Oct. 21.
The Courageous had been sunk. Lieut. C. Lamb, of the Fleet Air Arm, was swimming about waiting to be picked up, when a head bobbed up at his side, "Charles, this may be your opportunity to get married" said a voice, "I hope I shall be able to perform the ceremony." It was the chaplain, Capt. the Rev. B. G. Beale, The wedding actually took place on September 21. The chaplain's wish was not fulfilled, however, for, though saved too, he was unable to be present. To those who cannot understand the British character it will come as a surprise that two men having just escaped from a catastrophe which might have cost them their lives, and not yet restored to the safety of solid land, should be discussing something entirely different from the blow which had been struck fat them, Here is another tale from the sinking of the same vessel, told by Stoker Harry Fletcher:—"We were heeling over fast. 1 Jeapt for it. My arm was struck by a rope and my shoulder dislocated. T swam about in the choppy sea for about two hours using only one arm. Another member of the crew came near with a life belt. He passed it over to mo, and swam on. He must have been great fellow." He must be a great fellow, another of those unsung heroes in whom the spirit of Sir Philip Sidney still lives. Flet= cher's need was greater than his; he handed fever the life belt and swam on. This may seem u strange way of prefacing the state~ ment that today is the anniversary of the Haile of Trafalgar, that sea action which has rung in the cars'of Britons all over the world since that day, when Britain's great est naval commander consecrated his victory for his country with his own life. But the two instances are related for the purpose of showing that the spirit which animated Nel~ son, and those devoted men under him is still part and parcel of the make-up of the men who have been called upon to fight against a new tyranny for a second time in this century, Two men in peril themselves thought of others. There was that de~ tached selflessness, that human kindness which rose above immediate danger, leading, tone man to think of his comrade's happiness and another to take heed for a fellow's safety.
There was that same degree of selflessness in the character of Nelson. It is said that his famous signal was to have been worded "Nelson confides that every man will do his duty." It would have been an inspiration to the men whom he loved and who loved him.
An officer suggested that the word "England" should be substituted, and he agreed. with the indifference of the'man to whom self and country were one at that hour. There is ways one phrase descriptive of Nelson which
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.