Part 7 (2/2)
As for endurance, medical research has amply proved the fact that temperance is a great a.s.set in improving the physical qualities, and therefore the endurance, of the human race. As regards straight shooting, which is so largely a question of eye, it is everyone's experience that abstinence is necessary for the highest efficiency.
”If I am going to a rifle meeting in the afternoon,” Vice-Admiral Jellicoe said, ”I don't take a whisky and soda after lunch. If I did, I know I should have no chance of making a possible.”
It was the late Captain Ogilvy who pointed out that efficiency in shooting was thirty per cent. better before the issue of grog than after.
In the Honours' List at the time of the Coronation celebrations a K.C.B. was bestowed on Vice-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, and on November 28th he was given the command of the Second Division of the Home Fleet. There were numerous changes now made at the Admiralty, Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman becoming First Sea Lord in place of Sir Arthur Wilson. With him were H.S.H. Prince Louis of Battenberg and Captain William Pakenham, all men of the new school.
At the time the changes made were considered to be startling. Mr.
Winston Churchill, the new broom, practically made a clean sweep of the old Board. It was a case of putting youth (as youth is counted in the Senior Service) at the helm--and youth had the courage to give youth, allied with experience, a chance--for Mr. Churchill himself was at the time only thirty-seven years of age. Sir Francis Bridgeman was sixty-two, Prince Louis of Battenberg fifty-seven and Captain Pakenham fifty. Jellicoe's age was fifty-two.
Mr. Churchill in his speech in the House of Commons explained that the changes on the Board were necessary, and said it would lead to a more effective working in the interest of administrative efficiency. All former precedents had been observed. As to the question whether the Sea Lords had resigned or been removed he had to say that when he apprised them of the fact that His Majesty had given his a.s.sent to certain changes on the Board they accepted those changes in the true spirit of the Naval Service.
CHAPTER IX
1911-1913
In December of 1911 Vice-Admiral Jellicoe was back in Gibraltar, which thanks to the presence of the Fleet and its Commander's popularity experienced quite the most successful season it had ever known. The American cruiser _Chester_ was in port and did her share in the round of b.a.l.l.s, dinners and sports which were held. The Gibraltar Jockey Club held its winter meeting on the picturesque North Front racecourse and attracted a remarkable and cosmopolitan gathering.
It was on December 13th that the Peninsular and Oriental steamer _Delhi_, conveying the Princess Royal and the Duke of Fife and their family to Egypt, ran ash.o.r.e on the Moroccan coast off Cape Spartel.
The _Delhi_ left London on December 8th, and just outside the Straits of Gibraltar she encountered a terrific gale.
The Atlantic Fleet should have left the Rock on the thirteenth, but when news was received of the disaster Jellicoe immediately sent battles.h.i.+ps and cruisers to the a.s.sistance of the _Delhi_.
Great anxiety had been felt at Gibraltar throughout the previous night at the non-arrival of the _Delhi_, which was due the previous day, and arrangements had been made by the Governor and Admiral Jellicoe to visit the Princess.
The French cruiser _Friant_ was the first to learn of the wreck, by wireless, and she was immediately sent to the scene: the sea was running very high, but at ten o'clock in the morning a steam launch put out from the _Friant_ and succeeded in taking off twenty women and children and transferring them to the cruiser _Duke of Edinburgh_, which had arrived.
The gale increased in violence, but once again the _Friant's_ launch attempted to cross the boiling waters and rescue more of the _Delhi's_ pa.s.sengers. The heavy seas, however, put out her fires and drove her ash.o.r.e; nevertheless her plucky French sailors re-lit the fires and again launched their boat. But the breakers soon capsized her and threw her crew into the water, three of whom were drowned.
Towards the afternoon the seas went down and the British cruisers managed to establish communication between the _Delhi_ and the sh.o.r.e.
Admiral Cradock was able to reach the _Delhi_ in his pinnace and took off the Princess Royal and the Duke of Fife and put them ash.o.r.e. But in landing they were nearly swept away and only reached the beach after a desperate struggle.
Eventually, all the pa.s.sengers were safely got off the _Delhi_, and though part of her cargo was saved--including bullion to the extent of 500,000 which she was bringing back from India--she became a total wreck.
Admiral Jellicoe reached England in time to meet the King and Queen on their return from India, in the New Year; and in command of the Second Division of the Home Fleet he had the honour of escorting their Majesties--in the _Medina_--up the English Channel.
The s.h.i.+ps under Jellicoe's command which performed this duty were the _Agamemnon_, _Colossus_, _Hercules_, _Lord Nelson_, _Britannia_, _Dominion_, _Hindustan_ and _Orion_, together with five cruisers.
Early in February Admiral Jellicoe had the honour of being received by His Majesty at Buckingham Palace, when the King invested him with the insignia of a Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath.
At this time Mr. Arnold White wrote a very interesting appreciation of Jellicoe which appeared in _The Throne_ and which in many respects was almost prophetic. The article was headed ”The Man and the Moment,” and in referring to the task which would confront Admiral Jellicoe--if war ever broke out--as Commander of the British forces at sea, he wrote as follows:
”Vice-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe is the Emir upon whom our rulers have thrust the heaviest responsibility that rests on the shoulders of any man born of a woman. He is the man who has been told off to the job of commanding the British forces at sea when war breaks out.
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