NORTH SEA MEN AND THE NAVY 355 



modern and powerful than these ships is needed to work 

 in conjunction with North Sea fishing-fleets ; and surely 

 the time has come when a warship of the most modern 

 type should be detailed for fisheries protection duties. 

 The vessel to be employed for this service should be one 

 of the very best in the Navy, a powerful unit in which 

 the North Sea men who joined her could become familiar 

 with the very latest weapons and methods of warfare 

 afloat, so that they would be able to settle down at once 

 to service conditions and routine in case of mobilisation. 

 It would not be necessary to carry more than a skeleton 

 crew in such a ship, which, with her officers, and propor- 

 tion of petty officers, bluejackets, and marines, would 

 certainly, with her full complement, made up mostly from 

 the North Sea Auxiliary, possess a body of men who 

 would be the very pick of the seafaring population and 

 every one an expert in North Sea ways and weather. 

 There would be no service afloat in either large or small 

 craft from which these men would shrink, and no danger 

 which they would hesitate to face. The cruiser would 

 act as a feeder for any fleet which might be called upon to 

 operate in North Sea waters, and skilful North Sea men 

 could be put on board every ship, of whatever description 

 men in whom admirals and captains could place as 

 much confidence as the commander of a liner puts in his 

 pilot. Such a ship as I have suggested has been built 

 recently H.M.S. Newcastle a second-class protected 

 cruiser of 4800 tons, with turbine-driven engines giving 

 her a high speed. The Newcastle was built on the Tyne, 

 and no more appropriate vessel could be found for use as 

 a North Sea school and a North Sea nursery than this 

 product of a North Sea river. 



