Memories, by Admiral of the Fleet, Lord FisherFisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, Baron
History
Memories, by Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Fisher
Fisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, Baron
Admirals -- Great Britain -- Biography; Fisher, John Arbuthnot Fisher, Baron, 1841-1920; Great Britain. Royal Navy
I was suddenly recalled to England and left him with very deep regret
in the West Indies to become Captain of the “Inflexible.” I had the
most trying parting from that ship’s company of the “Northampton”;
and not being able to stand the good-bye, I crept unseen into a shore
boat and got on board the mail steamer before the crew found out that
the Captain had left the ship. And the fine old Captain of the Mail
Steamer--Robert Woolward by name--caught the microbe and steamed me
round and round my late ship. He was a great character. Every Captain
of a merchant ship I meet I seem to think better than the last (I hope
I shan’t forget later on to describe Commodore Haddock of the White
Star Line, for if ever there was a Nelson of the Merchant Service he
was). But I return to Woolward. He had been all his life in the same
line of steamers, and he showed me some of his correspondence, which
was lovely. He was invariably in the right and his Board of Directors
were invariably in the wrong. I saw a lovely letter he had written that
very day that I went on board, to his Board of Directors. He signed
himself in the letter as follows:--
“Gentlemen, I am your obedient humble servant” (he was neither),
“ROBERT WOOLWARD--Forty years in your employ and never did right
yet.”
I must, while I have the chance, say a few words about my friend
Haddock. It was a splendid Captain in the White Star steamer in
which I crossed to America in 1910, and I remarked this to my Cabin
Steward, as a matter of conversation. “Ah!” he said, “you should see
’addick.” Then he added “We knows him as ’addick of the ‘Oceanic.’
Yes,” he said, “and Mr. Ismay (the Head of the White Star Line) knows
him too!” The “Oceanic” was Mr. Ismay’s last feat in narrowness and
length and consequent speed for crossing the Atlantic. I have heard
that when he was dying he went to see her. This conversation never left
my mind, although it was only the cabin steward that told me; but he
was an uncommon good steward. So when I came back to the Admiralty as
First Sea Lord on October 31st, 1914, I at once got hold of Haddock,
made him into a Commodore, and he commanded the finest fleet of dummy
wooden “Dreadnoughts” and Battle Cruisers the world had ever looked on,
and they agitated the Atlantic, and the “Queen Elizabeth” in wood got
blown up by the Germans at the Dardanelles instead of the real one.
The Germans left the other battleships alone chasing the “Elizabeth.”
If this should meet the eye of Haddock, I want to tell him that, had I
remained, he would have been Sir Herbert Haddock, K.C.B., or I’d have
died in the attempt.
* * * * *
Now you have got perhaps not all you want, but sufficient for the Notes
to follow here.
THE “WARRIOR”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account