A Heart Of Oak Has Been Eclisped

Ex Ossibus

Father M.

 

The recent posts by Elk and Robbo at their respective blogs about the fate of the HMS Victory called to mind a favorite quote from the movie, Hope and Glory: “That’s what this bloody war is all about!  Saving all the pink bits for you ungrateful little twirps!”  The teacher belted out the statement while pointing to different pieces of the British Empire rendered in pink on a large classroom map.

The pinks bits.

Sadly, Great Britain has lost her pink bits.  Now she seeks to trade her proud heritage for thirty pieces of silver. Her Majesty’s government is pursuing the possibility of privatizing the HMS Victory as if she were some rusted-out old car to be put out on some used car lot.  The HMS Victory is no mere nautical treasure but rather a sacred place where Admiral Lord Nelson breathed his last in defense of King and Country.  In addition, from her berth on the Thames the HMS Victory stands as an eloquent museum of a proud past.  This ship is as tangible as any modern interactive display.  Indeed, for the current generations so intoxicated with ‘ virtual’ reality the authentic presence of the HMS Victory is a rare opportunity to enter into a true relic of a glorious past when Britannia really did rule the waves.  For shame that this vessel should end her days floating in Lake Tahoe, dry-docked in Vegas or bobbing in some man-made theme park lagoon in Orlando.

Nearby, in Baltimore, we have the USS Constellation; a noble and historical vessel with nowhere near the storied past of the HMS Victory.   Her keel was down in Norfolk in 1855.  She served in the War Between the States and last saw war duty as a relief ship in World War II.  She continues to grant relief when relatives come from out of town and need to be amused and enlightened for a few hours.  The Constellation is a wonderful place for kids to climb and learn about our nation’s nautical heritage.  Even the most diehard, bored adolescent has been known to lay down his handheld gaming device at the sight of the great miasma of brass, teak and canvas that form this beautiful three-masted sloop.   

We have other monuments to our naval heritage in the U.S.  I have been blessed to stand aboard the decks of the USS Alabama in Mobile Bay, and the USS North Carolina in Wilmington.  I have been able to stand aboard those permanently moored vessels as a tourist because others stood upon her in combat in the darkest hours of our nation.  These magnificent ships stand as a permanent reminder to future generations.   May we give them the dignity they rightly deserve;  in respecting these vessels we honor those who served aboard them.

 

 

 

Comments

[NOVA Curmudgeon]

Victory is located in drydock at the Royal Naval Dockyard,Portsmouth not on the Thames -- a fact that takes nothing away from the senseless, shortsighted thinking of Her Majesty's Government. If she were on the Thames, in clear view of Londoners and world visitors alike, her fate might be different

[Father M.]

Quite right, NOVA, thank you. The Victory is at Portsmouth and the Belfast is on the Thames.

[Mr. Peperium]

All this is more poignant because these are vessels of war we're talking about. Of course a battlefield on land is a hallowed place too--as I was reminded when we stopped by Antietam on the way back from seeing Benedict in DC last April. But the actual location of naval engagements can only be found on charts by people who know how to do that sort of thing; the actual waves have long since evaporated, re-condensed and fallen as rain a thousand times over in a thousand different places.

So when we tread the decks of ships that traded broadsides we are walking a battlefield--as well as the home for the combatants, the chapel where they prayed, the mess hall where they ate and the barracks where they slept. As history and the Aubrey-Maturin novels make perfectly clear, a ship is a living thing, with quirks and traits that must be brought out to best advantage by skilled hands. When you get all fuzzy in your thinking and turn your back on a proud warship, you're turning your back on her as well as the men who served on her.

The following is only tangentially related to our discussion, but I would insert it if we were all together having drinks so here goes.

This reminds me of meeting a survivor from the USS Indianapolis several years ago. A Catholic, he told me of the priest who served aboard the Indy--the one who swam from group to group of floating survivors after the vessel had been torpedoed in shark-infested waters. He heard confessions and gave final absolution and prayed with the men until he, too, finally died of exhaustion. The survivor I met said that whenever the ship was attacked during Mass, this priest would administer a quick absolution and then say, "Now go and give them hell."

[dareboy]

it's hard for me to get the religion thoughts that devides people on two parts, catholic, orthodox, muslim, and many others. Geometricaly we got the same number of angles, our viws the way of life could not be exclusive...
the prefereable issue to find a compromise that suits the current country.

[Athos]

In Charles Williams' thriller, War in Heaven, his protagonist, the Archdeacon, is wont to say, "This is Thou; this is not Thou." He means, I take it, that "things" of matter reflect God's glory and are not to be dismissed in a kind of Gnostic contempt. But neither are things of matter to be mistaken for God's infinitely greater ontological Being (a tautology, I know!).

Things of matter like HMS Victory are immensely, riotously important to our human hearts. Just as, having been to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem three times, it has - and presumably always will - bring me to my knees. But "this is not Thou," either. He is not here, the Angel said.
It is only stone and candle and arch and aeons of pilgrims' etched crosses and the place St Helena found the True Cross. ONLY?!

"This is Thou; this is not Thou." Sigh. Yes.

[dareboy]

Hey, you're too much over catholic mess, look what they done, starting the whole world collaps with the war between us (people who after world two, were are closier than brothers) . the Pope was with younger brother, the godly harmfull pain we got 'bout each other, is what our poor politicians couldn't imagine... and the same, the religiosly we are apart,Sodomia what they can offer)))

[Mrs. Peperium]

Good morning dareboy, I think something may have gotten lost in translation. But no fear as I can most assuredly say to the reading audience of Patum Peperium that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict will not be resolved in this comment box. I will however say that while the Catholic Church may have its share of failings and sodomites, Sodomia is located within the walls of the Church of England.

Oh, and tomorrow Basil is up if we can tear him away from ruining, I mean running his wife's financial empire....

[dareboy]

Ms.Peperium, perhaps you're aware of lots Vaticans popes should provide us the idea of Jesus, who, in my opnion. left us in very hard surcimstances...(as each of us got no support) just sad that some people could after wasting the life in ferrari cars&pullmans resort offer some extra felicita they got presently time had gone, to a number of people with no idea where to put some money.
Expet all true people, who honestly believe in the idea of God, but for you, Ms.P~ please left your sweet dreams, it's not possible to buy forgivness if the leisure was the top high life we put on from birth.

[Athos]

This is why I have comment approval - trolls can be eliminated.

[Father M.]

Athos,
I am not familiar with War in Heaven. Is it a good read?

Insofar as we fear for the lives of Rocky and Bullwinkle we must allow the comments...

[dareboy]

Looking back to the history of Florence and perhaps life history of Dante, you could mention that moral and religion treasures is the best tool of manipulation. Personaly there's no need for me to offend hearts of belivers.

[Athos]

I, for one, don't find my heart offended, D-boy, by your comments so much my teacher's eye by your spelling. Like finding a fruit fly in one's martini, don't you know.

Father, it is a good read esp. if one wants to get a flavor of the writing of that particular Inkling. It will show why C S Lewis was drawn to him and why J R R Tolkien was slightly repulsed.

[Christine]

I like Charles Williams a great deal, but the reason Tolkien was wary of this fellow Catholic was because he was supposedly a dabbler in the occult, something Tolkien found dangerous (and rightly so).

[Van Leasing]

I visited this blog first time and found it very interesting and informative.. Keep up the good work thanks..