August 26, 2013

Finest Hour 110, Spring 2001

Page 48

The spirit of all our forces serving on salt water
has never been more strong and high than now.
The warrior heroes of the past may look down,
as Nelson’s monument looks down upon us now,
without any feeling that the island race has lost its daring,
or that the examples they set in bygone centuries
have faded as the generations
have succeeded one another.

It was not for nothing that Admiral Harwood,
as he instantly at full speed attacked an enemy
which might have sunk any one of his ships
by a single successful salvo from its far heavier guns,
flew Nelson’s immortal signal,
of which neither the new occasion,
nor the conduct of all ranks and ratings,
nor the final result were found unworthy.

To the glorious tale of the action off the Plate,
there has recently been added an epilogue—
the rescue last week by the Cossack and here flotilla,
under the nose of the enemy and amid the tangles of one-sided neutrality,
of the British captives taken from the sunken German raider.

Their rescue
at the very moment when these unhappy men
were about to be delivered over to German bondage,
proves that the long arm of British sea power can be stretched out,
not only for foes but also for faithful friends.

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And to Nelson’s signal of 135 years ago,
“England expects that every man will do his duty,”
there may now be added last week’s not less proud reply:
“The Navy is here!”

WSC, GUILDHALL, 23 FEBRUARY 1940