Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-11-04
GREATEST NAVAL HONOR
IS SIGNAL WELL Done
Joseph Conrad Writes About Won
dcrful Work Of Great Britain's
Merchant Marine.
MEETS ALL EXPECTATIONS
Crews Essentially British Before
fSD4-AIajority of Foreigners
Scandinayians, Who Made Excel
lent Scnmcn-Thief ON Board.

IL can DC safely SH10 tnat Tor tha last
nave done well. mean that every
Kind and sort OF human being classihea
trtman. lamp-trimmer mate, master
and ALI through the innumerabie ratings
~ the navy up TO that OF aumiral has
done well. don't say mnrvelously we'll
Or iniraculously well or wonderfully
we'll or even very we'll because these
overstaterncnls Of undisciplined minds.
don't deny that a man may be a mar
DE discovered in his lifetime. and not
niw .,:H.io eyen AFTER he + dead Man,s
cause the secrets Of Tue heart ar no.
TO be read by his fellows. As 70 u
@ a highest e ,ha' IS e acne be %f sd 'ns
can do well. and you can do no more
for peopis to see. II the nayy' mhsre
stood. the highest signal Of commcnda-
ti2n coinplemcnting u snip ttiiat IS q
words. Wen done" followed by he
done, tstonishinSly done, wonderfuiiy
Ionc-no only just
Well done. so ana So.
And 10 tho men IL is n matter Of
Infinite prize mat somebody should
M "aEe ths hsy lave 9 e Gon w afD 1 Is
memorable occurrence. for in the sea
service you are expected professionally
because nothing less will do. AMI In
, sobfr speech no man can be expected
i
are mere signs OF uniformed wonder.
Thus the ofnciai signal which can ex--
tTs 6eeomes gfsas h snsae OF
Cor. perhaps. l ought 10 say civilian.
in my mind may say that | have
never. expected the merchant service 10
not feel The same confidence. nav. who
collapse OF inerchan, seamen's Courage ts.e
must admit that such pronouncement
f have stress oee abis to In a.s, ms
craven hearty In the ships' companies
w5h W9 But havs 4e aerysd II vlr P.d
icK lie sea in s4. ' twenty 'S Wears I be1
io ne outbreak Of the war; tina, was
ie,eriorated, said ,unyiiiingly 10 my
articles had read about the great
m ,,l rnnar, Of loresigners IN the British
how FAR they E wers ' iuH,i.ied a''" N"'"
In my time the proportion Of nom
,n ,;ns, In the crews of the shlp5
one-third. which. as 4 matter FOR fact
VA less than tho proportion allowed
ton laws for the crews Of the ships
OF 'nat nation. ror the strictcst laws
aiming AZ the preservation OF national
seamcn had 10 recognize the Difficult
les "i nlannIns merchant ships nii over
.aw scened to be The irreducibe mini
mum. But The British proportion Vas
S Sn 70 ig IS. Thus !, may be said 'na,
crews Of British merchant ships en-
sased in deep water voyages to AUS
irali;i, To East Indies and round thu.
Horn were essentially Bri,ish. 'The
small proportion Of foreigners which /
remember were mostly >Scandinavians
ma my general impression rem ihs
that those men were good stun. They
atppear.d always able and ready {" do
Their duty by the flag under which
they served. The majority were Nor
"eGianS, whose courage and straight
ness OF character are matters beyond
] remember also a couple OF Films.
beth carpenters. OF course. and very
good craftsmen; Swede. the most
scientific saiimakcr ever met; another
have been call ed a British seaman since
he had sailed out Of London for over
one ltaiian. an eve!!ast!nsiy smiling
Hu, a pnsnacions character: one
,irs!ess and mdomtable under very
difficult circumstances. and in all those
years also one ioilandcr. whose placid
manner Of looking AT the ship goin,;
forget. and one young, colorlesS. mus
cnlarly very strong German of no par
ticular character.
az European crews I.ascars and
halashes. | have had very little expert
rnce. and that VAS only in one steam
Ihip and Tor something less than a yea.
II was on the same occa sion that | had
my only sigh; OF Chinese iremen
Sigh. Is he exact word. On" didn't
along the decks. 10 and fro. character
istic hsureS with rolled-up pigtails.
very Srtiny when coming or duty and
very ciean-faced when coming on duty.
They never looked at anybody. and one
never had occasion 10 address them
directly. Their appearances in the
light Of day were Very regular and Vet
somewhat Ghostlike in their dctacii-
men, and silence.
TRIP INTO ETERNITY
l;ut of the white crews Of British
ShipS and almost exclusively British, in
blood and descent the immediate pre-
decessors OF the men whose worth the
nations has discovered for itself day.
] have had II thorough experience. At
nrst amongst them. then with them.
! shared al! the conditions OF their very
special life. For II was very speciai.
In my early days. starting out Oh voy-
age was like being launched into eter.
Of space. because of that bopndless
silence which swallowed up DYE for
eighty days--for 100 days--for $50 days.
and even Yet more days Of an exist
encc without echoes and whispers Like
eternity itself: For one can't conceive
. vocal eternity. Enormous silences.
III winch there WIS nothing to connec;
one with the universe but the incessant
wheeling about OF the sun and other
and shadow, oternally chasing each
other over the sky. The time Of the
earth though most carefully procla lined
by the hour-hourly bells. did not count
in reality.
II was q special life. and the men
were "a very special kind OF men. by
,hi* ] don't mean to say they, We're
more complex than tho generality OF
nankind Neither were they very
much simpler. ! have already adj
turc and no doubt those particular
men were marvelously enough in their
way But in their collective capacity
they, can be best defined as men who
lived under the command to do WELL or
perish utterly. have written OF them
viii all the impartia,itv o (which
with all the impartiality if which
was capable Let me not be misunder-
stood in this statement. Affection can
| be-. very exacting. and can easily miss
fairness on the critical side. have
, looked upon them with q jealous eye.
expecting perhaps even more than il
was strictly fair TO expect. And no
wonder. since l had elected to be one
OF them very deliberately very com
pletcly. without any looking back or
looking elsewhere.
The circumstances were such as to
| give me the feeling OF complete idcnu-
fcation, very vivid comprehension