These are as often as not manned mostly by their old peace time civilian crews, though under a Naval captain, and they do invaluable work. I believe that in the last war the whole of the contraband contre! between Scotland and Iceland was handed "over to auxiliary cruisers of this kind. While war is on, we hear little or nothing of these ships but from time to time one of them leaps into the {Hmelight, and I need not remind any of my listeners to-night of the name of one them, known to many of us—the Rawalpindi, and of the gallant fight which marked her end. These ships and the civilian sailors in them well know that if they fall in with &n enemy surface raider, and if that raider happens to be a real warship the chances against their éscaping are one in a million. Their construction' is such that they cannot carry the gun power with which to fight effectively against a ship of war, mor the armour to give them any real protection, ner have they the speed to run, even if they wished to do so. And. yet the men in these armed auxiliaries are usually mostly volunteers who prefer to stay in their ships rather than take more comfortable and possibly safer jobs elsewhere.
Next, there are the ships requisitioned by the Government to work directly with the fighting services as troon and supply ships. Their to carry the armies which go to fight on foreign soil and to keep them supplied with food, ammunition and equipment.
The ships and men engaged on all the duties to which I have referred are temporarily withdrawn from the Merchant Navy and we must leave the recording of their exploits till the ban of silence on the operations of the fighting forces can be raised. "Tonight I propose to deal with that part of the Merchant Navy which is still carrying on its ordinary business.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.