New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-04-02


ships Of the line. and his last as vice-admiraI
and commander in chief of a fleet of modern
steel battIeships and cruisers on the China sta
ton during the ChinO-Japanese War His
career thus forms living link between the old
navy and the new. and his book is as instructive
In illustrating the development Of naval sci
ence during the last half OF the nineteenth
century it is entertaining. While he natural
" writes with tinge Of regret Of the passing
OF the good old days OF the sailing ships when
seamanshiD was the first requisite OF naval
officer. It Is apparent that he was quick to
adapt himself to the inevitable changes which
he was too close student Of naval affairs not
to foresee. He quotes with approval President
ROoSevelts words, TN future, every naval OFF,
Ger must be fighting engineer" and believes
that the action Of the Admiralty under Lord
SeIbOrne and Sir John Fisher. in adopting this
view. els Of good augury for our future seamen
being up to date and efficient"
It is easy to gather from what he writes that
Admiral Fremantle was strict disciphnarian
and expected from his subOrdinates the same
high standard that he set up for himself Yet
when. on the Australian station in command OF
the Eclipse, he was assigned willing but in
experienced and incompetent navigating officer.
he did not report him. but assumed the duties
Of navigator himself. He had a constitutional
and professional objection to pilots, and dis
pensed with their services on all possible oeca-
siOns. taking the entire responsibility on his
own shoulders and thereby largely increasing the
income Of his navigating officers, who were en-
titled to reduced pilotage fees. He seems, even
by his own account. to have taken many risks
but he never lost ship. and on the only Oeea-
sion when he was court martialled for running
aground he was triumphantly acquitted IN
dOubtedIy he is of daring and impulsive nat
ure This impulsiveness is shown in his fire.
quent rescues Of drowning men. for which he
received many medals and a great deal of official
criticism. which did not bother him in the least
On one occasion he jumped from his bath
through portfolio. at the cry Of man over
board" and another, plunged from the bridge
in full unifc1. N to drowning sailor. This
he accomplished. with assistance; but the ques-
ton of a captain leaving his ship to save a man
was raised and was the subject of much contrO-
versy. AS for his own cOn'hIct. he states that
it was impossible for him to resist the impulse.
and has this to say in regard to the subject at
large:
1t 1.-THE impuIseI is born in one; suppose; and I
doubt if one really deserves much eredt for II u
credit there is it is in perSistin IN the eroI aIter
the first impulse has exhausted Itself Possibly
stances in which have Jumped overheard 10
as they found themselves in the water.
Another favOrfte enterprise of the authors
was the saving of wrecked vessels. which he re-
garded as of great Institutional value in sea
manship practice. At the same time. he depTe-
Gates the present ruling of the Admiralty that
salvage money is not to be allowed in such cases.
nor even extra pay to the men who have risked
their lives and spoiled their clothing in the ef-
fort There is even a suggestion that in the case
of an abandoned vessel the fact that total
loss would often prove more profitable to the
owners than a partial one has not been without
influence in exciting maritime public opinion on
the subject, and so indefinabIy and unconscious
~ perhaps stimulated official action Admiral
Fremantle has more than the sailors won't
ed impotence of departmental red tapeism, ard
it was his custom, when emergency arose, 10
act first and to demand approval afterward
This was generally though sometimes grudg-
ingly. given; yet in more than one instance i'm
portant reforms in naval methods appear 20
nave resulted from his insistent and uncOm-
promising attitude in regard to matters where
his practical experience and keen sense of JUS
tice were involved
1t is hard TO tell whether the authors recollec-
tions of the old days of the navy or his later ex-
periences with modern battIeship squadrons are
the more interesting When he entered the navy
the preliminary examination were largely a
farce. the question put to him in what The ex-
aminer pleased to call the rule of three
being. IF yard OF cloth costs Is I'd how much
I A.