned ! " 
 
 I am still going on tracing back the Submarine. In 
 1907, King Edward went on board the " Dreadnought " 
 for a cruise and witnessed the manoeuvres of a Submarine 
 Flotilla. I then said to His Majesty : " The Submarine 
 will be the Battleship of the future ! " 
 
 In February, 1904, Admiral Count Montecuccoli, the 
 Austrian Minister of Marine, invited himself to stay with 
 me at Portsmouth, where I was then Commander-in- 
 Chief. He had been Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian 
 Navy at Pola when I was Commander-in-Chief in the 
 Mediterranean. We became very great friends out there. 
 The Austrian Fleet gave us a most cordial reception. 
 He also was an ardent believer in the Submarine. That's 
 why he invited himself to stay, but I refused to let him 
 see our Submarines at Portsmouth, which were then 
 
 180 
 
SUBMARINES 
 
 advancing by leaps and bounds. Admiral Bacon was 
 then the admirable Captain in charge of Submarines, 
 and he did more to develop the Submarine than anyone 
 living. The Submarine is not the weapon of the weak. 
 Had it only been properly used and developed, it's the 
 weapon of the strong, if you use your Naval Supremacy 
 properly, and 
 
 seize the exits of the enemy y and make a blockade effectual 
 by Submarines and Mines , which our predominant and 
 overwhelming naval superiority renders feasible. 
 
 All that was required to meet a German Submarine 
 Menace was the possession of Antwerp, the Belgian 
 Coast, and the Baltic. We could quite easily have 
 accomplished these- three objects. 
 
 Nearly three months before the War, before the 
 meeting of the Committee of Imperial Defence held on 
 May 14th, 1 9 14, I sent the Prime Minister the following 
 Memorandum which I had written in the previous 
 January ; and added : — 
 
 The Submarine is the Coming Type of War Vessel 
 
 FOR Sea Fighting. 
 
 But for that consummation to be reached we must 
 perfect the oil engine and we must store oil. 
 
 There is a strong animus against the submarine — of 
 course there is ! 
 
 An ancient Admiralty Board minute described the 
 introduction of the steam engine as fatal to England's 
 
 Navy. 
 
 Another Admiralty Board minute vetoed iron ships, 
 
 because iron sinks and wood floats ! 
 
 The whole Navy objected to breech-loading guns, and 
 in consequence sure disaster was close to us for years 
 and years. 
 
 181 
 
RECORDS 
 
 There was virulent opposition to the water-tube boiler 
 (fancy putting the fire where the water ought to be, and 
 the water where the fire should be !) 
 
 The turbine was said by eminent marine engineers to 
 have an " insuperable and vital defect which renders it 
 inadmissible as a practical marine engine — its vast number 
 of blades — it is only a toy." 80 per cent, of the steam- 
 power of the world is now driving turbines. 
 
 Wireless was voted damnable by all the armchair 
 sailors when we put it on the roof of the Admiralty, 
 and yet we heard what one ship (the " Argyll ") at 
 Bombay was saying to another (the " Black Prince ") at 
 Gibraltar. 
 
 *' Flying machines are a physical impossibility," said 
 a very great scientist four years ago. To-day they are as 
 plentiful as sparrows. 
 
 " Submarines are only playthings ! " was the official 
 remark of our Chief Admiral afloat only a little while ago, 
 and yet now submarines are talked of as presently ousting 
 Dreadnoughts. 
 
 The above texts, extracted from comparatively modern 
 naval history (history is a record of exploded ideas !), 
 should make anyone chary of ridiculing the writer when 
 he repeats : 
 
 THE SUBMARINE IS THE COMING TYPE OF 
 WAR VESSEL FOR SEA FIGHTING. 
 
 And what is it that the coming of the submarine really 
 means ? It means that the whole foundation of our 
 traditional naval strategy, which served us so well in the 
 past, has been broken down I The foundation of that 
 strategy was blockade. The Fleet did not exist merely 
 to win battles — ^that was the means, not the end. The 
 ultimate purpose of the Fleet was to make blockade 
 possible for us and impossible for our enemy. Where 
 that situation was set up we could do what we liked with 
 him on the sea, and, despite a state of war, England grew 
 steadily richer. But with the advent of the long-range 
 
 182 
 
SUBMARINES 
 
 ocean-going submarine that has all gone 1 Surface ships 
 can no longer either maintain or prevent blockade, and 
 with the conception of blockade are broken up all the 
 consequences, direct and indirect, that used to flow from 
 it. All our old ideas of strategy are simmering in the 
 melting pot ! Can we get anything out of it which will 
 let us know where we are and restore to us something of 
 our former grip ? It is a question that must be faced. 
 
 Sea-fighting of to-day, or at any time, entails the 
 removal of the enemy's sea forces. If, as is maintained, 
 the submarine proves itself at once the most efficient 
 factor for this purpose and also the most difficult sea 
 force to remove, let us clear our minds of all previous 
 obsessions and acknowledge the facts once and for all. 
 
 Hostile Submarines. 
 
 It has to he freely acknowledged that at the present time 
 no means exist of preventing hostile submarines emerging 
 from their own ports and cruising more or less at will. 
 
 It is, moreover, only barely possible that, in the future, 
 mining and other blocking operations on a very extensive 
 scale may so develop as to render their exit very hazar- 
 dous ; but it is plain that such operations would require 
 a large personnel, unceasing energy and vigilance, and 
 an immense quantity of constantly replaceable materials. 
 
 qp •«■ TP W •If ip 
 
 The Submarine and Commerce. 
 
 Again, the question arises as to what a submarine can 
 do against a merchant ship when she has found her. She 
 cannot capture the merchant ship ; she has no spare 
 hands to put a prize crew on board ; little or nothing 
 would be gained by disabling her engines or propeller ; 
 
 X83 
 
RECORDS 
 
 she cannot convoy her into harbour ; and, in fact, it is 
 impossible for the submarine to deal with commerce in 
 the light and provisions of accepted international law. 
 Under these circumstances, is it presumed that the 
 hostile submarine will disregard such law and sink 
 any vessel heading for a British commercial port 
 and certainly those that are armed or carrying contra- 
 band ? 
 
 There is nothing else the submarine can do except 
 sink her capture, and it must therefore be admitted that 
 (provided it is done, and however inhuman and barbarous 
 it may appear) this submarine menace is a truly terrible 
 one for British commerce and Great Britain alike, for no 
 means can be suggested at present of meeting it except 
 by reprisals. All that would be known would be that a 
 certain ship and her crew had disappeared, or some of 
 her boats would be picked up with a few survivors to 
 tell the tale. Such a tale would fill the world with horror, 
 and it is freely acknowledged to be an altogether bar- 
 barous method of warfare ; but, again, if it is done by 
 the Germans the only thing would be to make reprisals. 
 The essence of war is violence, and moderation in war is 
 imbecility. 
 
 It has been suggested that it should be obligatory for 
 a submarine to fire a warning gun, but is such a proceed- 
 ing practical ? We must bear in mind that modern 
 submarines are faster on the surface than the majority of 
 merchantmen, and will not necessarily need to dive at 
 all. Therefore, as the submarine would in most cases be 
 sighted, and as she has no prize crew to put on board, 
 the warning^gun is useless, as the only thing the sub- 
 marine could do would be to sink the enemy ; also, the 
 apparently harmless merchant vessel may be armed, in 
 which case the submarine may but have given herself 
 away if she did not sink her. 
 
 The subject is, indeed, one that bristles with great 
 difficulties, and it is highly desirable that the conduct of 
 
 184 
 
SUBMARINES 
 
 submarines in molesting commerce should be thoroughly 
 considered. Above all, it is one of overwhelming interest 
 to neutrals. One flag is very much like another seen 
 against the light through a periscope, should he have 
 thought it necessary to dive ; and the fear is natural that 
 the only thing the officer of the hostile submarine would 
 make sure of would be that the flag seen was not that of 
 his own country. 
 
 Moreover, under numerous circumstances can a 
 submarine allow a merchant ship to pass unmolested ? 
 Harmless trader in appearance, in reality she may be one 
 of the numerous fleet auxiliaries, a mine-layer, or carrying 
 troops, and so on. Can the submarine come to the 
 surface to inquire and lose all chance of attack if the 
 vessel should prove to be faster than she is ? The 
 apparent merchant ship may also be armed. In this 
 light, indeed, the recent arming of our British merchant- 
 men is unfortunate, for it gives the hostile submarine an 
 excellent excuse (ijF she needs one) for sinking them ; 
 namely, that of self-defence against the guns of the 
 merchant ship. 
 
 What can be the answer to all the foregoing but that 
 (barbarous and inhuman as, we again repeat, it may 
 appear), if the submarine is used at all against commerce, 
 she must sink her captures ? 
 
 For the prevention of submarines preying on our 
 commerce, it is above all necessary that merchant shipping 
 should take every advantage of our favourable geograph- 
 ical position, and that we should make the Straits of 
 Dover as difficult as we possibly can. 
 
 It is not proposed here to enter into the technical 
 details, of such arrangements ; but even after every 
 conceivable means has been taken, it must be con- 
 ceded that there is at least a chance of submarines 
 passing safely through ; while at night, or in thick 
 weather, it is probable that they would not fail to pass 
 in safety. 
 
 185 
 
RECORDS 
 
 I conclude with some details of British Submarines 
 before and during the War : — 
 
 I. When I left the Admiralty in January, 1910 : 
 Submarines ready for fighting 61 
 
 Building and on order 13 
 
 II. When I returned to the Admiralty, in October, 
 1 9 14, as First Sea Lord : 
 
 Submarines fit for fighting 53 
 
 Building and on order 21 
 
 But of these 21, only 5 were any good ! 
 
 2 were paid off as useless. 
 
 3 sold to the Italians, not of use to us. 
 
 4 sold to the French, not of use to us. 
 7 of unsatisfactory design. 
 
 16 leaving only 5 of oversea modern (" E ") Type. 
 
 Nominally, there were 77 Submarines when I returned 
 in October, 19 14, but out of these 24 were useless, 
 or had gone to the Antipodes, as follows : 
 
 2 to Australia. 
 
 3 to Hong Kong. 
 
 I sold to Italy useless. 
 8 *' A " Class scrapped, 10 years old. 
 10 ** B *' Class scrapped, 9 years old. 
 
 24 
 
 77 — 24 = 53 total Submarines fit for Service when I 
 returned in October, 19 14. 
 
 There were 61 Submarines efficient when I left the 
 Admiralty in January, 19 10. 
 
 Of those that were on order when I returned, 14 were 
 
 186 
 
SUBMARINES 
 
 of " G " Class, but were of an experimental type, and so 
 were not ready till Juney 191 6, or one year after the 
 Submarines were ready which I ordered on my return 
 to the Admiralty in October, 19 14. 
 
 Here may be stated the great service rendered by Mr. 
 Schwab, of the Bethlehem Steel Works. I specially sent 
 for him. I told him the ^very shortest time hitherto 
 that a Submarine had been built in was 14 months. 
 Would he use his best endeavours to deliver in six 
 months ? He delivered the first hatch in five months ! 
 And not only that, but they were of so efficient a 
 type (" H " Class) that they came from America to the 
 Dardanelles without escort, and were of inestimable 
 service out there, and passed into the Sea of Marmora, 
 and were most effective in sinking Turkish Transports 
 bringing munitions to Gallipoli. 
 
 The type of Submarine (" H " Class) he built hold 
 the field for their special attributes. I saw one in dock at 
 Harwich that had been rammed by a Destroyer — I think 
 a German Destroyer — and had the forepart of her taken 
 clean away, and she got back to Harwich by herself 
 all right. The Commander of her, an aged man, 
 was in the Merchant Service. (What a lot we do indeed 
 owe to the Merchant Service, and especially to those 
 wonderful men in the Trawlers I) 
 
 But Mr. Schwab did far more than what I have narrated 
 above. He undertook the delivery of a very important 
 portion of the armament of the Monitors. 
 
 The idea was followed up in making old Cruisers 
 immune from German Submarines — the ** Grafton," an 
 
 187 
 
RECORDS 
 
 old type Cruiser (and so also the " Edgar "), thus fitted, 
 was hit fair amidships by a torpedo from a German 
 submarine off Gibraltar, and the Captain of the 
 " Grafton " reported himself unhurt and going all the 
 faster for it (as it had blown off a good bit of the hull !), 
 and those vessels were ever so much the better sea boats 
 for it ! 
 
 It is lamentable that no heed was given to the great 
 sagacity of Mr. Churchill in his special endeavour to give 
 further application to this invention. 
 
 In the Submarine Monitor Mi, which carries a 
 1 2-inch gun, and which is illustrated in this volume, we 
 have the type of vessel I put before the Admiralty in 
 August, 1 9 15. She is the forerunner of the Battleship 
 of the future ; but her successors should be built in a 
 much shorter time than she was. 
 
 188 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 NOTES ON OIL AND OIL ENGINES 
 
 How War and Peaceful Commerce will he Revolutionised 
 
 by the Oil Engine. 
 
 On September 17th, 1912, at 3 a.m., I invited two very 
 eminent experts, Sir Trevor Dawson and his coadjutor 
 McKechnie, to leave their beds and come into my room 
 to see an outHne of the Fast Ship of the Future, both 
 for War and Commerce, carrying sufficient fuel to go 
 round the Earth with and with an increased capacity of 
 30 per cent, as compared with similar vessels of the 
 same displacement using steam. At length a special 
 Government Research Department has been set up to 
 develop the Oil Engine, and a sum prohibitive in peace 
 time has been cheerfully accorded by War reasoning to 
 set up this establishment on a big basis. I reiterate 
 what is said elsewhere, that the Oil Engine will revo- 
 lutionise both War and Commerce when once it is per- 
 fected — ^through the enormous gain it affords in space 
 and smaller crews through riddance of stokeholds and 
 firemen, and facility of re-fuelling and cleanliness and 
 absence of funnels, etc., etc. 
 
 189 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Here is a descriptive outline of H.M.S. " Incom- 
 parable," as set forth in the early morning of September 
 17th, 1912 : 
 
 Really a Gem ! She can be riddled and gutted outside 
 the Central Diamond-shaped Armoured Citadel because 
 nothing vital outside that Citadel ! So lightly built 
 she'll weigh so little as to go Fast, with a hundred and 
 fifty thousand horse power ! She'll shake to pieces in 
 about 10 years ! What's the good of a warship lasting 
 longer ? The d — d things get obsolete in about a 
 year ! 
 
 Ten 16-inch guns to begin with (afterwards 20-inch 
 guns) for main armament. 
 
 Eight broadside Torpedo Tubes (21 -inch Torpedo). 
 
 32 knots speed at least. 
 
 16-inch armour on citadel and belt amidships, thinning 
 towards the end. 
 
 850 feet long — ^to be afterwards i ,000 feet ; 86 feet wide. 
 
 Four Torpedo Tubes each side to be well before the 
 Citadel (submerged Tubes) so as not to interfere with 
 machinery space. 
 
 Quadruple screws. 
 
 Anti- Submarine guns in small single turrets. 
 
 A Turtle-backed armoured hull, with light steel 
 uninflammable structure before and abaft the armoured 
 Diamond-shaped Citadel. 
 
 Two Conning Towers. 
 
 Hydraulic crane each side (very low in height) for 
 lifting boats. 
 
 The light central steel hollow mast only for wireless 
 
 190 
 
NOTES ON OIL AND OIL ENGINES 
 
 and for ventilation, made of steel ribbon to wind up and 
 down at will. 
 
 Jam up the Citadel all that is possible right in centre 
 of Hull, and squeeze the last inch in space so as to lessen 
 amount of 1 6-inch armour. ^ 
 
 Curved thick armour deck. 
 
 Ammunition service by Hydraulic power. 
 
 Oil right fore and aft the whole ship. Enough to go 
 round the earth ! 
 
 Very high double bottom — honeycombed. 
 
 Coffer dams everywhere stuffed with cork. 
 
 This, then, is the Fast Battle Cruiser " Incomparable " 
 of 32 knots speed and 20-inch guns and no funnels, and 
 phenomenal light draught of water, because so very long 
 and built so flimsy that she won't last 10 years, but that's 
 long enough for the War ! 
 
 I have just found copy of a letter I sent Mr. Winston 
 Churchill dated two months later, when those two very 
 eminent men, having cogitated over the matter, very 
 kindly informed me that the Visionary was justified. 
 I omit the details they kindly gave me, as I don't wish to 
 deprive them of any trade advantage in the furtherance 
 of their great commercial intentions with regard to the 
 oil engine, for it is just now the commercial aspect of the 
 internal combustion engine which enthrals us. A ship 
 now exists that has a dead weight capacity of 9,500 tons 
 with a speed of eleven knots (which is quite fast enough 
 for all cargo-carrying purposes) and she burns only a 
 little over ten tons of oil an hour. Having worked out 
 the matter, I conclude she would save roughly a thousand 
 
 191 
 
RECORDS 
 
 pounds in fuel alone over a similar sized steamship in a 
 voyage of about 3,000 miles (say crossing the Atlantic) ; 
 and, of course, as compared with coal, she could carry 
 much additional cargo, probably about 600 tons more. 
 Then the getting rid of boilers and coal bunkers gives 
 another immense additional space to the oil engine 
 ship for cargo, as the oil fuel would be carried in 
 the double-bottom. A Swiss firm has put on board 
 an ocean-going motor-driven ship a Diesel engine 
 which develops 2,500 indicated Horse Power in one 
 cylinder, so that a quadruple-screw motor ship could 
 have 80,000 Horse Power with sixteen of these cylinders 
 cranked on each shaft. I don't see why one shouldn't 
 have a sextuple - screw motor ship with a hundred 
 thousand Horse Power. So it is ludicrous to say that 
 the internal combustion engine is not suited to big ships. 
 For some reason I cannot discover, " Tramp " owners 
 are hostile to the internal combustion engine. I hope 
 they will not discover their error too late. I sent 
 two marvellous pictures of a Motor Battleship to Mr. 
 Winston Churchill on November 17th, 191 2, saying to 
 him : — 
 
 " These pictures will make your mouth water ! " 
 However, this type of ship is obsolete for war before 
 she has been begun, as we have got to turn her into a 
 submersible — not that there is any difficulty in that — it 
 has already been described that in August, 1916, a 
 submersible vessel with a 12-inch gun was proposed and 
 after extreme hesitation and long delays in construction 
 was built, but she was completed too late to take part in 
 
 192 
 
NOTES ON OIL AND OIL ENGINES 
 
 the war. She might have sunk a goodly number of the 
 German Fleet at the Battle of Jutland. But our motto in 
 the war was " Too Late." ^ 
 
 The whole pith and marrow of the Internal Combustion 
 Engine lies in the science of metallurgy. We are 
 lamentably behind every foreign nation, without excep- 
 tion, in our application of the Internal Combustion Engine 
 to commercial purposes, because its reliability depends 
 on Metallurgy, in which science we are wanting, and we 
 are also wanting in scientific research on the scale of 12 
 inches to a foot. We have no scale at all ! 
 We are going to be left behind ! 
 
 The Board of Invention and Research, of which I was 
 President, after much persistence obtained the loan of a 
 small Laboratory at South Kensington, greatly aided by 
 Professor Dalby, F.R.S., for research purposes as regards 
 the Internal Combustion Engine ; but its capabilities 
 were quite inadequate. Then the President of the Council 
 (Earl Curzon) was to undertake the whole question of 
 Research on a great and worthy scale, and I got a most 
 kind letter from him. It ended with the letter ! 
 
 In this connection I have had wonderful support from 
 Sir Marcus Samuel, who staked his all on Oil and 
 the Oil Engine. Where should we have been in this 
 War but for this Prime Mover ? Fve no doubt he is 
 an oil miUionaire now, but that's not the point. Oil is . 
 one of the things that won us the War. And when he 
 was Lord Mayor of London he was about the only 
 
 1 Only this morning (November 5th, 1919), I have arranged to deal 
 with the drawings of a proposed Submersible Battleship carrying many 
 Big Guns, and clearly a practicable production. 
 
 193 O 
 
RECORDS 
 
 man who publicly supported me when it was extremely 
 unfashionable to do so. 
 
 Oil is the very soul of future Sea Fighting. Hence 
 my interest in it, and though not intending to work 
 again, yet my consuming passion for oil and the oil 
 engine made me accept the Chairmanship of a Royal 
 Commission on Oil and the Oil Engine when Mr. 
 Churchill and Mr. Asquith found me at Naples in May, 
 1912. 
 
 I have come to the conclusion that about the best 
 thing I ever did was the following exuberant outburst 
 over Oil and the Oil Engine. I observe it was printed 
 in November 191 2, written '' currente calamo," and 
 now on reading it over I would not alter a word. I am 
 only aghast at the astounding stupidity of the British 
 Shipbuilder and the British Engineer in being behind 
 every country in the development of motor ships. 
 
 Oil and the Oil Engine (191 2). 
 
 I. — With two similar Dreadnoughts oil gives 3 knots 
 more speed — ^that is if ships are designed to 
 burn oil only instead of oil and coal — and 
 speed is everything. 
 1\. — The use of oil fuel increases the strength of the 
 British Navy 33 per cent., because it can re- 
 fuel at sea off the enemy's Harbours. Coal 
 necessitates about one-third of the Fleet being 
 absent re-fuelling at a base (in case of war 
 with Germany) some three or four hundred 
 miles off ! — i.e.y some six or eight hundred 
 
 194 
 
NOTES ON OIL AND OIL ENGINES 
 
 miles unnecessary expenditure of fuel and 
 wear and tear of machinery and men. 
 III. — ^Oil for steam-raising reduces the present engine 
 and boiler room personnel some 25 per cent., 
 and for Internal Combustion Engines would 
 perhaps reduce the personnel over 60 per cent. 
 This powerfully affects both economy and 
 discipline. 
 IV. — Oil tankers are in profusion on every sea and as 
 England commands the Ocean {she must com- 
 mand the Ocean to live ! !) she has peripatetic 
 re-fuelling stations on every sea and every 
 oil tanker's position known every day to a 
 yard ! Before very long there will be a million 
 tons of oil on the various oceans in hundreds 
 of oil tankers. The bulk of these would be 
 at our disposal in time of war. Few or none 
 could reach Germany. 
 V. — The Internal Combustion Engine with one ton 
 of oil does what it takes four tons of coal to 
 do ! ^ And having no funnels or smoke is an 
 indescribable fighting asset ! (Always a chance 
 of smoke in an oil steam-raising vessel where 
 of course the funnels which disclose a ship 
 such an immense distance off are obligatory. 
 Each enemy's ship spells her name to you by 
 her funnels as they appear on the horizon, 
 while you are unseen !) 
 VI. — The armament of the Internal Combustion Ship 
 is not hampered by funnels, so can give all- 
 round fire, an inestimable advantage because 
 the armament can all be placed in the central 
 portion of the Hull with all-round fire, and 
 giving the ship better seaworthy qualities by 
 not having great weights in the extremities, 
 
 1 Note.— For steam raising 3 tons of oil are only equivalent to 
 4 tons of coal. 
 
 195 O 2 
 
RECORDS 
 
 as obligatory where you have funnels and 
 boilers. 
 VII. — But please imagine the blow to British prestige 
 if a German warship with Internal Combustion 
 Propulsion is at sea before us and capable of 
 going round the World without re-fuelling ! 
 What an Alabama ! ! ! What an upset to 
 the tremblers on the brink who are hesitating 
 to make the plunge for Motor Battleships ! 
 
 According to a reliable foreign correspondent, 
 the keel of a big Oil-Engine Warship for the 
 German Navy is to be laid shortly. Krupp 
 has a design for a single cylinder of 4,000 H.P. ! 
 He has had a six-cylinder engine of 2,000 H.P., 
 each cylinder successfully running for over a 
 year. 
 VIII. — Anyhow, it must be admitted that the burning 
 of oil to raise steam is a roundabout way of 
 getting power ! The motor car and the 
 aeroplane take little drops, of oil and explode 
 them in cylinders and get all the power required 
 without being bothered with furnaces or boilers 
 or steam engines, so we say to the marine 
 engineer, *' Go and do thou likewise ! " 
 
 The sailor's life on the 70,000 H.P. coal using 
 Lion is worse than in any ship in the service 
 owing to the constant coalings. 
 
 It's an economic waste of good material to keep 
 men grilling in a baking fire hole at un- 
 necessary labour and use 300 men when a dozen 
 or so would suffice ! 
 
 Certainly oil at present is not a cheap fuel ! but 
 it is cheap when the advantages are taken into 
 consideration. In an Internal Combustion 
 Engine, according to figures given by Lord 
 Cowdray, his Mexican oil would work out in 
 England, when freights are normal, as equiva- 
 
 196 
 
NOTES ON OIL AND OIL ENGINES 
 
 lent to coal at twelve to fifteen shillings a 
 ton ! 
 
 Oil does not deteriorate by keeping. Coal does. 
 You can store millions of tons of oil without 
 fear of waste or loss of power, and England has 
 got to store those millions of tons, though this 
 reserve may be gradually built up. The 
 initial cost would be substantial but the in- 
 vestment is gilt-edged I We must and can 
 face it. Si vis pacem para helium I 
 
 You can re-fuel a ship with oil in minutes as 
 compared with hours with coal ! 
 
 At any moment during re-fuelling the oil-engine 
 ship can fight — the coal-driven ship can't — 
 she is disorganised — ^the whole crew are black 
 as niggers and worn out with intense physical 
 exertion ! In the oil-driven ship one man 
 turns a tap ! 
 
 Ifs criminal folly to allow another pound of coal 
 on board a fighting ship ! — or even in a cargo- 
 ship either ! — Krupp has a design for a cargo- 
 ship with Internal Combustion Engines to go 
 40,000 (forty thousand) miles without re- 
 fuelling ! It's vital for the British Fleet and 
 vital for no other Fleet, to have the oil engine. 
 That's the strange thing! And if only the 
 Germans knew, they'd shoot their Dr. Diesel 
 like a dog ! 
 
 Sir Charles Parsons and others prefer small units. 
 It is realised in regard to the multiplication of 
 small units (as the Lilliputians tied up Gulliver) 
 that though there is no important reason why 
 cylinders shall not be multiplied on the same 
 shaft yet the space required will be very large 
 — ^the engines thus spreading themselves in the 
 fore and aft direction — but here comes in the 
 ingenuity of the Naval Constructor and the 
 
 197 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Marine Engineer in arranging a complete 
 fresh adaptation of the hull space and forthwith 
 immense fighting advantages will accrue ! Far 
 from being an insuperable objection it's a 
 blessing in disguise, for with a multiplicity of 
 internal combustion engines there undoubtedly 
 follows increased safety from serious or total 
 breakdown, provided that suitable means are 
 provided for disconnecting any damaged unit 
 and also for preventing in case of such failure 
 any damage to the rest of the system. The 
 storage of oil fuel lends itself to a remarkable 
 new disposition of the whole hull space. 
 Thus a battleship could carry some five or six 
 thousand tons of oil in her double bottoms — 
 sufficient to go round the earth without re- 
 fuelling. The " Non-Pareil " (being the French 
 for the " Incomparable ") will carry over 6,000 
 tons of oil in her double bottoms, with an 
 extra double bottom below those carrying the 
 oil. This is equal to 24,000 tons of coal ! 
 This new arrangement of the hull space permits 
 some dozen motor boats being carried in a 
 central armoured pit (where the funnels used 
 to be). These 60-feet motor boats would 
 carry 21 -inch Torpedoes and have a speed of 
 40 knots. Imagine these hornets being let 
 loose in a sea fight ! The 21 -inch Torpedo 
 which they carry goes 5 miles ! And the 
 silhouette of an Internal Combustion Battle- 
 ship is over 30 per cent, less than any living or 
 projected Battleship in the target offered to 
 the enemy's fire. 
 TX.— Finally: 
 
 To he first in the race is everything ! 
 Just consider our immense gains in having been 
 first with the water-tube boiler ! First with 
 
 198 
 
NOTES ON OIL AND OIL ENGINES 
 
 the turbine ! First with the i3|-inch gun ! 
 Just take this last as an illustration ! We shall 
 have 1 6 ships armed with the I3|-inch gun 
 before the Germans have a single ship with 
 anything bigger than the 12-inch, and the 
 i3J-incn is as superior to the 12-inch as the 
 1 2 -inch is to a peashooter. 
 
 And yet we hesitate to plunge with a Motor 
 Battleship ! Why boggle at this plunge when 
 we have plunged before, every time with 
 success ? 
 
 People say Internal Combustion Propulsion in a 
 hundred thousand horse-power Dreadnought 
 is similarly impossible ! " Wait and see ! " — 
 The " Non-Pareil " is coming along ! 
 
 The rapid development of the oil engine is best 
 illustrated by the fact that a highly influential 
 and rich German syndicate have arranged for 
 six passenger steamers for the Atlantic and 
 Pacific Trade, of 22 knots speed and 36,000 
 H.P. with nine of Krupp's cyhnders of 4,000 
 H.P. each on three shafts.^ 
 
 There need be no fear of an oil famine because 
 of the immense sure oil areas recently brought 
 to notice in Canada, Persia, Mesopotamia 
 and elsewhere. The British oil area in Trinidad 
 alone will be able to more than supply all the 
 requirements of the British Navy. Assuming 
 the present coal requirements of the Navy at 
 I J million tons annually, then less than half a 
 million tons of oil would suffice when the 
 whole British Navy is oil engined, and, as 
 recently remarked by the greatest oil magnate, 
 this amount would be a bagatelle compared 
 with the total output of oil, which he expects 
 before many years to reach an output of a 
 
 1 The War stopped this.— F. 19 19. 
 199 
 
RECORDS 
 
 hundred million tons a year in consequence of 
 the great demand for developing its output 
 and the discovery of new oil areas and the 
 working of shale deposits. 
 
 We turned coal-burning Battleships that were building 
 in November, 19 14, into oilers, with great increase of 
 efficiency and speed. 
 
 I have chanced upon a Memorandum on ** Oil and 
 its Fighting Attributes," which I drew up on March 3rd, 
 191 3, for the First Lord of the Admiralty. It shows 
 what a Great Personality can effect. I was told by an 
 enemy of Mr. Deterding (of whom I am speaking) that 
 when he came in as Manager of the Great Shell Oil 
 Combine, the Concern could have been bought for 
 £40,000. When I wrote my Memorandum, it was 
 valued by a hostile Oil Magnate (who told me this him- 
 self) at forty millions sterling. Whether it is Oil, or 
 Peace, or War, it's the Man, and not the System that 
 Wins. And Mr. Deterding is the man who shifted the 
 centre of gravity of oil (together with an immense assem- 
 blage of clerks and chemists and all the paraphernalia of 
 a huge financial web) from abroad to this country. 
 
 " The ideal accumulator which everybody has been 
 after for the last 50 years, is oil. There will never 
 be found another accumulator or source of power of 
 such small volume as oil. 
 
 " Just fancy ! Get a gallon of oil and a man can go 
 to Brighton and back again, carrying the weight of his 
 bicycle and himself by means of it. . . . 
 
 ** It's a shame that anybody is allowed to put oil 
 
 200 
 
NOTES ON OIL AND OIL ENGINES 
 
 under a boiler — ^for this reason, that when oil is 
 used in an oil engine it realises about five times greater 
 effect. . . . 
 
 " The moment the price of oil is £5 a ton it will not 
 be used anywhere under a boiler for steam raising, and 
 the whole world's supply will be available for the Navy 
 and the Diesel Engine. . . . 
 
 " I am going to raise every penny I can get and build 
 storage, and even when I have built five million tons of 
 storage I am still going on building it and filling it, even 
 if it is only for the pleasure of looking at it. It is always 
 so much condensed labour stored for the future. . . . 
 
 " Oil fuel when stored, does not deteriorate as 
 coal does. The stocks would therefore constitute a 
 national asset, the intrinsic value of which would not 
 diminish." . . . (Mr. Deterding before the Royal Com- 
 mission on Oil and Oil Engines.) 
 
 My Memorandum was as follows : — 
 
 Mr. Deterding in his evidence before the Royal 
 Commission, confesses that he possesses in Roumania, 
 in Russia, in California, in the Dutch Indies, in 
 Trinidad, and shortly in Mexico, the controlling 
 interest in oil. The Anglo-Persian Company also say 
 he is getting Mesopotamia and squeezing Persia which 
 are practically untouched areas of immense size reeking 
 with oil. Without doubt Mr. Deterding is Napoleonic 
 in his audacity and Cromwellian in his thoroughness. 
 Sir Thomas Browning in his evidence says that the 
 Royal Dutch- Shell Combination is more powerful and 
 aggressive than ever was the great Standard Oil Trust 
 of America. 
 
 Let us therefore listen with deep attention to the 
 words of a man who has the sole executive control of 
 the most powerful organisation on earth for the pro- 
 duction of a source of power which almost doubles the 
 power of our Navy whilst our potential enemies remain 
 
 201 
 
RECORDS 
 
 normal in the strength of their fleets. What does he 
 advise ? 
 
 He says : " Oil is the most extraordinary article in 
 the commercial world and the only thing that hampers 
 its sale is its production. There is no other article 
 in the world where you can get the consumption as long 
 as you make the production. In the case of oil make 
 the production first as the consumption will come. 
 There is no need to look after the consumption, and 
 as a seller you need not make forward contracts as 
 the oil sells itself." Only what you want is an enor- 
 mously long purse to be able to snap your fingers at 
 everybody and if people do not want to buy it to-day 
 to be able to say to them : '' All right ; I will spend a 
 million sterling in making reservoirs and then in the 
 future you will have to pay so much more." " The 
 great point for the Navy is to get oil from someone 
 who can draw supplies from many spots, because no 
 one spot can be absolutely relied on." There is not 
 anybody who can be certain of his supply ; oil fields in 
 my own experience which at the time yielded 18,000 
 barrels a day within five days went down to 3,000 barrels 
 without the slightest warning. 
 
 The British Empire " has the long purse " ; huild 
 reservoirs and store oil. Keep on building reservoirs and 
 buy oil at favourable rates when they offer, 
 
 November 21st, 1917. 
 The report below of the Secretary of the United States 
 Navy is interesting. I have just been looking up the 
 record in 1886, when high officials said I was an *' Oil 
 Maniac." I was at that time at the Admiralty as Director 
 of Naval Ordnance, and was sent from that appointment 
 to be Admiral Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard, 
 
 202 
 
NOTES ON OIL AND OIL ENGINES 
 
 prior to being appointed Controller of the Navy, where I 
 remained six years. At Portsmouth Dockyard, while I 
 was Admiral Superintendent, we paved the way for rapid 
 shipbuilding in the completion of the Battleship *' Royal 
 Sovereign " in two years. Afterwards, with the same 
 superintendence but additional vigour, we completed the 
 ** Dreadnought '* in one year and one day ready for 
 Battle ! 
 
 Oil Burning Battleships. 
 
 Washington. 
 Mr. Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, issues a report 
 urging that Congress should authorise the construction 
 of three Battleships, one Battle Cruiser, and nine Fleet 
 Submarines. He favours oil-burning units, and says 
 that the splendid work which has been accomplished by 
 these vessels would not have been done by coal-burning 
 ships. The use of any other power hut oil is not now in 
 sight. 
 
 203 
 
 ( ? 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE BIG GUN 
 
 Perhaps the most convincing speech I ever read was 
 made impromptu by Admiral Sir Reginald Bacon at a 
 meeting of the Institution of Naval Architects on 
 March 12th, 1913. 
 
 First of all Admiral Bacon disposed of the fallacy 
 brought forward by one of the speakers, as to which is more 
 effective in disabling the enemy, to destroy the structure 
 of the ship or destroy the guns — ^the fact being that both 
 are bound up together — if you utterly destroy the hull of 
 the ship you thereby practically destroy the gun-fire. "^ 
 (This is one of those things so obvious that one greatly 
 wonders how these clever experts lose themselves.) 
 
 Then Admiral Bacon in a most lovely parable disposed 
 of the '* Bow and Arrow Party," who want a lot of small 
 guns instead of, as in the Dreadnought, but one type of 
 gun and that the heaviest gun that can be made. This 
 is Admiral Bacon : — 
 
 " I should like to draw your attention to some advice 
 that was given many years ago by an old Post Captain 
 to a Midshipman. He said, ' Boy, if ever you are dining 
 and after dinner, over the wine, some subject like politics 
 is discussed when men's passions are aroused, if a man 
 
 204 
 
THE BIG GUN 
 
 throws a glass of wine in your face, do not throw a glass 
 of wine in his : Throw the decanter stopper ! ' And that 
 is what we advocates of the Heavy Gun as mounted in 
 the Dreadnought propose to do — not to slop the six- 
 inch shot over the shirt-front of a battleship, but to go 
 for her with the heaviest guns we can get ; and the 
 heavier the explosive charge you can get in your shell 
 and the bigger explosion you can wreak on the structure 
 near the turrets and the conning tower and over the 
 armoured deck the more likely you are to disable that 
 ship. We object most strongly to the fire of the big 
 guns being interfered with by the use of smaller guns 
 at the same time with all the smoke and mess that are 
 engendered by them. The attention of the Observing 
 Officers is distracted ; their sight is to a great extent 
 obliterated, and even the theoretical result of the small 
 guns is not worth the candle. . . . The ordinary six- 
 inch gun in a battleship is, as regards torpedo-boat 
 attack, of just as much use as a stick is to an old gentleman 
 who is being snow-balled : it keeps his enemy at a 
 respectful distance but still within the vulnerable range 
 of the torpedo. In these days the locomotive torpedo 
 can be fired at ranges at which it is absolutely impossible 
 even to hope or think of hitting the Destroyer which 
 fires the torpedoes at you. You may try to do it, but 
 it is quite useless. Very well, then ; the six- inch gun 
 does keep the Destroyer at a longer range than would 
 be the case if the six-inch gun were not there, that's 
 all. . . . Then the problem of speed has been touched 
 upon. I quite see from one point of view that to lose 
 two guns for an extra five-knot speed seems a great loss ; 
 but there is one question which I should like to ask, 
 and that is whether you would send out to sea a whole 
 fleet, the whole strength of the nation, with no single 
 ship of sufficient superior speed to pick up a particular 
 ship of the enemy ? That is the point to rivet your 
 attention upon. We must always in our Navy have 
 
 205 
 
RECORDS 
 
 ships of greatly superior speed to any one particular 
 ship in the enemy's fleet, otherwise over the face of the 
 sea you will have ships of the enemy roaming about 
 that we cannot overhaul and that nothing can touch." 
 
 The above words were spoken by Admiral Bacon two 
 and three-quarter years before Admiral von Spec and 
 his fast Squadron were caught up and destroyed by 
 the British fast Battle Cruisers, " Invincible " and 
 " Inflexible." Admiral Bacon was a prophet ! In other 
 words. Admiral Bacon had Common Sense, and saw 
 the Obvious. 
 
 It's difficult for a shore-going person to realise things 
 obvious to the sailor. For instance : in the case of a 
 Big Gun, if twice two is four, then twice four isn't eight, 
 it's sixteen, and twice eight isn't sixteen, it's sixty-four ; 
 that is to say, the bursting effect of a shell varies with 
 the square. So the bigger the calibre of the gun the 
 more immense is the desolating effect of the shell, and, 
 incidentally, the longer the range at which you hit the 
 enemy. 
 
 The projectile of the 20-inch gun that was ready to 
 be made for H.M.S. " Incomparable ^' weighed over 
 two tonSy and the gun itself weighed 200 tons. Such 
 a projectile, associated with a Howitzer, may effect vast 
 changes in both Sea and Land War, because of the 
 awful and immense craters such shell explosions would 
 effect. 
 
 To illustrate the frightful devastating effect of such 
 huge shell I will tell a story that I heard from a great 
 friend of mine, a Japanese Admiral. He was a Lieu- 
 
 206 
 
THE BIG GUN 
 
 tenant at the time of the Chino- Japanese War. The 
 Chinese vessels mounted very heavy guns. One of 
 their shells burst on the side of the Japanese ship in 
 which my friend was. The Captain sent him down off 
 the bridge to see what had happened, as the ship tottered 
 under the effect of this shell. When he got down on 
 the gun deck, he saw, as it were, the whole side of the 
 ship open to the sea, and not a vestige of any of the 
 crew could he see. They had all been blown to pieces. 
 The only thing he rescued was the uniform cap of his 
 friend, the Lieutenant who was in charge of that division 
 of guns, blown up overhead between the beams. The 
 huge rope mantlets that acted as splinter nettings hung 
 between the guns had utterly disappeared and were 
 resolved into tooth powder ! (so he described it). 
 
 I digress here with an anecdote that comes to my mind 
 and which greatly impressed me with the extraordinary 
 humility of the Japanese mind. I had remonstrated 
 with my Japanese friend as to Admiral Togo not having 
 been suitably rewarded for his wonderful victory over 
 the Russian Admiral Rozhdestvensky. He replied : 
 " Sir, Admiral Togo has received the Second Class of 
 the Order of the Golden Kite ! " We should have made 
 him a Duke straight off ! Togo was made a Count 
 afterwards, but not all at once — for fear, I suppose, of 
 giving him a swelled head. He was a great man, Togo ; 
 he was extremely diffident about accepting the English 
 Order of Merit, and even then he wore the Order the 
 wrong way out, so that the inscription " For Merit " 
 should not be seen. The Mikado asked him, after the 
 
 207 
 
RECORDS 
 
 great battle, to bring to him 'the bravest man in the 
 Fleet ; the Mikado expecting to see a Japanese of some 
 sort. I am told that Admiral Togo brought Admiral 
 Pakenham, who was alongside him during the action. 
 I quite believe it ; but I have always been too shy to 
 ask my friend if it was true. All I know is that I never 
 read better Despatches anywhere than those of Admiral 
 Pakenham. 
 
 Somewhat is said in my " Memories " of the un- 
 mistakable astoundingness of huge bursting charges 
 in the shell of big guns. (I should be sorry to limit the 
 effects to even Geometrical Progression !) I don't 
 think Science has as yet more than mathematically 
 investigated the amazing quality of Detonation. Here is 
 a picture (see opposite p. 176) of only eighteen inch gun 
 shells, such as the Battle Cruiser " Furious " was 
 designed and built to fire. Her guns with their enormous 
 shells were built to make it impossible for the Germans 
 to prevent the Russian Millions from landing on the 
 Pomeranian Coast 1 In this connection I append a 
 rough sketch by Oscar Parkes of a twenty-inch gun 
 ship (see opposite). The sketch will offend the 
 critical eye of my very talented friend, Sir Eustace 
 Tennyson d'Eyncourt, but it's good enough for shoregoing 
 people to give them the idea of what, but for the pro- 
 digious development of Air-craft, would have been as great 
 a New Departure as was the '* Dreadnought." The shells 
 of the " Incomparable " fired from her twenty-inch 
 guns would each have weighed over two tons ! Imagine 
 two tons being hurled by each of these guns to a height 
 
 208 
 
THE BIG GUN 
 
 above the summit of the Matterhorn, or any other moun- 
 tain you like to take, and bursting on its reaching the 
 ground far out of human sight, but yet with exact 
 accuracy as to where it should fall, causing in its ex- 
 plosion a crater somewhat like that of Vesuvius or Mount 
 Etna, and consequently you can then easily imagine the 
 German Army fleeing for its life from Pomerania to 
 Berlin. The '* Furious " (and all her breed) was not 
 built for Salvoes ! They were built for Berlin, and 
 that's why they drew so little water and were built so 
 ^^^ fragile, so as to weigh as little as possible, and so go 
 
 faster. 
 
 It is very silly indeed to build vessels of War so strong 
 as to last a hundred years. They are obsolete in less than 
 ten years. But the Navy is just one mass of Tories ! 
 In the old days a Sailing Line of Battleship never became 
 obsolete ; the winds of Heaven remained as in the days 
 of Noah. I staggered one Old Admiral by telling him 
 that it blew twice as hard now as when he was at sea ; 
 he couldn't go head-to-wind in his day with sails only, 
 now with the wind forty miles against you you can go 
 forty miles dead against it, and therefore the wind is 
 equal to eighty miles an hour. He didn't quite take it 
 in. I heard one First Sea Lord say to the Second Sea 
 Lord, when scandalised at seeing in a new ship a bath- 
 room for the midshipmen, that he never washed when 
 he went to sea and he didn't see why the midshipmen 
 should now 1 But what most upset him was that the 
 seat of the water-closet was mahogany French-polished, 
 instead of good old oak holystoned every morning and 
 
 209 p 
 
RECORDS 
 
 so always nice and damp to sit on. (Another improve- 
 ment is unmentionable !) 
 
 I must not leave this chapter v^ithout expressing my 
 unbounded delight in having to do business with so 
 splendid a man as Major A. G. Hadcock, the Head of 
 the Ordnance Department at the Elswick Works, who 
 fought out single-handed all the difficulties connected 
 with the inception of the eighteen-inch and the twenty- 
 inch guns of the " Furious " and " Incomparable." 
 I have another friend of the same calibre, who has 
 consistently been in the forefront of the Battle for the 
 adoption of the biggest possible gun that could be con- 
 structed — Admiral Sir Sydney Eardley-Wilmot ; he was 
 also the most efficient Chief of the Munitions Department 
 of the Admiralty. When I was gasping with Hadcock 
 over a 20-inch gun, Wilmot had a 22-inch gun ! I 
 really felt small (quite unusual with me !). Now I hope 
 no one is going to quote this line when they review 
 this book : — '* Some men grow great, others only swell." 
 
 210 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 SOME PREDICTIONS 
 
 When I was *' sore let and hindered " in the days of 
 my youth as a young Lieutenant, a cordial hand was 
 always held out to me by Commodore Goodenough. 
 He was killed by the South Sea Islanders with a poisoned 
 arrow. Being on intimate terms with him, I sent him, 
 in 1868, a reasoned statement proving conclusively that 
 masts and sails were damned as the motive power of 
 warships. 
 
 (As a parenthesis I here insert the fact that so late as 
 1896 a distinguished Admiral, on full pay and in active 
 employment, put forward a solemn declaration that unless 
 sixteen sailing vessels were built for the instruction of 
 the Officers and men of the Navy the fighting efficiency 
 of the Fleet would go to the devil.) 
 
 Commodore Goodenough was so impressed by my 
 memorandum that he had a multitude of copies printed 
 and circulated, with the result that they were all burnt 
 and I was damned, and I got a very good talking to by 
 the First Sea Lord. I hadn't the courage of those fine 
 old boys — Bishops Latimer and Ridley — and ran away 
 from the stake. Besides, I wanted to get on. I felt 
 
 211 p 2 
 
RECORDS 
 
 my day had not yet come. Years after, I commanded 
 the " Inflexible," still with masts and sails. She had 
 every sort of wonderful contrivance in engines, electricity, 
 etc. ; but however well we did with them we were accorded 
 no credit. The sails had as much effect upon her in a 
 gale of wind as a fly would have on a hippopotamus in 
 producing any movement. However, we shifted topsails 
 in three minutes and a half and the Admiral wrote home 
 to say the '' Inflexible " was the best ship in the Fleet. 
 Ultimately the masts and sails were taken out of 
 her. 
 
 It was not till I was Director of Naval Ordnance that 
 wooden boarding pikes were done away with. I had a 
 good look round, at the time, to see if there were any 
 bows and arrows left. 
 
 What my retrograde enemies perfectly detested was 
 being called ** the bow and arrow party." When later 
 they fought against me about speed being the first 
 desideratum, the only way I bowled them over was by 
 designating them as " the Snail and Tortoise party." 
 It was always the same lot. They wanted to put on so 
 much armour to make themselves safe in battle that 
 their ideal became like one of the Spithead Forts — ^it 
 could hardly move, it had so much armour on. The 
 great principle of fighting is simplicity, but the way a 
 ^ ship used to be built was that you put into her every- 
 body's fad and everybody's gun, and she sank in the 
 water so much through the weight of all these different 
 fads that she became a tortoise ! The greatest possible 
 speed with the biggest practicable gun was, up to the 
 
 212 
 
SOME PREDICTIONS 
 
 time of aircraft, the acme of sea fighting. Now, there 
 is only one word — " Submersible.** 
 
 But to proceed with another Prediction : 
 The second prediction followed naturally from the 
 first. With machinery being dictated to us as the motive 
 power instead of sails, officers and men would have to 
 become Engineers, and discipline would be better, and 
 so you would not require to have Marines to shoot the 
 sailors in case of mutiny. Now this does sound curious, 
 but again it is so obvious. When the sails were the 
 motive power, the best Petty Officers — ^that is to say, 
 the smartest of the seamen — got their positions, not by 
 good conduct, but by their temerity aloft, and the man 
 who hauled out the weather-earing in reefing topsails 
 in a gale of wind and balanced himself on his stomach 
 on a topsail yard, with the ship in a mountainous sea, 
 was a man you had to have in a leading position, whatever 
 his conduct was. But once the sails were done away 
 with and there was no going aloft, then the whole ship's 
 company became what may be called " good conduct ** 
 men, and could be Marines, or, if you liked to call them 
 so. Sailors. One plan I had was to do away with the 
 sailors ; and another plan I had was to do away with 
 Marines. I plumped for the sailors, though I loved the 
 Marines. 
 
 In December, 1868, 1 predicted and patented a sympa- 
 thetic exploder for submarine mines. In the last 
 year of the war this very invention proved to be the 
 most deadly of all species of submarine mines. 
 
 Quite a different sort of prediction occurs in a letter 
 
 213 
 
RECORDS 
 
 I wrote to Sir Maurice Hankey in 1910, and of which he 
 reminded me in the following letter : 
 
 Letter from Sir M. Hankey, K.C.B. (Secretary to 
 
 THE War Cabinet). 
 
 Offices of the War Cabinet, 
 
 2, Whitehall Gardens, S.W. 
 May 2Sth, 1917. 
 
 My Dear Lord Fisher, 
 
 I am sending your letter along to my wife and asking 
 her to write to you and send both a copy of your letter 
 to me in 1910 about Mr. Asquith's leaving office in 
 November, 1916,^ and also to write to you about your 
 prophecy of war with Germany beginning in 1914, and 
 Sir John Jellicoe being in command of the Grand Fleet 
 when war broke out. 
 
 I have the clearest recollection of the incident. My 
 wife and I had been down to you for a week-end to 
 Kilverstone. You had persuaded us not to go up by the 
 early train on the Monday, and you took us to the rose- 
 garden, where there was a sundial with a charming and 
 interesting inscription. You linked one arm through my 
 wife*s and the other through mine, and walked us round 
 and round the paths, and it was walking thus that you 
 made the extraordinary prophecy — 
 " The War will come in 1914, and Jellicoe will command the 
 Grand Fleet.'" 
 
 I remember that my practical mind revolted against the 
 prophecy, and I pressed you for reasons. You then told 
 us that the Kiel Canal, according to experts whom you 
 had assembled five or six years before to examine this 
 
 * This was said in 191 o, and Mr. Asquith did leave office as here pre- 
 dicted, in November, 1916, six years afterwards I And Sir John 
 Jellicoe took command of the Grand Fleet forty-eight hours before war 
 was declared, and the war with Germany did break out as predicted in 
 1914I 
 
 214 
 
SOME PREDICTIONS 
 
 question, could not be enlarged for the passage of the 
 new German Dreadnoughts before 19 14, and that 
 Germany, though bent on war, would not risk it until 
 this date. As regards Jellicoe, you explained how you 
 yourself had so cast his professional career in such 
 directions as to train him for the post, and, after a brief 
 horoscope of his normal prospects of promotion, you 
 indicated your intention of watching over his career — • 
 as you actually did. 
 
 All this remains vividly in my mind, and I believe in 
 that of my wife, but, as I am not going home for a few 
 days, she shall give you her unbiassed account. 
 
 The calculation itself was an interesting one, but 
 what strikes me now as more remarkable is the " flair '* 
 with which you forecasted with certainty the state of 
 mind of the German Emperor and his advisers, and 
 their intention to go to war the first moment they 
 dared. . . . 
 
 No more now. 
 
 In haste, 
 
 Yours ever, 
 (Signed) M. P. A. Hankey. 
 
 The grounds for my prophecies are stated elsewhere. 
 I won't repeat them here. They really weren't pre- 
 dictions ; they were certainties. 
 
 I remark in passing that what the sundial said was : — 
 
 " Forsitan- Ultima." 
 
 By the way, I was called a sundial once by a vituperative 
 woman whom I didn't know ; she wrote a letter abusing 
 me as an optimist, and sent these lines : — • 
 
 " There he stands amidst the flowers, 
 Counting only sunny hours. 
 Heeding neither rain nor mist, 
 That brazen-faced old optimist." 
 
 215 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Another woman (but I knew her) in sending me some 
 lovely roses to crown the event of a then recent success, 
 sent also some beautiful lines likewise of her own making. 
 She regretted that I preferred a crown of thorns to a 
 crown of the thornless roses she sent me. The rose 
 she alluded to is called " Zephyrine Drouhin,'* and, to 
 me, it is astounding that it is so unknown. It is abso- 
 lutely the only absolute thornless rose ; it has absolutely 
 the sweetest scent of any rose ; it is absolutely the most 
 glorious coloured of all roses ; it blooms more than any 
 rose ; it requires no pruning, and costs less than any rose. 
 I planted these roses when I left the Admiralty in 1910. 
 Somebody told the Naval Attache at Rome, not knowing 
 that he knew me, that I had taken to planting roses, and 
 his remark was : " They'll d — d well have to grow ! " 
 He had served many years with me. 
 
 216 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE BALTIC PROJECT 
 
 Note. — ^This paper was submitted for my consideration by Sir 
 Julian Corbett, in the early autumn of 1914. 
 
 From the shape the war has now taken, it is to be 
 assumed that Germany is trusting for success to a repeti- 
 tion of the methods of Frederick the Great in the Seven 
 Years' War. Not only are the conditions of the present 
 war closely analogous — ^the main difference being that 
 Great Britain and Austria have changed places — but 
 during the last 15 years the German Great General Staff 
 have been producing an elaborate study of these cam- 
 paigns. 
 
 Broadly stated, Frederick's original plan in that war 
 was to meet the hostile coalition with a sudden offensive 
 against Saxony, precisely as the Germans began with 
 France. When that offensive failed, Frederick fell back 
 on a defensive plan under which he used his interior 
 position to deliver violent attacks beyond each of his 
 frontiers successively. By this means he was able for 
 seven years to hold his own against odds practically 
 identical with those which now confront Germany ; and 
 in the end, though he made none of the conquests he 
 
 217 
 
RECORDS 
 
 expected, he was able to secure peace on the basis of the 
 status quo ante and materially to enhance his position in 
 Europe. 
 
 In the present war, so far as it has gone, the same 
 methods promise the same result. Owing to her excellent 
 communications, Germany has been able to employ 
 Frederick's methods with even greater success than he 
 did ; and at present there seems no certain prospect of 
 the Allies being able to overcome them soon enough to 
 ensure that exhaustion will not sap the vigour and 
 cohesion of the coalition. 
 
 The only new condition in favour of the Allies is that 
 the Command of the Sea is now against Germany, and 
 it is possible that its mere passive pressure may avail to 
 bring her to a state of hopeless exhaustion from which 
 we were able to save Frederick in the earlier war. If it 
 is believed that this passive pressure can achieve the 
 desired result within a reasonable time, then there is no 
 reason for changing our present scheme of naval opera- 
 tions. If, on the other hand, we have no sufficient 
 promise of our passive attitude effecting what is required 
 to turn the scale, then it may be well to consider the 
 possibility of bringing our Command of the Sea to bear 
 more actively. 
 
 We have only to go back again to the Seven Years' 
 War to find a means of doing this, which, if feasible 
 under modern conditions y would promise success as 
 surely as it did in the eighteenth century. 
 
 Though Frederick's method succeeded, it was once 
 brought within an ace of failure. From the first he knew 
 
 218 
 
THE BALTIC PROJECT 
 
 that the weak point of his system was his northern 
 frontier. 
 
 He knew that a blow in force from the Baltic could at 
 any time paralyse his power of striking right and left^ and 
 it was in dread of this from Russia that he began by pressing 
 us so hard to provide him with a covering fleet in that sea. 
 
 Owing to our world-wide preoccupations we were 
 never able to provide such a fleet, and the result was that 
 at the end of 1761 the Russians were able to seize the 
 port of Colberg, occupy the greater part of Pomerania, 
 and winter there in preparation for the decisive campaign 
 in the following spring. Frederick's view of his danger 
 is typified in the story that he now took to carrying a phial 
 of poison in his pocket. Owing, however, to the sudden 
 death of the Czarina in the winter the fatal campaign 
 was never fought. Russia made peace and Prussia was 
 saved. 
 
 So critical an episode in the early history of Prussia 
 cannot be without an abiding influence in Berlin. 
 Indeed, it is not too much to say that in a country 
 where military thought tends to dominate naval plans, 
 the main value of the German Fleet must be its ability to 
 keep the command of the Baltic so far in dispute that hostile 
 invasion across it is impossible. 
 
 If then it is considered necessary to adopt a more drastic 
 war plan than that we are now pursuing^ and to seek to 
 revive the fatal stroke of 1761, it is for consideration 
 whether we are able to break down the situation which the 
 German fleet has set up. Are we, in short , in a position 
 to occupy the Baltic in such strength as to enable an adequate 
 
 219 
 
RECORDS 
 
 Russian army to land in the spring on the coast of Pomerania 
 within striking distance of Berlin or so as to threaten the 
 German communications eastward ? 
 
 The first and most obvious difficulty attending such 
 an operation is that it would require the whole of our 
 battle force, and we could not at the same time occupy 
 the North Sea effectively. We should, therefore, lie open 
 to the menace of a counterstroke which might at any time 
 force us to withdraw from the Baltic ; and the only means 
 of preventing this — since the western exit of the Kiel 
 Canal cannot be blocked — 
 
 would he to sow the North Sea with mines on such a scale 
 that naval operations in it would become impossible. 
 
 The objections to such an expedient, both moral and 
 practical, are, of course, very great. The chief moral 
 objection is offence to neutrals. But it is to be observed 
 that they are already suffering severely from the open- 
 sea mining which the Germans inaugurated, and it is 
 possible that, could they be persuaded that carrying the 
 system of open-sea mining to its logical conclusion would 
 expedite the end of the present intolerable conditions, 
 they might be induced to adopt an attitude of acquies- 
 cence. The actual attitude of the northern neutral 
 Powers looks at any rate as if they would be glad to 
 acquiesce in any measure which promised them freedom 
 from their increasing apprehension of Germany's inten- 
 tions. Sweden, at any rate, who would, after Holland, 
 be the greatest sufferer, has recently been ominously 
 reminded of the days when Napoleon forced her into war 
 with us against her will. 
 
 220 
 
THE BALTIC PROJECT 
 
 In this connection it may also be observed that where 
 one belUgerent departs from the rules of civilised war- 
 fare, it is open to the other to take one of two courses. 
 He may secure a moral advantage by refusing to follow 
 a bad lead, or he may seek a physical advantage by 
 forcing the enemy's crime to its utmost consequences. 
 By the half measures we have adopted hitherto in regard to 
 open-sea mines^ we are enjoying neither the one advantage 
 nor the other. 
 
 On the general idea of breaking up the German war 
 plan by operations in the Baltic, it may be recalled that 
 it is not new to us. It was attempted — but a little too 
 late — during Napoleon's Friedland-Eylau campaign. It 
 was again projected in 1854, when our operations in the 
 Great War after Trafalgar, and particularly in the Penin- 
 sula, were still living memories. In that year we sent a 
 Fleet into the Baltic with the idea of covering the landing 
 of a French force within striking distance of Petrograd, 
 which was to act in combination with the Prussian army ; 
 but as Prussia held back, the idea was never carried out. 
 Still, the mere presence of our Fleet — giving colour to 
 the menace — did avail to keep a very large proportion 
 of the Russian strength away from the Crimea, and so 
 materially hastened the successful conclusion of the 
 war. 
 
 On this analogy, it is for consideration whether, even 
 if the suggested operation is not feasible, a menace of 
 carrying it out — concerted with Russia— might not avail 
 seriously to disturb German equilibrium and force her 
 to desperate expedients, even to hazarding a Fleet action 
 
 221 
 
RECORDS 
 
 or to alienating entirely the Scandinavian Powers by 
 drastic measures of precaution. 
 
 \ The risks, of course, must be serious ; but unless we 
 
 are fairly sure that the passive pressure of our Fleet is 
 really bringing Germany to a state of exhaustion, 
 risks must he taken to use our command of the Sea with 
 greater energy ; or, so far as the actual situation promises, 
 we can expect no better issue for the present war than 
 that which the continental coalition was forced to accept 
 
 I in the Seven Years* War. 
 
 Lord Fisher to Mr. Lloyd George. 
 
 36, Berkeley Square, 
 London, 
 
 March 28th, 1917. 
 
 Dear Prime Minister, 
 
 I I hardly liked to go further with my remarks this 
 
 ■ morning, recognising how very valuable your time is, 
 
 but I would have liked to have added how appalling it is 
 that the Germans may now be about to deal a deadly 
 blow to Russia by sending a large German Force by sea 
 from Kiel to take St. Petersburg (which, as the Russian 
 Prime Minister, Stolypin, told me, is the Key of Russia ! 
 All is concentrated there !). And here we | are with our 
 Fleet passive and unable to frustrate this German Sea 
 attack on Russia. All this due to the grievous faulty 
 Naval strategy of not adopting the Baltic Project put 
 before Mr. Asquith in association with the scheme for 
 the British Army advancing along the Belgian Coast, 
 by which we should have re-captured Antwerp, and 
 there would have been no German submarine menace 
 such as now is. An Armada of 612 vessels was con- 
 structed to carry out this policy, thanks to your splendid 
 
 222 
 
THE BALTIC PROJECT 
 
 approval of the cost when you were Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer. 
 
 I. Our Naval Strategy has been unimaginative. 
 
 II. Our shipbuilding Policy has been futile, inasmuch 
 as it has not coped with the German Submarine Menace. 
 
 III. Our Naval Intelligence of the enemy's doings is 
 good for nothing. For it is impossible to conceive there 
 would have been apathy at the Admiralty had it been 
 known how the Germans were building submarines in 
 such numbers — 3 a week, Sir John Jellicoe told us at 
 the War Cabinet. I say 5 a week. 
 
 Yours, etc., > 
 
 (Signed) Fisher. 
 
 28/3/17. 
 
 I append a couple of extracts from Memoranda made 
 by me in 1902, when I was Commander-in-Chief of 
 the Mediterranean Fleet. 
 
 ** Here we see 5,000 of these offensive floating mines 
 laid down off Port Arthur, covering a wider space than 
 the English Channel, and we, so far, have none, nor any 
 vessel yet fitted ! What a scandal ! For a purpose 
 unnecessary to be detailed here, it is absolutely obligatory 
 for us to have these mines instantly for war against 
 Germany. They are an imperative strategic necessity, 
 and must be got at once." 
 
 Automatic Dropping Mines for Ocean Use. 
 
 " The question of the use of these mines as an adjunct 
 to a Battle Fleet in a Fleet action has not been put for- 
 ward so strongly as desirable as compared with their use 
 for preventing ingress or egress to a port. They can be 
 used with facility in the open sea in depths up to 150 
 fathoms. There is no question that they could be em- 
 
 223 
 
RECORDS 
 
 ployed with immense effect to protect the rear of a 
 retreating Fleet. This type of mine is quite different to 
 the blockade mine. They are offensive mines. Is it 
 wise, indeed is it prudent not to acquaint ourselves, by 
 exhaustive trials, what the possibility of such a weapon 
 may be, and how it may be counteracted ? " 
 
 224 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE NAVY IN THE WAR 
 
 ScAPA Flow. 
 
 Ages before the War, but after I became First Sea 
 Lord on Trafalgar Day, 1904, I was sitting locked up in 
 a secluded room that I had mis-appropriated at the 
 Admiralty, looking at a chart of the North Sea, and playing 
 with a pair of compasses, when these thoughts came into 
 my mind ! " Those d — d Germans, if dear old Tirpitz 
 is only far-seeing enough, will multiply means of * dishing ' 
 a blockade by making the life of surface ships near the 
 coast line a burden to them by submarines and destroyers. 
 (At this time the Germans had only one submarine, and 
 she a failure !) Also, as their radius of action grows 
 through the marvellous oil engine, and ' internal com- 
 bustion ' changes the face of sea war, we must have our 
 British Fleet so placed at such a distance from hostile 
 attack that our Force off the Enemy's Coast will cut off 
 his marauders at daylight in the morning on their maraud- 
 ing return." I put that safe distance for the British 
 Fleet on my compasses and swept a circle, and behold it 
 came to a large inland land-locked sheet of water, but 
 there was no name to it on the chart and no soundings 
 
 225 Q 
 
RECORDS 
 
 in it put on the chart. I sent for the Hydrographer, and 
 pointing to the spot, I said : " Bring me the large scale 
 chart. What's its name ? " He didn't know. He would 
 find out. 
 
 He was a d — d long time away, and I rang the bell 
 twice and sent him word each time that I was getting 
 angry! 
 
 When he turned up, he said it hadn't been properly 
 surveyed, and he believed it was called Scapa Flow ! So 
 up went a surveying ship about an hour afterwards, and 
 discovered, though the current raged through the Pent- 
 land Firth at sometimes 14 knots, yet inside this huge 
 secluded basin it was comparatively a stagnant pool ! 
 Wasn't that another proof that we are the ten lost tribes 
 of Israel ? And the Fleet went there forty-eight hours 
 before the War, and a German in the German Fleet 
 wrote to his father to say how it had been intended to 
 torpedo the British Fleet, but it had left unexpectedly 
 sooner for this Northern ** Unknown ! " Also, he said 
 in his letter that Jellicoe's appointment as Admiralissimo 
 was very painful to them as they knew of his extreme 
 skill in the British Naval Manoeuvres of 191 3. Also, 
 thirdly, he added to his Papa that it was a d— d 
 nuisance we had bagged the two Turkish Dreadnoughts 
 in the Tyne the very day they were ready to start, as 
 they belonged to Germany ! 
 
 The mention of Jellicoe reminds me of Yamamoto 
 saying to me that, just before their War with Russia, 
 he had superseded a splendid Admiral loved by his Fleet, 
 because Togo was " just a little better 111" 
 
 226 
 
THE NAVY IN THE WAR 
 
 The superseded man was his own protege^ and Togo 
 wasn't. No wonder these Japanese fight ! 
 
 Prince Fushishima, the Mikado's brother, told me of 
 4,000 of a special company of the bluest blood in Japan, 
 of whom all except four were killed in action or died of 
 wounds — only nine were invalided for sickness. How- 
 ever, I remarked to him we were braver than those 4,000 
 Japanese, because their religion is they go to Heaven if 
 they die for their country, and we are not so sure ! He 
 agreed with me, and gave me a lovely present. 
 
 A Pre- War Prophecy. 
 
 On December the 3rd, 1908, when I was First Sea / 
 Lord of the Admiralty, I hazarded a prophecy (but, of 
 course, I was only doing the obvious !) that should we 
 be led by our anti-Democratic tendencies in High Places, 
 and by Secret Treaties and by Compromising Attendances 
 of Great Military Officers at the French Manoeuvres at 
 Nancy, into a sort of tacit pledge to France to land a 
 British Army in France in a war against Germany, then 
 would come the biggest blow to England she would ever 
 have experienced — ■ not a defeat, because we never 
 succumb — ^but a deadly blow to our economic resources 
 and by the relegation of the British Navy into a '' Sub- 
 sidiary Service." I said in 1908 (and told King Edward 
 so) that the German Emperor would, in such a case, 
 order his generals '* to fight neither with small nor great," 
 but only with the English and wipe them out ! So has it 
 
 227 Q 2 
 
I 
 
 RECORDS 
 
 come to pass, as regards the Emperor giving these orders 
 and his having this desire ! 
 
 The original English Expeditionary Force was but a 
 drop in the Ocean as compared with the German and 
 French millions of soldiers, and the value, though not 
 the gallantry of its exploits, has been greatly over-rated. 
 It was a very long time indeed before the British Army 
 held any considerable portion of the fighting line in 
 France, and instead of being on the seashore, in touch 
 with the British Fleet and with easy access to England, 
 the British Expeditionary Force was by French directions 
 and because of French susceptibilities, stationed far 
 away from the sea, and sandwiched between French 
 troops. We have always been giving in to the suscepti- 
 bilities of others and having none of our own ! The 
 whole war illustrates this statement. The Naval situation 
 in the Mediterranean perhaps exemplifies this more than 
 any other instance ! 
 
 Had the French maintained the defensive in 19 15, it 
 is unquestionable that it would have been the Germans 
 and not the French who would have suffered the bloody 
 losses in the regions of Artois and the Champagne. 
 
 We built up a great Army^ hut we wrecked our ship- 
 building. We ought to have equipped Russia before we 
 equipped our own Armies, for, had we done so, the 
 Russians would never have sustained the appalling losses 
 they did in pitting pikes against rifles and machine-guns. 
 This was the real reason of the Russian Catastrophe — 
 the appalling casualties and the inability of the old regime 
 to supply armaments on the modern scale. Had another 
 
 228 
 
THE NAVY IN THE WAR 
 
 policy been pursued and the British Fleet, with its 
 enormous supremacy, cleared the Baltic of the German 
 Navy and landed a Russian Army on the Pomeranian 
 Coast, then the War would have been won in 191 5 ! 
 Also, as I pointed out in November, 1914, to Lord 
 Kitchener, we ought to have given Bulgaria all she 
 asked of us. When later we offered her these same 
 terms she refused us with derisive laughter ! 
 
 There was no difficulty in all this, but we were pusil- 
 lanimous and we procrastinated. 
 
 We did not equip Russia I WE DID NOT SOW THE 
 NORTH SEA WITH THOUSANDS UPON THOU- 
 SANDS OF MINES, as I advocated in the Autumn of 
 1 9 14, and I bought eight of the fastest ships in the world 
 to lay them down ! This sowing of the North Sea with 
 a multitude of mines would automatically have established 
 a Complete Blockade ! Again, we did not foster Agricul- 
 ture, and we almost ceased building Merchant Ships, 
 and robbed our building yards and machine shops of the 
 most skilled artisans and mechanics in the world to become 
 *' cannon fodder " ! But a wave of unthinking Militarism 
 swept over the country and submerged the Government, 
 and we were in May, 191 8, hard put to it to bring the 
 American Army across the Atlantic as we were so short 
 of shipping. ^ 
 
 It needs not a Soldier to realise that had the British 
 Expeditionary Force of 160,000 men been landed at 
 Antwerp by the British Fleet in August, 191 4 (instead of 
 its occupying a small sector in the midst of the French 
 Army in France), that the War would certainly have 
 
 229 
 
RECORDS 
 
 ended in 191 5. This, in conjunction with the seizure of 
 the Bahic by the British Fleet and the landing of a 
 Russian Army on the Pomeranian Coast would have 
 smashed the Germans. All this was foreshadowed in 
 1908, and the German Emperor kindly gave me the 
 I credit as the Instigator of the Idea so deadly to Germany. 
 
 The " Monstrous " Cruisers so Derided in 
 
 Parliament 
 
 Note. — When I came to the Admiralty as First Sea 
 Lord in October, 19 14 — three months after the War had 
 begun — I obtained the very cordial concurrence and help 
 of Mr. Churchill and Mr. Lloyd George (Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer) in an unparalleled building programme 
 of 612 vessels of types necessary for a Big Offensive 
 in Northern Waters {the decisive theatre of the War). 
 Coal-burning Battleships then under construction were 
 re-designed to burn oil, with great increase of their 
 efficiency and speed, and the last two of these eight Battle- 
 ships were scrapped (the " Renown " and " Repulse "), 
 and, together with three new vessels — ^the " Courageous," 
 " Glorious," and *' Furious " — ^were arranged to have 
 immense speed, heavy guns and unprecedented light 
 draught of water, thus enabling them to fulfil the very 
 work described in this letter below of absolutely disposing 
 of hostile light cruisers and following them into shallow 
 waters. They were also meant for service in the Baltic. 
 
 Ever since their production became known, Naval 
 critics in both Houses of Parliament (quite ignorant 
 of new Naval strategical and tactical requirements) have 
 consistently crabbed these new mighty Engines of War 
 as the emanations of a sick brain, " senile and autocratic I " 
 Hence the value of the following letter from an eye- 
 witness of high rank : 
 
 230 
 
THE NAVY IN THE WAR 
 
 To Lord Fisher from a Naval Officer 
 
 December 12th, IQ17. 
 
 Dear Lord Fisher, 
 
 In the late action in the Heligoland Bight the only 
 heavy ships which could get up with the enemy were the 
 *' Repulse," " Courageous " and ** Glorious " (the 
 ** Renown " and " Furious " were elsewhere).^ They 
 very nearly brought off an important ** coup ! " Without 
 them our light cruisers would not have had a " look in,*' 
 or perhaps would have been *' done in ! " When public 
 speakers desired to decry the work of the Board of which 
 you were a Member in 19 14 and 19 15, and particularly 
 that part of the work for which you were so personally 
 responsible as this new type of heavy ship, no con- 
 demnation was too heavy to heap on your design ! 
 
 It is a pleasure to me, therefore, to be able to let you 
 know that they have fully justified your anticipation of 
 their success. 
 
 I trust you are quite well and will believe me, 
 
 Yours sincerely. 
 
 Lord Fisher to a Friend. 
 
 August 22nd, 1917. 
 
 My Beloved Friend, 
 
 I am scanning the dark horizon for some faint glimmer 
 of the end of the War. Not a sign of a glimmer ! So far 
 as the Germans are concerned, there is indisputable 
 authority for stating that Germany is equal to a seven 
 years' war ! Are we ? So far, alas ! we have had no Nelson, 
 no Napoleon, no Pitt ! The one only ** substantial 
 victory" of ours in the War (and, as Nelson wished, it 
 
 1 These are the five Battle Cruisers built on my return to the 
 Admiralty in 19 14-19 15. 
 
 231 
 
RECORDS 
 
 was not a Victory — it was Annihilation !) was the de- 
 struction of Admiral von Speeds Armada off the Falkland 
 Islands. . . . And the above accomplished under 
 the sole direction of a Septuagenarian First Sea Lord, 
 who was thought mad for denuding the Grand Fleet of 
 our fastest Battle Cruisers to send them 14,000 miles 
 on a supposed wild goose chase. . . . And how I 
 was execrated for inventing the Battle Cruisers ! * Mon- 
 strous Cruisers,'* they called them ! To this day such 
 asses of this kidney calumniate them, and their still more 
 wonderful successors, the *' Repulse," " Renown,** 
 '* Furious," ** Glorious," and " Courageous.** How 
 would they have saved England without these Fast 
 Battle Cruisers ? . . . And yet, dear friend, what comes 
 to the Author of the Scene ? 
 The words of Montaigne ! 
 
 " Qui de nous n'a sa ' terre promise,' 
 Son jour d'extase, 
 Et sa fin en exil ? " 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 (Signed) Fisher. 
 
 Note. — Much talk of a recent mot at a great dinner- 
 table, where society *s hatred of Lord Fisher was freely 
 canvassed, and his retirement (in May 19 15) much ap- 
 plauded. *' I did not know," remarked a statesman, 
 " that Mr. Pitt ever put Lord Nelson on the retired 
 list.** 
 
 The Dreadnought Battle Cruiser. 
 
 The following imaginary dialogue I composed in 1904 
 to illustrate the text that *' Cruisers without high speed 
 and protection are absolutely useless '* : — 
 
 " The * Venus,* an Armoured Cruiser, is approaching 
 her own Fleet at full speed ! 
 
 232 
 
THE NAVY IN THE WAR 
 
 i 
 " Admiral signals to * Venus* : * What have you seen ? * 
 
 *' * Venus ' replies : * Four funnels hull down.' 
 
 *' Admiral : * Well, what was behind ? ' 
 
 " * Venus * replies : * Cannot say ; she must have four 
 knots more speed than I had, and would have caught 
 .me in three hours, so I had to close you at full speed.* 
 
 " Admiral's logical reply : ' You had better pay your 
 ship off and turn over to something that is some good ; 
 you are simply a device for wasting 400 men ! * " 
 
 The deduction is : 
 
 ARMOUR IS VISION. 
 
 So we got out the ** Dreadnought " Battle Cruiser on 
 that basis, and also to fulfil that great Nelsonic idea of 
 having a Squadron of very fast ships to bring on an 
 Action, or overtake and lame a retreating foe. And in 
 the great war this fast " Dreadnought '* Battle Cruiser 
 carried off all the honours. She sank the ** Bliicher " and 
 others, and also Admiral von Spec at the Falkland 
 Islands. 
 
 But the sine qua non in these great Ships must ever be 
 that they carry the Biggest Possible Gun. It was for this 
 reason that the i8-in. gun was introduced in the Autumn 
 of 1914^ and put on board the new Battle Cruiser 
 
 * This i8-in. gun was ordered by me without any of the usual 
 preliminary trials or any reference to any Gunnery Experts whatever. 
 The credit of its great success is due to Major Hadcock, Head of the 
 Elswick Ordnance Manufacturing Department, who also designed the 
 20-in. gun for the fast Battleship Type which was to have been built 
 had I remained at the Admiralty in May, 1915- 
 
 A model of this 20-in. gun Battle Cruiser of 35 knots speed, was got 
 out before I left the Admiralty — three days more they would have 
 started building. 
 
 233 
 
RECORDS 
 
 " Furious " ; and indeed all was completely arranged for 
 20-in. guns being placed in the succeeding proposed 
 Battle Cruisers of immense speed and very light draft of 
 water and possessing the special merit of exceeding rapid 
 construction. 
 
 Alas ! those in authority went back on it 1 It was 
 precisely the same argument that made these same retro- 
 grade Lot's wives go back from oil to coal. Coal, they 
 said, was good enough and was so safe ! Lot's wife 
 thought of her toasted muffins. Notice now especially 
 that if a man is five per cent, before his time he may 
 possibly be accounted a Genius ! but if this same poor 
 devil goes ten per cent, better, then he's voted a Crank. 
 Above that percentage, he is stark staring Mad. 
 
 (N.B. — I have gone through all these percentages !) 
 
 The Way to Victory. 
 Lord Fisher to the Prime Minister. 
 
 House of Lords, 
 
 June 12th, 1917. 
 
 My Dear Prime Minister, 
 
 In November, 19 14, Sir John French came specially 
 from France to attend the War Council to consider a 
 proposal put forward by the Admiralty that the British 
 Army should advance along the sea shore flanked by the 
 British Fleet. Had this proposal been given effect to, the 
 German Submarine Menace would have been deprived 
 of much of its strength, and many Enemy Air Raids on 
 our coast would have been far more difficult. The con- 
 siderations which made me urge this proposal at that 
 time have continuously grown stronger, and to-day I feel 
 it my duty to press upon you the vital necessity of a 
 
 234 
 
THE NAVY IN THE WAR 
 
 joint Naval and Military operation of this kind. I do not 
 feel justified in arguing the Military advantages which 
 are, however, so obvious as to be patent to the whole 
 world, nor the political advantage of getting in touch 
 with Holland along the Scheldt, but solely from a Naval 
 point of view the enterprise is one that ought to be 
 undertaken with all our powers without further delay. 
 The present occasion is peculiarly favourable, as we can 
 call upon the support of the whole American Fleet. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 (Signed) Fisher. 
 
 36, Berkeley Square, 
 London, 
 
 July nth, 1917. 
 
 My Dear Prime Minister, 
 
 In putting before your urgent notice the following two 
 propositions, I have consulted no one, and seen no 
 experts. It is the emanation of my own brain. 
 
 Owing to two years of departmental apathy and incon- 
 ceivable strategical as well as tactical blunders, we 
 are wrongly raided in the air, and being ruined under 
 water. 
 
 I remember a very famous speech of yours where you 
 pointed out that we had been fourteen times " Too 
 Late ! " 
 
 This letter is to persuade you against two more ** Too 
 lates " : 
 
 (i) The Air : 
 You want two ideas carried out : 
 
 (a) A multitude of bombing aircraft made like 
 Ford cars (so therefore very expeditiously 
 obtained thereby). 
 
 (b) The other type of aircraft constantly im- 
 proving to get better fighting qualities. 
 
 The Air is going to win the War owing to the sad 
 and grievous other neglects. 
 
 235 
 
RECORDS 
 
 (2) The Water : 
 
 Here we have a very simple proposition. Now 
 that America has joined us, we have a simply 
 overwhelming sea preponderance] 
 Are you not going to do anything with this ? 
 
 Make the German Fleet fight, and you win the war ! 
 
 How can you make the German Fleet fight ? By 
 undertaking on a huge scale, with an immense Armada of 
 special rapidly-built craft, an operation that threatens 
 the German Fleet's existence ! 
 
 That operation, on the basis in my mind, is one abso- 
 lutely sure of success, because the force employed is so 
 gigantic as to be negligible of fools. 
 
 If you sweep away the German Fleet, you sweep away 
 all else and end the War, as then you have the Baltic clear 
 and a straight run of some 90 miles only from the Pomer- 
 anian Coast to Berlin, and it is the Russian Army we want 
 to enter Berlin, not the English or French. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 (Signed) FisAer. 
 
 Lord Fisher to a Friend. 
 
 February 28th, 1918. 
 
 My Dear Friend, . . . 
 
 Quite recently we lost a golden opportunity of wreck- 
 ing the residue of the German Fleet and wrecking the 
 Kiel Canal, when the main German Fleet went to Riga 
 with the German army embarked in a huge fleet of 
 transports and so requiring all the Destroyers and Sub- 
 marines of Germany to protect it. 
 
 Well, in reply to your question, this is what I would 
 do now : 
 
 I would carry out the policy enunciated in the Print 
 on the Baltic Project which was submitted early in the war^ 
 and again reverted to in my letter to the Prime Minister, 
 dated June 2nd, 1916. Sow the North Sea with mines 
 
 » See Chapter XV. 
 236 
 
THE NAVY IN THE WAR 
 
 as thick as the leaves in Vallombrosa 1 That blocks 
 effectually the Kiel Canal, if continued laying of these 
 mines is always perpetually going on with damnable 
 pertinacity ! Then I guarantee to force a passage into 
 the Baltic in combination with a great Military co- 
 operation, but that co-operation must not be the co- 
 operation of the Walcheren Expedition ! 
 
 " Lord Chatham with his sword drawn 
 Was waiting for Sir Richard Strachan, 
 Sir Richard, longing to be at 'em ! 
 Was waiting for the Earl of Chatham ! " 
 
 It has got to be chiefly a Naval Job ! And the Army 
 will be landed by the Navy ! The Navy will guarantee 
 landing the Army on the Coast of Pomerania and else- 
 where. Three feints, any of which can be turned into 
 a Reality. 
 
 Further in detail I won't go, but I can guarantee suc- 
 cess. 
 
 Have I ever failed yet ? It's an egotistical question, 
 but I never have ! 
 
 What a d — d fool I should be to brag now if I wasn't 
 certain ! 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 (Signed) Fisher. 
 
 P.S. — I have heard some Idiots say that the Baltic 
 Sea is now impregnable because of German mines in 
 it. No earthly System of mines can possibly avoid 
 being destroyed. We can get into the Bahic whenever 
 we like to do so. I guarantee it. 
 
 ** Sow THE North Sea with Mines." 
 (Written in November y 19 14). 
 
 The German policy of laying mines has resuhed in 
 denying our access to their harbours ; has hampered 
 
 237 
 
RECORDS 
 
 our Submarines in their attempts to penetrate into 
 German waters ; and we have lost the latest type of 
 " Dreadnought " (" Audacious ") and many other war 
 vessels and over 70 merchant vessels of various sizes. 
 
 As we have only laid a patch of mines off Ostend (whose 
 position we have notified), the Germans have free access 
 to our coasts to lay fresh mines and to carry out raids and 
 bombardments. 
 
 We have had, to our own immense disadvantage in 
 holding up our coastwise traffic, to extinguish the navi- 
 gation lights on our East Coast, so as to impede German 
 ships laying mines. At times we have had completely to 
 stop our traffic on the East Coast because of German 
 mines ; and the risk is so great that freights in some 
 cases have advanced 75 per cent. — quite apart from 
 shortness of tonnage. 
 
 The Germans have laid mines off the North of Ireland, 
 and may further hamper movements of shipping in the 
 Atlantic. 
 
 The German mine-laying policy has so hindered the 
 movements of the British Fleet, by necessitating wide 
 detours, that to deal with a raid such as the recent Hartle- 
 pool affair involves enormous risks, while at the same 
 time the German Fleet can navigate to our coast with the 
 utmost speed and the utmost confidence. They know 
 that we have laid no mines, and the position, of course, 
 of their own mines is accurately charted by them — 
 indeed we know this as a fact. Our Fleet, on the con- 
 trary, has to confine its movements to deep water, or 
 slowly to grope its way behind mine-sweeping vessels. 
 
 238 
 
THE NAVY IN THE WAR 
 
 There is no option hut to adopt an offensive mine-laying 
 policy. 
 
 It is unfortunate, however, that we have only 4,900 
 mines at present available. On February ist (together 
 with 1,000 mines from Russia) we shall have 9,110, and 
 on March ist we shall have 11,100 mines. This number, 
 however, is quite inadequate, but every effort is being 
 made to get more. Also FAST Mine-Layers are being 
 procured, as the present ones are very slow and their coal 
 supply very small. So at present we can only go very 
 slow in mine-laying ; but carefully selected positions can 
 be proceeded with. 
 
 We must certainly look forward to a big extension 
 of German mine-laying in the Bristol Channel and 
 English Channel and elsewhere, in view of Admiral 
 Tirpitz's recent statements in regard to attacking our 
 commerce. 
 
 Neutral vessels now pick up Pilots at the German island 
 of Sylt, and take goods unimpeded to German ports — 
 ostensibly carrying cotton, but more probably copper, 
 etc., and thus circumventing our economic pressure.^ 
 This would be at once stopped effectually by a mine-laying 
 policy. 
 
 Nor could any German vessels get out to sea at speed as 
 at present ; they would have to go slow, preceded by 
 mine-sweeping vessels, and so would be exposed to attack 
 by our Submarines. 
 
 * The Foreign Ofi&ce would not permit an efficient blockade, and the 
 outrageous release of vessels carrying war- helping cargoes caused intense 
 dissatisfaction in the fleet. No vessels ever passed our chain of Cruisers 
 without detention and examination, 
 
 239 
 
RECORDS 
 
 A Birthday Letter. 
 Lord Fisher to a Friend. 
 
 January 25th, 1918. 
 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 A letter to-day on my birthday from an eminent 
 Engineer, cheers me up by saying that never has France 
 been so vigorously governed as she is now by her present 
 Prime Minister, Clemenceau, and that he is my age, 77. 
 
 The Conduct of the War, both by Sea and Land, has 
 been perilously effete and wanting in Imagination and 
 Audacity since May, 19 15. 
 
 I know these words of mine give you the stomach- 
 ache, but so did Jeremiah the Jews when he kept on 
 telling them in his chapter v., verse 31 : 
 
 ** The prophets prophesy falsely, 
 And the priests [the unfit] bear rule by their 
 
 means, 
 And my people love to have it so. 
 And what will ye do in the end thereof ? " 
 
 (Why ! Send for Jephthah !) 
 
 " And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead '* 
 (who came supplicating, asking him to come back as 
 their captain) 
 
 " Did ye not hate me and expel me ? 
 And why are ye come unto me now when ye are 
 in distress ? " 
 
 And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah : 
 
 *' We turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go 
 with us and fight ! " 
 
 By Sea, when the German Fleet took the German 
 Army to Riga, we had a wonderful sure certainty of 
 destroying the German Fleet and the Kiel Canal, but 
 
 240 
 
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THE NAVY IN THE WAR 
 
 we let it slip because there were risks. (As if war could 
 be conducted without risks !) Considered Rashness in 
 war is Prudence, and Prudence in war is usually a syn- 
 onym for imbecility ! 
 
 Observe the Mediterranean ! The whole Sea Power 
 of France and Italy is collected in the Mediterranean to 
 fight the puny Austrian Fleet, but they haven't fought 
 it. Not only that, but hundreds of vessels of the English 
 Navy are perforce out in the Mediterranean to aid them ; 
 and yet the German ships, " Goeben " and " Breslau," 
 known to be fast, powerful and efficient, emerge from 
 the Dardanelles with impunity and massacre two of our 
 Monitors — never meant to be out there and totally 
 unfitted for such service — and two obsolete British 
 Destroyers have to put up a fight ! But God intervened 
 and sent the ** Goeben " and " Breslau " on top of mines. 
 It was thus the act of God and not the act of our Sea 
 Fools that kept these two powerful German ships from 
 going to the coast of Syria, where they would have 
 played Hell with AUenby and our Palestine Army. 
 
 We have pandered to our Allies from the very be- 
 ginning of the War, and yet practically we find most of 
 the money and have found four million soldiers, and a 
 thousand millions sterling lent to Russia have been 
 lent in vain. 
 
 You know as well as I do that our Expeditionary 
 Force should have been sent in August, 19 14, to Antwerp 
 and not to France ; we should then have held the Belgian 
 Coast and the Scheldt, but this was too tame — ^we were 
 all singing : 
 
 " Malbrook s'en va-t'en guerre ! " 
 
 The Baltic Project was scoffed at, though it had the 
 impregnable sanction of Frederick the Great, and the 
 project was turned down in November, 1914 ; and now 
 the Germans, because of their possession of the Baltic 
 as a German lake, are going to annex all the Islands they 
 
 241 R 
 
RECORDS 
 
 want that command Russia and Sweden, and the Russian 
 Fleet, with its splendid *' Dreadnoughts " and Destroyers 
 disappear and eight British Submarines have been sunk. 
 Ichabod ! 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Fisher. 
 
 The German Submarine Menace. 
 Lord Fisher to a Friend. X 
 
 March 2nd, 1918. 
 
 My Dear " Mr. Faithful," 
 
 You write anxious to have some connected statement 
 in regard to the whole history of the German Submarine 
 Menace. 
 
 Now, the first observation thereon is the oft-repeated 
 indisputable statement that no private person whatever 
 can hope to fight successfully any Public Department. 
 So even if you had the most conclusive evidence of 
 effete apathy such as at first characterised the dealing 
 with this German Submarine Menace, yet you would 
 to the World at large be completely refuted by a rejoinder 
 in Parliament of departmental facts. Nevertheless here 
 is a bit of Naval History. 
 
 In December, 191 5, the Prime Minister (Mr. Asquith) 
 unexpectedly came up to me in the Lobby of the House 
 of Commons, and said he was anxious to consult me 
 about Naval affairs, and he would take an early oppor- 
 tunity of seeing me ! However, he must have been put 
 off this for I never saw him. A month afterwards I 
 pressed him in writing to see Sir John Jellicoe in regard 
 to the paucity both of suitable apparatus and of suitable 
 measures to cope with the German Submarine Menace ; 
 after much opposition the Prime Minister himself sent 
 for Sir John Jellicoe and he appeared before the War 
 Council, This is my Memorandum at that time, dated 
 February 7th, 1916 : 
 
 242 
 
THE NAVY IN THE WAR 
 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 ** I have just heard that, notwithstanding the oppo- 
 sition to it, Sir John JeUicoe will attend the War Council 
 at 11.30 a.m. next Friday. That he may have strength 
 and power to overcome all ' the wiles of the Devil ' is 
 my fervent prayer. 
 
 '* That there has been signal failure since May, 1915, 
 to continue the Great Push previous to that date of 
 building fast Destroyers, fast Submarines, Mine 
 Sweepers and small Craft generally is absolutely indis- 
 putable. 
 
 " Above all, it was criminal folly and inexcusable on 
 the part of the Admiralty to allow skilled workmen 
 (20,000 of them) to be taken away from shipyards. 
 Also it was inexcusable and weak to give up the Admiralty 
 command of steel and other shipbuilding materials. 
 
 " Kitchener instantly cancelled the order to take men 
 from the shipyards when it was attempted by his sub- 
 ordinates while I was First Sea Lord. He saw the folly 
 of it ! 
 
 " Again, deferring the shipbuilding that was in pro- 
 gress was fatuous. I saw myself two fast Monitors 
 (each of them a thousand tons advanced) from which 
 all the workmen had been called off. A few months 
 afterwards there was feverish and wasteful haste to com- 
 plete them. So was it with the five fast big Battle 
 Cruisers of very light draught of water. All similarly 
 delayed. 
 
 " Well ! Jellicoe, a * No Talker,' at the War Council 
 was opposed to a mass of * All Talkers,' so he did not 
 make a good fight ; but when he got back to the Grand 
 Fleet at Scapa Flow he remembered himself and wrote 
 a most excellent Memorandum, which put himself 
 right. 
 
 " However, a wordy war is no use ; nothing but a 
 cataclysm will stop our ' Facilis descensus Averni.' " 
 
 ' 243 R 2 
 
RECORDS 
 
 We must by some political miracle swallow up Korah, 
 Dathan and Abiram and have a fresh lot. In Parliament 
 we have nothing but the stiggestio falsi and the suppressio 
 vert I A little bit of truth skilfully disguised : 
 
 " A truth that's told with bad intent, 
 Beats any lie you can invent." 
 
 In reply to your question with reference to Mr. Bonar 
 Law*s corrected statement in Hansard, the Printer's date 
 at the bottom of the Submarine Paper/ sent to the Prime 
 Minister and First Lord of the Admiralty is January, 
 1 9 14, seven months before the War. 
 
 Yours always, 
 
 Fisher. 
 
 Lord Fisher to Sir Maurice Hankey^ K.C.B., Secretary 
 
 to the War Cabinet. 
 
 19, St. James's Square. 
 My Dear Hankey, 
 
 In reply to your inquiry, my five points of peace 
 (as regards Sea war only) are : 
 
 (i) The German High Sea Fleet to be delivered up 
 intact. 
 
 (2) Ditto, every German Submarine. 
 
 (3) Ditto, Heligoland. 
 
 (4) Ditto, the two flanking islands of Sylt and Borkum. 
 
 (5) No spot of German Territory in the wide world 
 
 to be permitted ! It would infallibly be a 
 Submarine Base. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 (Signed) Fisher, 
 
 October 21st, 1918. 
 
 (Trafalgar Day). 
 
 See Chapter XI. 
 244 
 
THE NAVY IN THE WAR 
 
 Why we were not as relentless in carrying out our 
 Peace requirements at Sea as on Land is positively 
 incomprehensible . 
 
 The German Fleet was not turned over and was after- 
 wards sunk at pleasure by the German crews. I don*t 
 feel at all sure that every German submarine, complete 
 and incomplete, was handed over. Every oil engine 
 ought to have been cleared out of Germany. Through 
 some extraordinary chain of reasoning, absolutely in- 
 comprehensible, the three Islands of Heligoland, Sylt 
 and Borkum were not claimed and occupied. In view 
 of the prodigious development of Aircraft it was impera- 
 tive that these Islands should be in the possession of 
 England. 
 
 All this to me is absolutely astounding. The British 
 Fleet won the War, and the British Fleet didn^t get a 
 single thing it ought to have, excepting the everlasting 
 stigma amongst our Allies, of being fools, in allowing 
 the German Fleet to be sunk under our noses, because 
 we mistook the Germans for gentlemen. 
 
 The Miracle of the Peace 
 
 (that took place at the nth hour of the nth day of the 
 nth Month!) only equalled by the Destruction of 
 Sennacherib's Army, on the night described in the 25th 
 verse of the 19th chapter of Second Book of Kings ! 
 The heading of the chapter is ''An Angel slayeth the 
 Assyrians." 
 
 " That night the Angel of the Lord went forth . . . 
 in the morning behold they were all dead corpses ! " 
 
 245 
 
RECORDS 
 
 A Cabinet Minister, in an article (after the Armistice) 
 in a newspaper, stated that the Allies were ,at their 
 last gasp when the Armistice occurred as it did as a 
 Miracle ! for Marshal Foch had been foiled on the 
 strategic flank by the inability of the American Army 
 to advance and the unavoidable consequences of want of 
 experience in a new Army {immense hut inexperienced — 
 they were slaughtered in hecatombs and died like flies ! ) 
 and so the American advance on the Verdun flank 
 was held up, and Haig therefore had to batter away 
 instead (and well he did it !). And though the British 
 Army entered Mons, yet the German Army was efficient, 
 was undemoralised, and had immense lines of resistance 
 in its rear before reaching the Rhine ! There was no 
 Waterloo, no Sedan, no Trafalgar (though there could 
 have been one on October 21st, 19 18, for the German 
 Naval Mutiny was known ! Sir E. Geddes said so in 
 a Mansion House Speech on November 9th, 19 18). 
 There was no Napoleon — no Nelson ! but " The Angel 
 of the Lord went forth. ..." 
 
 Lord Fisher to a Friend. 
 
 March 2jth, 1918. 
 
 My Dear Blank, 
 
 It has been a most disastrous war for one simple 
 reason — ^that our Navy, with a sea supremacy quite 
 unexampled in the history of the world (we are five 
 times stronger than the enemy) has been relegated into 
 being a ** Subsidiary Service ! ". . . 
 
 246 
 
THE NAVY IN THE WAR 
 
 What crashes we have had ^ 
 
 Tirpitz— Sunk. 
 
 Joffre — Stranded. 
 
 Kitchener — Drowned . 
 
 Lord French — ] 
 
 Lord Jelhcoe— [Made Viscounts. 
 
 Lord Devonport — J 
 
 Fisher — Marooned . 
 
 Sir W. Robertson— The " Eastern Command " in 
 Timbuctoo. 
 
 Bethmann-Hollweg — ]rr. j , 
 Asquith— jTorpedoed. 
 
 Heaven bless you ! I am here walking lo miles a day ! 
 and eating my heart out ! 
 
 And a host of minor prophets promoted. (We don't 
 shoot now ! we promote !) 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 (Signed) Fisher. 
 
 27/3/18. 
 
 To Lord Fisher from an Admirer, 
 
 21st November, 191 8. 
 
 Dear Lord Fisher, 
 
 We are just back after taking part in the most 
 wonderful episode of the war, and my heart is very full, 
 and I feel that the extraordinary surrender of the Flower 
 of the German Fleet is so much due to your marvellous 
 work and insight — in giving England the Fleet she has 
 — ^that I must write you ! 
 
 I suppose the world will never again see such a sight 
 — 2L line of 14 heavy, modern, capital ships, with their 
 guns fore and aft in securing position, in perfect order 
 and keeping good station, quietly giving themselves up 
 without a blow or a murmur. Surely such a humiliating 
 
 247 
 
RECORDS 
 
 and ignominious end could never have been even thought 
 of in all history past or present. 
 
 Had I been in a private ship I would have used every 
 endeavour to get you up to see the final fulfilment of 
 your life*s work. As it is, I can't think it was very gracious 
 of the authorities not to have ensured your presence. 
 But history will give you your due. 
 
 Forgive this effusion, and please don't bother to 
 answer it. But / realise that to-day's victory was yours, 
 and it is iniquitous that you were not here to see it. 
 Your affectionate and devoted admirer. 
 
 To Lord Fisher from Admiral Moresby. 
 
 Fareham, 
 
 July gth, 1918. 
 
 Dear old Friend, 
 
 Just a line. One of our '* Article writing " Admirals 
 sent me one of them on the progress of the war ! Your 
 name was not mentioned, nor your services alluded to ! 
 I returned it, saying it was the play without Hamlet. 
 You might be wrong, or despised, but you could not be 
 ignored. With our Navy revolutionised, Osborne created, 
 obsolete cruisers scrapped, naval base shifted from 
 Portland to Rosyth, Dreadnoughts and Battle Cruisers 
 invented, Falkland Islands victory, and so on, he might 
 as well talk of Rome without Cassar. He replied and said 
 you were an Enigma, and that covered it all ! There is 
 some truth in this, for such are all born leaders of men, 
 from our Master, the greatest Enigma of all" (who made 
 thee thyself, who gave thee power to do these things), 
 down to all who can see what is going on on the other side 
 of the hill. . . . 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 (Signed) J. Moresby. 
 
 248 
 
POSTSCRIPT 
 
 Last night, in finishing off the examination of several 
 boxes of old papers, I came across a forgotten letter 
 written a fortnight after the Battle of Trafalgar from the 
 *' Dreadnought " (which ship participated in the Battle). 
 On mentioning it I was told there was a " Dreadnought '* 
 in the Navy at the time of Henry VIII. I think one of 
 the Docks at Portsmouth dates from that time, and the 
 " Dreadnought " may have been docked in it. I love 
 the delicious little touch at the end of this letter where 
 everyone seals their letters with black wax in memory of 
 Nelson, and the prayer and poetry are lovely. And 
 where his acquaintance in Collingwood's Ship ** had 
 been shortened by the Hand of Death," and 
 
 " Roll softly ye Waves, 
 Blow gently ye Winds 
 
 O'er the bosom of the deep where the bodies of the 
 Heroes rest, until the Great Day, when all that are in 
 their grave shall hear the Voice of the Son of God, 
 when thou O Sea ! shall give up thy dead to Life Im- 
 mortal, and thou O Britain be grateful to thy defenders ! 
 that the Widows and Orphans of thy deceased Warriors 
 be precious in thy sight — Soothe their sorrows, alleviate 
 
 249 
 
RECORDS 
 
 their distresses and provide for their wants by anticipating 
 their wishes." 
 
 (The Straits of Gibrahar the writer spells " Streights") 
 He adds " Our splendid Success has been dearly bought. 
 Our gallant Chief is dead. In the arms of Victory fell 
 the greatest Hero that ever any age or Nation ever 
 produced." '^ 
 
 250 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 LORD fisher's GREAT NAVAL REFORMS 
 
 By W. T. Stead 
 
 " He being dead yet speaketh." — Hebrews xi. 4. 
 
 [The following account of Lord Fisher's Naval Reforms is extracted 
 from The Review of Reviews for February, 1910.] 
 
 I BRIEFLY summarise Lord Fisher's four great reforms : 
 
 1. The introduction of the nucleus crew system. 
 
 2. The redistribution of the fleets in accordance with 
 modern requirements. 
 
 3. The elimination of inefficient fighting vessels from 
 the Active List of the Navy. 
 
 4. The introduction of the all-big-gun type of battle- 
 ship and battleship-cruiser. 
 
 To these four cardinal achievements must be added 
 the system of common entry and training for all executive 
 officers and the institution and development of the Naval 
 War College and the Naval War Staff. 
 
 By the nucleus crew system all our available ships of 
 war are ready for instant mobilisation. From two-fifths 
 to three-fifths of their complement, including all the 
 
 253 
 
RECORDS 
 
 expert and specialist ratings, are on board, so that they 
 are familiar with the ship and her armament. The rest of 
 the crew is held in constant readiness to come on board. 
 Fisher once aired, in after-dinner talk, the daring idea 
 that the time would come when the First Lord of the 
 Admiralty would be supreme over the War Office, and 
 would, as in the days of the Commonwealth, fill up 
 deficiencies in ships' crews by levies from the territorial 
 forces. Landsmen can serve guns as well as sailors. 
 
 The second great revolution was necessitated by the 
 alteration in the centre of international gravity occasioned 
 by the growth of the German Navy. Formerly the 
 Mediterranean Fleet ranked first in importance. Now 
 the Home Fleet concentrates in its four divisions all the 
 best fighting ships we possess. It is hardly too much to 
 say, as M. Hanotaux publicly declared, that Admiral 
 Fisher had, by concentration and redistribution, magnified 
 our fighting naval strength by an amount unparalleled in 
 a hundred years. That the fighting efficiency of the 
 Fleet has been doubled under Fisher's regime is to 
 understate the facts. To say it has been trebled would 
 hardly be over the mark. And what is the most marvel- 
 lous thing of all is that this enormous increase of efficiency 
 was achieved not only without any increase of the 
 estimates, but in spite of a reduction which amounted to 
 nearly five millions sterling — three and a half millions 
 actual and one and a half millions automatic increase 
 checked. 
 
 This great economy was largely achieved by the scrap- 
 ping of ships too weak to fight and too slow to run away. 
 
 254 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 One hundred and fifty obsolete and useless ships were 
 removed from the effective Hst ; some were sold, others 
 were broken up, while a third class were kept in store for 
 contingencies. They were lame ducks, all useless in war, 
 costly in peace, consuming stores, wasting the time of 
 officers and men. The obsolete ships were replaced on 
 foreign stations by vessels which could either fight or 
 fly. . . . 
 
 Of the introduction of the " Dreadnought " and super- 
 " Dreadnoughts " I have already spoken. 
 
 Apart from the above matters of high policy, a number 
 of other reforms or advances have been made during the 
 past five years which are beyond all criticism. Opinions 
 may differ as to the details of some of these services, but 
 there is no dispute as to their immense contribution to 
 the fighting efficiency of the Navy. Some of these may 
 be thus briefly enumerated : 
 
 1. Complete reorganisation of the dockyards. [6,000 
 redundant workmen discharged.] 
 
 2. Improved system of refits of ships, and limitation of 
 number of vessels absent at one time from any fleet for 
 repair. 
 
 3. Introduction of the Royal Fleet Reserve, composed 
 only of ratings who have served for a period of years in 
 the active service. 
 
 4. Improvements of Royal Naval Reserve, by enforcing 
 periodical training on board modern commissioned ships 
 in place of obsolete hulks or shore batteries. 
 
 5. Establishment and extension of Royal Naval Volun- 
 teer Reserve. 
 
 255 
 
RECORDS 
 
 6. The establishment of a service of offensive mines 
 and mine-laying vessels. 
 
 7. The introduction of vessels for defensive mine- 
 sweeping in harbours and on the open sea. 
 
 8. A complete organisation of the service of auxiliary 
 vessels for the fleets in war. 
 
 9. The development of submarines, and the equip- 
 ment of submarine bases and all the necessary auxiliaries. 
 
 10. The proper organisation of the Destroyer Flotillas, 
 with their essential auxiliaries. 
 
 1 1 . The enormous development of wireless telegraphy 
 afloat, the equipment of powerful shore stations round 
 the coast and at the Admiralty, and the introduction of a 
 special corps of operators. 
 
 12. The experimental stage of aerial navigation entered 
 upon. 
 
 13. The foundation of the Royal Naval War College 
 and its development. 
 
 14. The establishment of Signal Schools at each port. 
 
 15. The establishment of a Navigation School. 
 
 16. Enormous advances in the Gunnery training and 
 eflSciency of the Fleet. 
 
 17. Great improvements in torpedoes and in the tor- 
 pedo training. 
 
 18. The introduction of a naval education and training 
 for Engine Room Artificers. 
 
 19. The introduction of the new rating of Mechanician 
 for the Stoker Class for engine-driving duties. 
 
 20. Complete reorganisation of the arrangements for 
 mobilisation, whereby every officer and man is always 
 
 256 
 
APPENDIX I 
 
 detailed by name for his ship on mobilisation, and the 
 mobilisation of the whole fleet can be effected in a few 
 hours. 
 
 21. The introduction of a complete system of intelli- 
 gence of trade movements throughout the world. 
 
 22. The stores of the Fleet put on a modern basis both 
 in the storehouses ashore and those carried in the ships 
 themselves — recognising the far different conditions now 
 obtaining to those of sailing-ship days of long voyages, 
 necessitating larger supplies being carried, and modern 
 conditions of production and supply enabling stores on 
 distant stations and at home being rapidly replenished. 
 Some millions sterling were economised in this way with 
 increased efficiency, as the Fleet was supplied with up- 
 to-date articles ; the only thing that gained by the age of 
 the old system was the rum. 
 
 23. The provision of repair ships, distilling plant, and 
 attendant auxiliaries to all fleets, and the preparation of 
 plans elaborated in a confidential handbook providing 
 for all the auxiliary vessels required in war. 
 
 In addition to all the above reforms great improve- 
 ments have been made in the conditions of service of 
 officers and men, all tending to increase contentment 
 and thereby advance efficiency. Some of these are as 
 
 follows : 
 
 1. The introduction of two-year commissions, in place 
 of three years and often four [so that men were not so 
 long away from their homes and the crews of ships did 
 not get stale]. 
 
 2. Increases of pay to many grades of both officers 
 
 257 s 
 
RECORDS 
 
 and men — as regards Commanders, the only increase 
 since the rank was introduced. 
 
 3. Ship's Bands provided by the Service, and a School 
 of Music established, and foreign musicians abolished. 
 
 4. The long-standing grievances of the men with 
 regard to their victualling removed. Improvements in 
 cooking. Bakeries fitted on board ships. 
 
 5. The Canteen system recognised and taken under 
 Admiralty control, and the old abuses abolished. 
 
 6. The clothing system reformed, and much expense 
 saved to the men. 
 
 7. Great improvements effected in the position of 
 Petty Officers. 
 
 8. An educational test instituted for advancement to 
 Petty Officer. 
 
 9. Increase of pension granted to Chief Petty Officers. 
 
 10. Allotment stoppages abolished. 
 
 11. Allowances paid to men in lieu of victuals when 
 on leave. 
 
 12. Promotions from the ranks to Commissioned 
 Officer introduced. 
 
 13. Warrant rank introduced for the telegraphist, 
 stoker, ship's steward, writer, ship's police, and ship's 
 cook classes. 
 
 I print the foregoing from a return drawn up by an 
 expert familiar with details of the Service. To the 
 general reader they will be chiefly interesting as sug- 
 gesting the immense and multifarious labours of Admiral 
 Fisher. It is not surprising that he found it necessary 
 to start work every morning at four o'clock. 
 
 258 
 
APPENDIX II 
 
APPENDIX II 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF LORD FISHER'S CAREER. 
 Born January 25, 1841, at Rambodde, Ceylon. 
 
 Son of Captain William Fisher, 78th Highlanders, A.D.C. to the 
 Governor of Ceylon, and Sophia, daughter of A. Lambe, of New Bond 
 Street, and granddaughter of Alderman Boydell. His godmother 
 was Lady Wilmot Horton, wife of the Governor of Ceylon ; and his 
 godfather Sir Robert Arbuthnot, Commanding the Forces in Ceylon. 
 
 r 
 
 Entered the Royal Navy, June 13, 1854. 
 
 Received a nomination for the Navy from Admiral Sir William 
 Parker, the last of Nelson's Captains. Joined his first ship, the 
 " Victory," at Portsmouth, on July 12, 1854. The " Victory " was 
 also the last ship to fly his flag as an Admiral, October 20, 1904. 
 
 Served in Russian War, in Baltic (Medal) in " Calcutta " 84 guns. 
 
 Served in the China War, 1856-60, including the capture of Canton 
 and Peiho Forts. (China Medal, Canton and Taku Clasps.) Given 
 command of a small vessel by Admiral Sir James Hope, Commander- 
 in-Chief, the " Coromandel," of which he was acting Captain at the 
 age of 19. 
 
 Also served in "Highflyer," Captain Shadwell ; "Chesapeake," 
 Captain Hilles ; and " Furious," Captain Oliver Jones, Returned 
 home in 1861 from the China Station. 
 
 Lieutenant, November 4, i860. 
 
 In passing for Lieutenant, he won the Beaufort Testimonial ; and 
 was advanced to Mate on January 25, i860, and confirmed as Lieutenant 
 within eleven months. 
 
 261 
 
RECORDS 
 
 March 28, 1863. 
 
 Appointed to H.M.S. " Warrior," Captain the Hon. A. A. Cochrane, 
 the first seagoing ironclad, for gunnery duties. Served in her for three 
 and a half years. 
 
 November 3, 1866. 
 
 Appointed to the Staff of H.M.S. " Excellent," gunnery schoolship, 
 Portsmouth, Captain Arthur W. A. Hood, 
 
 August 2, 1869. 
 Promoted to Commander, and appointed to the China flagship. 
 
 September 19, 1872. 
 
 On returning from China in H.M.S. " Ocean," was appointed to 
 " Excellent " for Torpedo Service. Started the " Vernon " as a Torpedo 
 Schoolship. Visited Fiume to arrange for the purchase of the Whitehead 
 Torpedo. 
 
 October 30, 1874. 
 
 Promoted to Captain, and re-appointed to " Excellent " for torpedo 
 service and instructional duties, remaining until 1876. 
 
 November 16, 1876, 
 
 Appointed for special service in " Hercules," flagship of Vice- Admiral 
 the Hon. Sir James Drummond, Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean. 
 
 March 15, 1877. 
 
 Appointed Flag-Captain to Admiral Sir A. Cooper- Key, Commander- 
 in-Chief, North American Station, in the " Bellerophon." 
 
 June 7, 1878. 
 
 Appointed Flag-Captain to Admiral Sir A. Cooper-Key, Commanding 
 the Particular Service Squadron, in the " Hercules." 
 
 262 
 
APPENDIX II 
 
 January i, 1879. 
 
 Appointed in command of the " Pallas," corvette, on Mediterranean 
 Station, returning home in July. President of a Committee tor the 
 revision of the " Gunnery Manual of the Fleet." 
 
 September 25, 1879. 
 
 Appointed Flag-Captain to Vice-Admiral Sir Leopold M'Clintock, 
 Commander-in-Chief, North American Station, in the " Northampton." 
 
 January 18, 1881. 
 
 Appointed to command the " Inflexible," the largest ship in the 
 
 Navy. 
 
 July II, 1882. 
 
 Took part in the bombardment of Alexandria. Afterwards landed 
 with the Naval Brigade at Alexandria. Arranged for the first 
 " armoured train," and commanded it in various skirmishes with the 
 enemy. 
 
 August 14, 1882. 
 
 Awarded the C.B. for service at Alexandria ; also Egyptian Medal, 
 with Alexandria Clasp ; Khedive's Bronze Star ; Order of Osmanieh, 
 3rd Class ; etc. ^ 
 
 November 9, 1882. 
 Invalided home through illness contracted on active service. 
 
 April 6, 1883. 
 Appointed in command of " Excellent," gunnery schoolship. 
 
 1884. 
 
 Collaborated with Mr. W. T. Stead in the production of " The Truth 
 About the Navy," resulting in increased Navy Estimates and the 
 opening of a new era in the provision of an adequate Fleet. 
 
 263 
 
RECORDS 
 
 November i, 1886. 
 
 Appointed Director of Naval Ordnance, occupying this post four and 
 a half years. Carried out the transfer of the control of naval ordnance 
 from the War Office to the Admiralty. 
 
 August 2, 1890, 
 Promoted to Rear-Admiral. 
 
 May 21, 1891. 
 
 Appointed Admiral-Superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard. 
 Expedited the completion of the " Royal Sovereign," first of a new type 
 of battleships. Acted as host when the French Squadron under Admiral 
 Gervais visited the Dockyard, 1891, 
 
 February i, 1892. 
 
 Appointed Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy, and served 
 in the administrations of Lord George Hamilton, Earl Spencer, and Mr- 
 G. J. Goschen as First Lords ; and Admirals Sir A. Hood, Sir A. H. 
 Hoskins and Sir F. W. Richards as First Sea Lords. During this period 
 the firm stand of the Admiralty Board brought about the resignation 
 of Mr. Gladstone, March 3, 1894. 
 
 May 26, 1894. 
 Appointed K.C.B. 
 
 May 8, 1896. 
 Promoted to Vice- Admiral. 
 
 August 24, 1897. 
 
 Hoisted his flag in H.M.S. " Renown " as Commander-in-Chief, 
 North American Station. 
 
 1899. 
 
 Attended the first Hague Peace Conference as Naval Delegate. 
 
 264 
 
APPENDIX II 
 
 July I, 1899. 
 
 Appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Station, with his 
 flag in the " Renown," remaining in this post until June 2nd, 1902. 
 Admiral Lord Beresford, Second-in-Command, says of this period in 
 his " Memoirs " : " While Vice- Admiral Sir John Fisher was 
 Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, he greatly improved 
 its fighting efficiency. As a result of his representations, the stocks of 
 coal at Malta and Gibraltar were increased, the torpedo flotillas were 
 strengthened, and the new breakwaters at Malta were begun. Some 
 of Sir John Fisher's reforms are confidential ; but among his achieve- 
 ments which became common knowledge, the following are notable : 
 From a 12-knot Fleet with breakdowns, he made a 15-knot Fleet without 
 breakdowns ; introduced long range target practice, and instituted 
 the Challenge Cup for heavy gun shooting ; instituted various war 
 practices for of&cers and men ; invited, with excellent results, of&cers 
 to formulate their opinions upon cruising and battle formation ; drew 
 up complete instructions for torpedo flotillas ; exercised cruisers in 
 towing destroyers and battleships in towing one another, thereby 
 proving the utihty of the device for saving coal in an emergency ; and 
 generally carried into execution Fleet exercises based, not on tradition, 
 but on the probabiUties of war." 
 
 1900. 
 
 Received from the Sultan of Turkey the ist Class of the Order of 
 Osmanieh. 
 
 November 2, 1901. 
 Promoted to Admiral. 
 
 June 5, 1902. 
 
 Returned to the Admiralty as Second Sea Lord, remaining until 
 August 31, 1903, with Lord Selborne, First Lord, and Admiral Lord 
 Walter Kerr, First Sea Lord. 
 
 June 26, 1902. 
 
 Appointed G.C.B. in the Coronation Honours List. 
 
 265 
 
RECORDS 
 
 December 25, 1902. 
 
 Launched new scheme of naval entry and education for officers, 
 with training colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth. 
 
 May 2, 1903. 
 Made his first public speech at the Royal Academy Banquet. 
 
 August 31, 1903. 
 
 Appointed Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth, in order to supervise 
 personally the inauguration of his new education scheme at Osborne 
 College. Also energetically promoted the formation and development 
 of the first British submarine flotilla. 
 
 November 7, 1903. 
 
 Appointed member of Committee with Lord Esher and Colonel Sir 
 George Clarke (Lord Sydenham) to reorganise the War Office on the 
 lines of the Admiralty Board. 
 
 October 21, 1904. 
 
 Appointed First Sea Lord in Lord Selborne's administration, and 
 held this office for five years and three months, the period of his greatest 
 activity and his preparation for a war with Germany. Some of the 
 more notable of his many reforms are dealt with in his " Memories." 
 
 Also appointed, October 21, 1904, First and Principal Naval Aide-de- 
 Camp to King Edward VII. 
 
 December 6, 1904. 
 
 Admiralty Memorandum on the Distribution of the Fleet, introducing 
 nucleus crew system for ships in reserve, and withdrawing obsolete 
 craft from foreign stations. 
 
 January, 1905. 
 
 Committee appointed to inquire into the reorganisation of the 
 dockyards. 
 
 266 
 
APPENDIX II 
 
 March 6, 1905. 
 
 Appointment of Rear- Admiral Percy Scott to newly-created post of 
 Inspector of Target Practice. By this and other means, including 
 the service of Captain J. R. Jellicoe as Director of Naval Ordnance, 
 the marksmanship of the Navy was vastly improved . 
 
 December 4, 1905. 
 
 Awarded the Order of Merit, and promoted by Special Order in 
 Council to be an additional Admiral of the Fleet, thus giving him five 
 more years on the active list in order to carry out his policy. 
 
 February 10, 1906. 
 
 launch of the " Dreadnought," the first all-big-gun and turbine- 
 driven battleship, as recommended by the Admiralty Committee on 
 Design presided over by the First Sea Lord (Sir John Fisher). 
 
 November, 1906. 
 Establishment of the Naval War College at Portsmouth. 
 
 January, 1907. 
 
 Institution of a service of Fleet Auxiliaries — ammunition and store 
 ships, distilling and hospital ships, fleet repair ships, fishing trawlers as, 
 mine sweepers, etc., etc., etc., etc., 
 
 March, 1907. 
 
 Creation of a new Home Fleet, with the " Dreadnought " as flagship 
 for service in the North Sea. 
 
 August, 1907. 
 
 New scheme of advancement and pay of naval ranks and ratings 
 introduced. 
 
 267 
 
RECORDS 
 
 September, 1907, 
 
 Establishment of a wireless telegraphy branch, and installation erected 
 on the Admiralty building. 
 
 November 9, 1907. 
 
 Speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, assuring his countrymen that 
 they could sleep quietly in their beds, and not be disturbed by invasion 
 bogeys. 
 
 June, 1908. 
 
 Visited Reval with King Edward and Queen Alexandra on their 
 visit to the Tsar of Russia. Awarded G.C.V.O. on the conclusion of 
 this cruise. 
 
 June 17, 1908. 
 Created honorary LL.D. of Cambridge University. 
 
 June, 1909. 
 
 Entertained delegates to Imperial Press Conference at a review of 
 the Fleet at Spithead, and a display of submarines, etc. 
 
 December 7, 1909. 
 
 Raised to the peerage as Baron Fisher of Kilverstone, in the County 
 of Norfolk, after the manor bequeathed to his only son by the late 
 Mr. Josiah Vavasseur, C.B. 
 
 January 25, 1910. 
 
 Retired from of&ce of First Sea Lord, and was succeeded by Admiral 
 of the Fleet Sir Arthur Wilson, but remained a member of the Committee 
 of Imperial Defence. Recording his retirement in the First Lord's 
 Memorandum, dated March 4, 1910, Mr. Reginald McKenna said : 
 " The measures which are associated with his name and have been 
 adopted by several successive Governments Avill prove of far-reaching 
 and lasting benefit to the Naval Service and the country." 
 
 268 
 
APPENDIX II 
 
 March lo, 1910. 
 Took the oath and his seat in the House of Lords. 
 
 May 24, 1912. 
 
 Visited at Naples by Mr. Churchill (the new First Lord) and Mr. 
 Asquith (Prime Minister), 
 
 July 30, 1912. 
 
 Appointed Chairman of the Royal Commission on Oil Fuel and Oil 
 Engines for the Navy. 
 
 September 7, 1914. 
 
 Appointed Honorary Colonel of the First Naval Brigade, Royal 
 Naval Division. 
 
 October 30, 1914. 
 Recalled to the Admiralty as First Sea Lord. 
 
 December 8, 1914. 
 
 Victory of Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee over Admiral Count von 
 Spee, due to the prompt dispatch from England of two battle-cruisers 
 immediately on receipt of the news of the Coronel disaster. This 
 was the most decisive battle of the war, the German force being prac- 
 tically annihilated. 
 
 January 24, 1915. 
 
 Action of Sir David Beatty off the Dogger Bank, and sinking of the 
 " Blucher " — another striking success of the battle-cruiser design. 
 
 May 15, 1915. 
 Resignation as First Sea Lord over the Dardanelles question. 
 
 July 5, 1915- 
 Appointed Chairman of the Board of Invention and Research. 
 
 269 
 
RECORDS 
 
 November i6, 191 5. 
 
 First speech in House of Lords, in reference to Mr. Churchill's speech 
 on the previous day, following the latter 's resignation from Cabinet. 
 
 March zi, 1917. 
 
 Second speech in House of Lords, declaring his refusal to discuss 
 Dardanelles report during the war. 
 
 Awarded the Grand Cordon, with Paulownia, of the Japanese Order 
 of the Rising Sun. 
 
 May 5, 1919. 
 Speech at the luncheon to Mr. Josephus Daniels, U.S. Naval Secretary. 
 
 October 21 (Trafalgar Day) 19 19. 
 Publication of " Memories.' 
 
 December 8 (Falkland Islands Day) 1919: 
 Publication of " Records." 
 
 270 
 
INDEX 
 
INDEX 
 
 Action, 45 
 
 Adams, John Couch, 21 
 
 Admiralty House, Portsmouth, 
 
 King Edward's visit to, 24, 25 
 Admiralty policy : replies to 
 
 criticisms, 98 et seq. 
 Alcester, Lord, 30 
 Alderson, General, 54 
 Alexandria, bombardment of, 63, 
 
 256 
 Allan, Sir WiUiam, 8b 
 Allenby, Lord, 241 
 American advance on Verdun, 
 
 246 
 Animated biscuits, 8 
 Arabi Pasha, 30 
 Arbuthnot, Sir Robert, 261 
 Archbishop and the pack of 
 
 cards, the, 32 
 Armoured trains, institution of, 
 
 30 
 Ascension, the, 45 
 Asquith, Rt. Hon. H. H., 65, 
 
 179, 194, 214, 222, 242, 247, 
 
 269 
 Aug6, M., 69 
 Automatic droppmg mines tor 
 
 ocean use, 223-224 
 Aylesford, Lord, 3 
 
 B 
 
 Bacon, Admiral Sir Reginald, 
 128, 181 ; on the big gun, 204- 
 206 
 
 Baker, Mrs., Lord Fisher's cook, 
 25 ; invited to Buckingham 
 Palace by King Edward, 
 ihid, 
 
 Balfour, Rt. Hon. A. J., 56, 66, 
 98 
 
 Balliol College, Oxford, 2 
 
 Baltic project, the, 217 tt aeq., 
 236, 241 
 
 Battle hymn of the American 
 Republic, the, 77, 78 
 
 Beatty, Earl, 269 
 
 Beaufort Testimonial, won by 
 Lord Fisher, 265 
 
 Beaumont, Admiral Sir Lewis, 
 30 
 
 Beilby, Sir George, 66 
 
 Benbow, Sir Henry, letter of, to 
 Lord Fisher, 171 
 
 Beresford, Admiral Lord Charles, 
 on training of officers and 
 men for the Navy, 167-170; 
 260 
 
 Bethmann-Hollweg, Herr von, 
 247 
 
 Bible, the, and other reflections, 
 38 ei seq. ; Wyclif's translation, 
 43 ; Tyndale's, ibid. ; Cover- 
 dale's, 44 ; Authorised, ibid. ; 
 Revised, ihid. ; Cranmer'e 
 " Great Bible," ibid. 
 
 Big gun, the, 204 et aeq. 
 
 Birthday Honours List a serial 
 novel, 73 
 
 Black, Dr. Hugh, 38, 39, 77 
 
 Boar, Mr., 128 
 
 Board of Invention and Research, 
 193, 269 
 
 aaooBSB 
 
 273 
 
INDEX 
 
 Bodmin, ancestral home of the 
 Fishers, 3 
 
 Borden, Sir Robert, and heredi- 
 tary titles in Canada, 72 
 
 Borkum, 245 
 
 Bourke, Mr. Maurice, 95 
 
 Boy dell, Alderman, 1, 261 
 
 Boys, training of, for the Navy, 
 166 
 
 Brampton, Lord, 26, 31, 33 
 
 Brest, blockade of, 6 
 
 Bright, John, 69, 70 
 
 Claverhouae, 78 
 
 Glemenceau, M., 240 
 
 Clive, Lord, 74 
 
 Coastguard, service, the, 120 et 
 
 seq. 
 Coclurane, Captain the Hon. A. A., 
 
 2B2 
 CoUingwood, Admiral, 90, 92 
 Commerce, the submarine and, 
 
 183-185 
 Common entry into the Navy, 
 
 156 et seq. 
 
 British submarines before and Congreve, William, 92 
 
 during the war, 186 
 
 Brodrick, Mr., 83 
 
 Browning, Sir Thomas, 201 
 
 Brutality in the Navy, former, 
 10 
 
 Buonaparte, Napoleon, Arch- 
 bishop Whately, on, 100 
 
 Bumham, the first Lord, 31, 32, 
 33 
 
 "Buying up opportimities," 61 
 et seq. 
 
 Byron, Lord, 4 
 
 Cooper-Key, Admiral Sir A., 262 
 Corbett, Sir Julian, 34 
 Comwallis, Admiral, 6, 90 
 Coronel, 261 
 
 Coverdale, Miles, 42, 43, 44 
 Cowdray, Lord, 196 
 Cranmer's Bible, 43, 44 
 Cromwell, Thomas, 42, 43, 44 
 Currie, General, 74 
 Curzon, Earl, 193 
 
 Cabman's retoit to the Admiral, 
 
 the, 52 
 Ceunpbell-Bannerman, Rt. Hon. 
 
 Sir Henry, 31, 32, 51, 63 
 Canada and hereditary titles. 
 
 Sir Robert Borden on, 73 
 Cape Observatory, the, 124 
 Capri, 41 
 Cawdor, Lord, 98 
 Cawdor memorandtim, the, 107, 
 
 117 
 CMlders, Rt. Hon. Hugh, 56, 139 
 China Seas, an Admiral's unique 
 
 manner of survejdng, 9 
 Chinese, the ingenious, 9 
 Christmas Day joys on a man-of- 
 war, 22 
 Churchill, Rt. Hon. Winston, 86, 
 
 179, 188, 191, 192. 194, 230, 
 
 269, 270 
 Clarke, Sir George, 269 
 
 Dalby, Prof., 193 
 
 Daniels, Mr. Josephus, 79 ; re- 
 port on oil -burning battleships, 
 203, 270 
 
 Davies, Mr., American dentist 
 to the Kaiser, 75 
 
 Dawson, Sir Trevor, 189 
 
 Defects and repairs, 112 ef seq. 
 
 Democracy, 69 ei seq. 
 
 Deterding, Mr., 200, 201 
 
 Devonport, Viscount, 247 
 
 Diesel, Dr., 197 
 
 Dilke, Sir C, 102 
 
 Disraeli, Mr., 20 
 
 Diving methods of the Chinese, 
 9 
 
 Dogger Bank, 269 
 
 ** Dreadnought " and " Invin- 
 cible," the, 109 
 
 Dreekdnought battle cruiser, the, 
 232-233 
 
 Drmnolog, 78 
 
 274 
 
INDEX 
 
 Drurmnond, Admiral the Hon. 
 Sir James, 262 
 
 Friedland-Eylau campaign, 221 
 Friend, Lord Fisher's letter to 
 
 a, 76 
 Fushishima, Prince, 227 
 
 E 
 
 Eardley-Wilmot, Admiral Sir 
 
 Sydney, 210 
 Edison, Mr., 21 
 Edmunds, Mr. Henry, 21, 22 
 Empress of Russia, Dowager, 29 
 " Equal opportunity for all," 
 
 11 et seq. 
 Esher, Lord, 11, 63, 173, 266 
 Essentials of sea fighting, the, 
 
 88 et seq. 
 
 F 
 
 Falkland Islands, 66 
 
 Fisher Baronetcy, lapse of, 2 
 
 Fisher's career. Lord, synopsis of, 
 
 255 et seq. 
 Fisher, Sir Clement, 2, 3 
 Fisher, John, 2 
 Fisher, Rev. John, of Bodmin, 
 
 3 ; four generations of, 4 
 Fisher, Mr. John Arbuthnot, 5, 
 Fisher, Sir Robert, of Packington, 
 
 3 
 Fisher, Sir Robert, 4 
 Fisher, William, father of Lord 
 
 Fisher, 261 
 Fisher, Mary, wife of Lord 
 
 Aylesford, 3 
 Fisher motto, the, 2 
 Fiume, 256 
 " Fleet Street " conspiracy, a, 
 
 101 
 Foch, Marshal, 246 
 Forgiveness, 49 
 *' Free Tank Day," a, 22 
 Frederick the Great and the 
 
 Seven Years' War, 217, 218 
 Freedom of the seas nonsense, 
 
 75 
 French, Lord, 247 
 
 G 
 
 Gallifet, General, 31 
 Gard, Mr., 128 
 Gardiner, Mr. A. G., 11 
 Gaimt, John of, 96 
 Geddes, Sir Eric, 67, 246 
 German Emperor, the, 227, 230 
 German submarine menace, the, 
 
 65, 242 
 Gervais, Admiral, 264 
 Ginsburg, Dr., letter from Lord 
 
 Fisher to, 41 
 Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E., 
 
 final resignation of, 50 et seq., 
 
 264 
 Goodenough, Commodore, 211 
 Gould, Sir F. C, 36 
 Goschen, Rt. Hon. G. J., 264 
 Gracie, Mr., 128 
 -Grafton, Richard, printer of the 
 
 1639 Bible, 38 
 Grant, Sir Hope, 17 
 Graves, Admiral, 7 
 "Great Silent Navy," the, 95, 
 
 96 
 Greenwich Observatory, 124 
 Gunboat, the use of the, 116 
 
 et seq. 
 G unni ng, Miss, wife of two dukes 
 
 and mother of four, 5, 6 
 
 Hadcock, Major A. G., 210, 
 
 233 
 Hamilton, Duke of, 5 
 Hamilton, Lady, 1, 6 
 Hamilton, Lord George, 54, 264 
 Hankey, Sir Maurice P. A., 173 ; 
 
 letter to Lord Fisher, 214-215 ; 
 
 letter of Lord Fisher to, 244 
 Hanotaux, M., 250 
 
 275 
 
INDEX 
 
 Harcourt, Lord, 53 
 
 Harcourt, Rt. Hon. Sir William, 
 
 61, 52, 53 
 Hawke, Admiral, Capt. A. T. 
 
 Mahan on, 91 
 Hawkins, Sir Henry, see Brampton, 
 
 Lord 
 Hay, General, commandant of 
 
 the Hythe School of Musketry, 
 
 17, 18 
 Heligoland Bight, a Naval Officer, 
 
 on the battle of, 230, 245 
 Henderson, Wilfrid, 128 
 Hereditary titles out of date, 73 ; 
 
 Canada and, ibid, 
 Hicks-Beach, Rt. Hon. Sir 
 
 Michael, 51 
 Hillea, Captain, 261 
 Hole, Dean, 65 
 Hood, Captain Arthur W. A., 
 
 262 
 Hood, Sir H., 262, 264 
 Hope, Sir James, 14, 15, 261 
 Hopkins, Sir John, 170 ; letter 
 
 of, to Lord Fisher, ibid. 
 Horton, Lady Wilmot, 4, 261 
 Hoskins, Sir A. H., 264 
 Hostile submarines, 183 
 House of Lords, Lord Fisher's 
 
 speech in, November, 1915, 86 ; 
 
 March 21, 1917, 87 
 How the Great War was carried 
 
 on, 64 et seq. 
 Howe, Julia Ward, 77 
 Hunger and thirst the way to 
 
 Heaven, 10 
 Huxley, T. H., 42 . 
 Hythe School of Musketry, the, 
 17 
 
 Incarnation of Revolution, Lord 
 
 Fisher as the, 20 
 Inge, Dean, 28, 47, 48 
 Ireland under military law, 31 
 
 Jackson, Sir Henry, 128 
 Jellicoe, Viscoimt, 128, 214, 215, 
 223, 226, 242, 243, 247, 267 
 
 JofEre, General, 247 
 *' Jolly and Hustle," 68 e< acq. 
 Jonah's Gourd, 97 et seq. 
 Jones, Captain Oliver, 16, 16, 17, 
 261 
 
 K 
 
 Keble, John, 19 
 
 Kelvin, Lord, 21, 61, 62, 63 
 
 Kerr, Lord Walter, 265 
 
 Kiel Canal, 214, 236, 237, 240 
 
 King Edward, 4, 24 ; charac- 
 teristic thoughtfulness of, 26- 
 27 ; his friendship for Sir Henry 
 Campbell -Bannerman, 32; 67, 
 60, 180, 227, 266, 268 
 
 King WUliam IV, 1 
 
 Kitchener, Lord, 64, 229, 243, 
 247 
 
 Knollys, Lord, 24 
 
 Knox, Sir Ralph, 65 
 
 Krupp, 196, 197, 199 
 
 Labouchere, Mr. Henry, 31, 32 
 Larobe, A., grandfather of Lord 
 
 Fisher, 261 
 Lambe, Sophia, mother of Lord 
 
 Fisher, 261 
 Lane, Jane, 2 
 Latimer, Bishop, 211 
 Laurier, Sir Wilfrid, 73 
 Law, Rt. Hon. Bonar, 244 
 League of Nations nonsense, 76 
 Lectures to officers of the Fleet, 
 
 89 e^ seq. 
 " Let 'em all come," 81 
 Leth bridge. Captain, 11 
 Leverrier, Urbain, 21 
 Lloyd George, Rt. Hon., 77 ; letter 
 
 from Lord Fisher to, 222-223 ; 
 
 230 
 Lloyd's, 125 
 Lochee, Lord, see Robertson, Mr. 
 
 Edmund 
 
 276 
 
INDEX 
 
 "Loop Detection" scheme, the, Morley, Lord, "Life of Glad- 
 
 67 stone," 50 
 
 Lord Mayor's Banquet 1907, the. Motto, a Fisher, 2 
 
 Lord Fisher's speech at, 83 
 Lorebiim, Lord, 31 
 Lucy, Sir Henry, 36, 37 
 
 N 
 
 M 
 
 M'Clintock, Admiral Sir Leopold, 
 
 263 
 McCrea, Admiral, 59 
 MoKechnie, Sir James, 189 
 McKenna, Rt. Hon. Reginald, 
 
 268 
 McTjaughlin, A. C, Professor of 
 History at Chicago, 69, 73, 
 74 
 Madden, Admiral, 128 
 Mahan, Capt. A. T., 90, 91 ; on 
 
 Nelson, 135 
 Marienbad, 29, 30, 32, 34, 36 
 Marlborough, Duke of, 74 
 Masterton-Smith, Sir J. E., 34 
 Memorandum on " OU and its 
 
 Fighting Attributes," 200 
 Men, training of, for the Navy, 
 
 166 
 Mercantile Marine, the, 125 
 Midleton, Lord, see Brodrick, 
 
 Mr, 
 Midshipman and the Admiral, 
 the, Mr. A. G. Gardiner's story 
 of, 11, 12 
 Midshipmen's food, 6 
 Midshipmen past and present, 
 
 comparison between, 7, 8 
 Miller, Captain, 11 
 MitoheU, Dr. Weir, 46 
 Mons, 246 
 *' Monstrous " cruisers, the, 230, 
 
 232 
 Montecuccoli, Admiral Count, 
 Austrian Minister of Marine, 
 180 
 Moresby, Admiral J., 248 
 Morley, Rt. Hon. John, on 
 the Navy, 1893, 135 
 
 Napoleon, 74, 129; Friedland- 
 
 Eylau campaign, 221 ; 231 
 Napoleon III, 179 
 Nargen, Island of, 8 
 National Lifeboat Institution as 
 
 substitute for Coastguard, 123 
 Naval base reforms, 249 et eeq. 
 Naval candidate's essay, a, 171- 
 
 172 
 Naval captain and cavalry colonel, 
 
 17 
 Naval education, 156 et seq. 
 Naval officer, a, on the battle of 
 
 Hehgoland Bight, 230 
 Navigation, ignorance of, in the 
 
 Navy, 19 
 Navy, common entry into, 156 
 
 et seq. 
 Navy in the war, the, 225 et 
 
 seq. 
 Nelson, 1, 6, 19, 81, 83, 129, 
 
 231, 232 ; Capt. A. T. Mahan 
 
 on, 135 ; at Toulon, 136 
 Northbrook, Lord, 30 
 Nucleus crews, 147 
 
 O 
 
 Observatories, 124 et seq. 
 Obsolete vessels, ptirging the 
 
 Navy of, 139 et seq. 
 Officers, training of, for the Navy, 
 
 166; Lord Charles Beresford 
 
 on, 167-170 
 Oil and oU engines, 189 ei seq. 
 on-burning battleships, Mr. Jose- 
 
 phus Daniels' report on, 203 
 Organisation for war, 133 
 
 277 
 
INDEX 
 
 Oabome system of Naval educa- 
 tion, 7, 157, 248 
 
 " Out of date " fighting ships, 
 130 
 
 Paganini, 164 
 
 Page-Roberts, Dr., Dean of Salis- 
 biuy, 49 
 
 Pakenham, Admiral, 110, 208 
 
 Parker, Admiral Sir William, 
 last of Nelson's captains, nomi- 
 nates Lord Fisher for the 
 Navy, 4, 261 
 
 Parkes, Mr. Oscar, 208 
 
 PtkTsons, Hon. Sir Charles, 66, 
 197 
 
 Peace, 74, 75 
 
 Pechili, Gulf of, 16 
 
 Penniless, friendless and forlorn. 
 Lord Fisher's entry into the 
 Navy, 10 
 
 Plumer, General, 173 
 
 Pope, the, and Tyndale, 43, 44 
 
 Pre-war prophecy, a, 227 
 
 Public speeches, 79 e^ seq. 
 
 Purging the Navy of obsolete 
 vessels, 139 et seq. 
 
 Redmond, William, 31 
 Redundant dockyard workmen, 
 
 discharge of, 56, 57 
 Resentment, 46 
 Retrospect, a (July, 1906), 160 
 
 et seq. 
 Reval, 260 
 Rhodes, Cecil, 28 
 Richards, Sir Frederick, 50, 51 ; 
 
 cabman's retort to, 52 ; 264 
 Ridley, Bishop, 211 
 Riga, 236 
 Ripon, Lord, 53 
 Roberts, Lord, 36 
 Robertson, Mr. Edmund, 98, 
 
 101 n. 
 Robertson, Rev. F. W., of 
 
 Brighton, 46, 47, 49 
 Robertson, Sir W., 247 
 Rombulow-Pearse, Lieut., 159 
 Royal Academy Banquet, 1903, 
 
 the. Lord Fisher's speech at, 
 
 79 
 Royal Dutch-Shell Combination, 
 
 the, 201 
 Royal Marines, Lord Charles 
 
 Beresford on the, 168-169 
 Rozhdestvensky, Admiral, 207 
 Rumbold, Sir H. G. M. (Ambas- 
 sador at Vienna), 31, 33 
 Russell, Lord, 31, 32, 33 
 Russian catastrophe, the reason 
 
 of the, 228 
 Russian War, the, 1854-5, 8 
 
 Queen Alexandra, her kindly dis- 
 position, 26; 28, 29, 268 
 Queen Elizabeth, 135 
 Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia, 34 
 Queen Victoria, 30, 65 
 
 B 
 
 Rambodde, Ceylon, Lord Fisher's 
 
 birthplace, 255 
 Redesdale, Lord, 25, 26 
 Redmond, John, 31 
 
 S 
 
 Saintly Naval captain, a, 12, 
 
 13, 14 
 Salisbury, Lord, 54, 65, 88 
 Salt-beef snuH-box, a, 10 
 Samuel, Sir Marcus, 193 
 Sankey, Mr., 77 
 Satanic captain, a, 15 
 Scapa Flow, 225-226, 243 
 Schwab, Mr., 187 
 Schwarzhoff, General Gross von, 
 
 55 
 Science, contempt for, in the 
 
 Navy, 19 
 
 278 
 
INDEX 
 
 Scott, Admiral Percy, 80, 81, 
 
 267 
 Sea of Japan, battle of. 111 
 Sea-giill, a delicacy, 16 
 Secrecy and secretiveness, 93 
 
 et seq. 
 Selborne, Lord, 101 ; letter of 
 Sir John Fisher to, 127 ; 265, 
 266 
 Seven Years' War, the, 217, 
 
 218 222 
 Shadwell, Captain, 12, 13, 14, 
 
 261 
 Shadwell, Sir Lancelot, last 
 Vice-Chancellor of England, 12 
 Shand, Lord, 31, 33 
 Shipbiiilding and dockyard 
 
 workers, 56 et seq. 
 Siegel, Admiral von, 65 
 " Sleep quiet in your beds," 
 speech at Lord Mayor's banquet, 
 1907, 86 
 Smith, Rt. Hon. W. H., 54 
 *' SnaU and Tortoise Party," the, 
 
 212 
 Snuff-box of salt beef, 10 
 Some predictions, 211 
 ** Sow the North Sea with mines," 
 Lord Fisher's advice in 1914, 
 237-239 
 Spee, Admiral von, 66, 206, 
 
 232, 233, 269 
 Spencer, Earl, 50, 61, 62, 264 
 Spencer, Herbert, 42 
 Staal, M. de, 55 
 Standard Oil Trust, America, 
 
 201 
 State education in the Navy, 
 
 160-162 
 Stead, Mr. W. T., 62, 63, 65; 
 on Lord Fisher's great naval 
 reforms, 253 et seq. ; 263 
 Stewart, Mr., " Jolly and Hustle," 
 
 61 
 Stolypin, M., 222 
 Sturdee, Admiral Sir Doveton, 
 
 269 
 Submarine boat, the, 82 
 Submarine and commerce, the, 
 
 183-185 
 Submarines, 173 et seq. 
 Submarines and oil fuel, 179-181 
 
 Submarines, British, before and 
 during the war, 186 
 
 Subsidiary services of war, 148 
 et seq. 
 
 Swan, Mr., inventor of the incan- 
 descent light, 21 
 
 Sydenham, Lord, see Clarke, Sir 
 George. 
 
 Sylt, 245 
 
 T 
 
 Taylor, Bishop Jeremy, 46 
 Tennyson-d'Eyncourt, Sir Eus- 
 
 tace, 208 
 Tepl, monks' colony at, 29 
 Thackeray, 79 
 " The World, the Flesh, and the 
 
 Devil," 33 
 Thomson, Sir J. J., O.M., 65 
 Thurlow, Major, 1 
 Thursfield, Mr, J. R., 160 
 Tirpitz, Admiral von, 225, 247 
 Titles, hereditary, and Canada, 
 
 73 
 Togo, Admiral, 110, 174, 207, 
 
 226, 227 
 Training of boys for the Navy, 
 
 166 
 Training of men for the Navy, 
 
 166 ; Lord Charles Beresford 
 
 on the, 167-170 
 Training of officers for the Navy, 
 
 166, 167-169 
 Tsar of Russia, 268 
 Tweedmouth, Lord, 98, 101 n. 
 Twiss, General, 89 
 Two -Power standard, the, 13, 
 
 105 
 Tyndale, John, 42, 43, 44 
 
 U 
 
 Uruguay, 119 
 
 Use of the gunboat, the, 116 
 e2 seq. 
 
 279 
 
INDEX 
 
 Vavasseur, Mr. Josiah, 268 
 Verdtm, 6 ; American advance 
 
 on, 246 
 "Victory," the, Lord Fisher's 
 
 first and last ship, 4, 5 
 Villeneuve, Admiral, 89 
 Vladivostok, 110, 111 
 
 W 
 
 War, organisation for, 133 
 
 War, subsidiary services of, 148 
 
 et aeq. 
 Warsaw, Napoleon at, 129 
 Watch, a historic, 3 
 Watson, Sir William, 78 
 Way to Victory, the, Lord Fisher's 
 
 letters to the Prime Minister, 
 
 234-236 
 
 Wellington, Lord, 74 
 
 Wesley, John, 46 
 
 Whately, Archbishop, 99, 100 
 
 Whitchurch, Edward, printer of 
 
 the 1539 Bible, 38 
 Whitehead torpedo, 177, 262 
 Wilson, Sir Arthur, 268 
 Wilson, President, 77 
 Winchester, Bishop of, 114 
 Wireless Telegraphy, 82 
 Wotton, Sir Henry, 34 
 Wyclif, John, 42, 43 
 
 Yamamoto, Admiral, 226 
 Yates, Edmund, 31, 32 
 Youthful midshipmen, advantage 
 of 5 7 ; arduous Uves of, 6 
 
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