Westward with the Prince of WalesNewton, W. Douglas (Wilfrid Douglas)
History
Westward with the Prince of Wales
Newton, W. Douglas (Wilfrid Douglas)
Canada -- Description and travel; Windsor, Edward, Duke of, 1894-1972
This was one of the few incidents in a journey made under perfect
weather conditions in a vessel that is one of the "wonder ships" of the
British Navy. The huge _Renown_ had behaved admirably throughout the
passage. She had travelled at a slow speed, for her, most of the time,
but there had been a spell of about an hour when she had worked up to
the prodigious rate of thirty-one knots an hour. Under these test
conditions she had travelled like an express with no more structural
movement than is felt in a well-sprung Pullman carriage.
The Prince had employed his five day's journey by indulging his fancy
for getting to know how things are done. Each day he had spent two
hours in a different part of the ship having its function and mechanism
explained to him by the officer in charge.
As he proved later in Canada when visiting various industrial and
agricultural plants, His Royal Highness has the modern curiosity and
interest for the mechanics of things. Indeed, throughout the journey
he showed a distinct inclination towards people and the work that
ordinary people did, rather than in the contemplation of views however
splendid, and the report that he said at one time, "Oh, Lord, let's cut
all this scenery and get back to towns and crowds," is certainly true
in essence if not in fact.
It was in the beautiful morning of August 11th that the Prince made his
first landfall in the West, and saw in the distance the great curtain
of high rock that makes the grim coast-line of Newfoundland.
For reasons of the _Renown's_ tonnage he had to go into Conception Bay,
one of the many great sacks of inlets that make the island something
that resembles nothing so much as a section of a jig-saw puzzle. The
harbour of St. John's could float _Renown_, but its narrow waters would
not permit her to turn, and the Prince had to transfer his Staff and
baggage to _Dragon_ in order to complete the next stage of the voyage.
Conception Bay is a fjord thrusting its way through the jaws of strong,
sharp hills of red sandstone piled up in broken and stratified masses
above grey slate rock. On these hills cling forests of spruce and
larch in woolly masses that march down the combes to the very water's
edge. It is wild scenery, Scandinavian and picturesque.
In the combes--the "outports" they are called--are the small, scattered
villages of the fishermen. The wooden frame houses have the look of
the packing-case, and though they are bright and toy-like when their
green or red or cinnamon paint is fresh, they are woefully drab when
the weather of several years has had its way with them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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