[?]How To Meet

mories of yesteryear

An Admiral

By J. D. Whitcombe

3 a happy-go-lucky school kid in Tonga, back in the 1890’s, one of my ambitions was at t to meet and talk to a real British Admiral, if not to be e one myself some day. fter all, wasn’t a British Ad il about the finest sort of chap this earth? That magnificent -laced, epauleted uniform spelt y kind of adventure, it the possibility of meeting an hral in Tonga seemed slim in l —until that morning in 1893 n I and my brother, out on the spearing fish, fossicking for Is, and generally enjoying our js in the ways that boys in the ids do, were startled by the id of a two-gun salute from the shore —the local signal indicat a warship in sight, oking up we saw the vessel — 5 Rapid she proved to be —enig Atata Passage, and back on beach we soon discovered that was commanded by Admiral Henry Ogle. A real live Ad ,l, at last! ie ship dropped anchor well in Nukualofa Harbour, this was it. My brother and 1 a council of war. Quite clearly e were ever to meet that Ad -1 the thing would be realised by some very smart planning, ickly we hurried home, secretly id the gardens for our choicest ipples, bananas, and other s, and loaded them, together fresh drinking nuts, in our 1 dinghy, and launched forth ie great adventure, riving at the foot of the way we were immediately ;ioned by an armed sailor, t was our business? Well, we a present from our father for \dmiral. officer was called to deal with problem. Very well, then, we [ come aboard and have some shments in the crew’s quarters, fruit would be delivered to the iral. was —no doubt to his consider bewilderment, as our father no important government post xalted position, at that time, it indeed was the very means iy achieving my ambition—we hailed before the Admiral to ly a few more details —and st human he seemed, for an iral! home we went, happy, in

wardly well stoked, and very satis fied with our secret adventure.

There’d be no reason for our parents to know a thing about it at all.

At least that was the way it seemed until breakfast time next morning, when the family was as tonished to see advancing down the path to the front door, a naval officer followed by a seaman with a heavy bolt of blue material on his shoulder.

Father stepped to the verandah to meet the officer who immediately presented the Admiral’s card and compliments. Father was obviously perplexed.

This was by way of being a re turn visit of deputies, the officer explained. The gift of yesterday had been much appreciated and the Admiral has sent this bolt of Navy serge for clothing for the boys. And so it all came out. There were some reprimands. But if I were not able to quite wear an Admiral’s uniform,

at least we were all set up in genuine naval serge for a while.

TV . ic • „ roc , . . . . mmd by c . Wager* amusinf reml niscence of a visit to an Admiral in April PIM.