The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1918-08-06
FROM ALL SOURCES
Britain Gathered Small Boats for
Tigris Service.
Even Small Excursion Vessels That
Were q Feature Of Outings on
the Thames Were Made We
OF In Mesepetamia.

River boats for the Tigris were an
absolute, primary necessity. They
could not be bullt In Mesopotamia or
anywhere else In time to relieve the
desperate situation. They could not
be materlalized by the wave Of any
magician's wand. Well, what theni
Then they would have to come out Of
other rivers otherwbere and make
their various ways somehow-Do mat
ter how!-acrosy the seas and up
through the Persian gulf, writes e.
eapor. franklin Egan In Saturday
Evening Post.
They were requisltioned from the
Ganges and the Indus and the Ira.
waii, from the Nile and the rivers OF
Africa, and even from the Sikiang.
the Yang-tse and the Hwang-hO.
From everywhere they have come; 1t
has been one Of the bravest and
strangest achievements of the war,
and one hears with feeling Of espe-
cially chill regret that more than
eighty Of the ships have failed to ar
rive. A few from everywhere have
gone-along with the high hopes Of
British sailors, and usually with the
sailors, too-to the bottom OF the
seas they were never made to ven
ture on.
But the Thames penny ssteamers
Where II II you 60 on the Thames
penny steamersi To Richmond? To
Putney? To Healey? 10 queer little
landings here and there round Lon
don where crowds Of people gather
on gala days ard where happy sum-
mer memories are made? Yes, to
places like that. There is q holiday
sound In the very name-Thames
penny steamer. And l wonder II
there are many Englishmen with nc
memories to make that sound music
in their earsf
But the Thames penny steamers
| too, were needed on the Tigris to help
meet the tremendous emergency. Sc
bravely they set out. Eleven Of then
started, but only Ave Of them achieved
the impossible. Five of them got tt
the Tlgris and are now listed by mum
ber in the great feet under class
initial, though I think ought to ado
that by British officers and men the!
are especially identified and espe
cially loved.
As watched the curious. lat-bot
toned, high funnsled, double decked
paddle wheeled little craft churnln
briskly- downstream with her tw
crowded barges in tow 1 was seein
visions Of the kind of heroism this
makes one prayerful. I saw first tn
matter Of fact. nonchalant Britis
sailors on her frsil decks preparin
for such q voyage rs was never be
fore undertaken; then saw her-he
sides boarded up and her one-tim
spick and spannsss begrimed witt
the coal that had to be slowed in ev
cry possible space-mOving out OF tn
snug security Of the busy, busting
city bounded Thames into the oper
high rolling Atlantic. followed he
course across the perilous Bay Of Bis
cay and saw her creep down the lon
coasts Of Portugal and Spain an
through the strait past Gibraltar.
After Gibraltar Would come hope
full. careful, long crawl across tn
mine strewn and submarine infeste
Mediterranean. Port Said in safety
Then the Suez canal-cOntributing
brief period of yelaxation-the Re
sea, the Arabian sea, the Persia
gulf, and fnally--with what a sig
Of relief-the broad current Of tn
Shat-el.Arab and the almost ripple
less serenity Of tb. blessed Tigris!
don't know What happened to th
six that failed. bat one hears thu
"their backs were broken by the hig
seas" That was the chief danger the
all had to face: they and the hui
dreds Of others f.om other farawa
rivers, too. Eighty Of the others wer
down and six of the Thames boat
Eghty-six! They should be homo
ably counted among England's homo
able losses at sen, and they nevt
have been.