in the detail of personal acquaintance,
the severe training of this naval force, a general knowledge of its
heterogeneous character is necessary to enable the reader to understand
this great assemblage of the sons of the Empire.

[Illustration: A LARGE AND HEAVILY ARMED GERMAN SUBMARINE OF THE CRUISER
TYPE

_British Official Photograph_]

In the smoke-filled wardroom and gunroom of the training cruiser, H.M.S.
_Hermione_ one windy March evening in 1916 there were some eighty
officers of the auxiliary fleet, and of this number one hailed from
distant Rhodesia, where he was the owner of thousands of acres of land
and a goodly herd of cattle, but who, some time in the past, had rounded
the Horn in a _wind-jammer_ and taken _sights_ in the "Roaring Forties."
Another was a seascape painter of renown both in England and the United
States. A third was a member of a Pacific coast yacht club. A fourth was
the son of an Irish peer, the owner of a steam yacht. Then came a London
journalist, a barrister, a solicitor and a New Zealand yachtsman, while
sitting at the table was a famous traveller and a _pukka_ commander.

In the neighbouring gunroom, among the crowd of sub-lieutenants--all of
the same great force, the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve--was a
grey-haired veteran from the Canadian Lakes, a youngster from the Clyde,
the son of a shipowner from Australia and a bronzed mine manager from
the Witwatersrand.

Among the engineers and mechanics the same diversity. Men from several
of the great engineering establishments, a student from a North Country
university, electrical engineers from the power stations and mechanics
from the bench, with here and there one or two with sea-going
experience.

In the forecastle and elsewhere about the old cruiser--now merely a
training establishment--were sailors with years of experience in both
sail and steam. Fishermen from the Hebrides and Newfoundland rubbing
shoulders with yacht hands from the Solent and Clyde.

From this curiously mixed but excellent raw material a naval personnel,
with its essential knowledge and discipline, had to be fashioned in
record time by an incredibly small staff of commissioned and warrant
officers of the permanent service, aided by the more experienced
amateurs.

It must, however, not be thought from this that the amateur was
converted into a professional seaman in the space of a week or two.
Three months of specialised training enabled them to take the