APRIL 7th 1913 T.S. STORK

by Gerard Fiennes

 

The old surveying ship 'Stork' was brought up the Thames last week and moored above Hammersmith Bridge, there to be a training Ship for the boys of the London Naval Brigade. Thanks for this promising enterprise must be given to the kensington and Hammersmith branch of the Navy league, and especially to the Rev. H. C. Eden, who has been most active in the work of collecting funds and arranging the organization of the vessel. Something like £1,500 was required for her outfit for this work, of which , I believe, about £800 has already been raised, so there is still scope for the generosity of Londoners. A yearly rent for the vessel has also to be paid to the Admiralty, but, in other respects, it is intended that she should be self-supporting. The lease of her was obtained through the good offices of Mr. Alan Burgoyne, M.P. on favourable terms.

Pig-Headed Opposition

It is hardly to be believed that the plan to moor her near Hammersmith Bridge has met with the most stubborn opposition from the dwellers on the Mall. They have asserted that her presence would destroy the amenities of their residences and the value of their property. Heaven alone knows why !

They are very respectable people; no doubt they are always ready to shout for a strong navy. But when it comes to mooring a brig in front of their windows -not an unpicturesque object either- and training boys for the sea, they treat the boys with the same shuddering horror that they would a leper settlement, if it were proposed to establish one.

The selfishness of the british middle-class has never been more clearly shown. One can only be thankful that their oppostion has failed , thanks to the good sense of the Port of London Authority. It is difficult to express in terms which can be printed the contempt one feels for this kind of selfishness.

The Scheme

The long upper deck of the Stork, which is practically unimpeded, will be devoted to drills. On the main deck will be the sleeping quarters of the boys and the officers' cabins., and in the engine room will be established a gymnasium. attached to the Stork will be two cutters and a whaler, in which the boys can learn boat-work. The stork will receive a certain number of boys to live on board, and they will be charged for living according to their wage-earning capacity.

The boy who earns 10 s a week will be charged so much, and the boy who earns 8 s will be charged so much less. but to all the ship will be home. it is proposed to commission her at first with a petty officer in charge. but, after a while, it is believed to be possible to obtain a retired Naval officer who will act as captain at a small salary.

Photo below Stork boys 1927

The Boys

It is not , of course, for one moment supposed that all the boys who receive training on board the Stork will follow the sea. It is quite understood that only a minority will, in all likelihood, do so, and of this minority, some at any rate, will go into the mercantile marine, not ito the Royal Navy. There is accommodation for about fifty boys on board, and it is intended to take a good number more as day boys. Probably only one-tenth of these will follow the sea as a profession. But they will all recieve a training which will stand them in good stead whatever line of life they follow.

Those who live on board will sleep in hammocks, and will live the life of the ordinary bluejacket as far as possible. no boy will be received on board until he has been tested to swim fifty yards in his clothes. May the stork have a long career of prosperity !