Arthur Applin - Admiral Jellicoe

In trying to chronicle the events in Admiral Sir John Jellicoe's lifeone is faced with many difficulties, the greatest of which is thathitherto his most important battles have been fought on land, behindclosed doors and, as far as the public is concerned, in the dark.

Although Sir John Jellicoe has seen active service in Egypt and inChina, has sailed his ships on many seas and gone down into the Valleyof the Shadow on no fewer than three occasions, he has neverthelessmanaged to give valuable years to the Admiralty on shore; and it wasduring the periods when he became successively Assistant Director ofNaval Ordnance, Naval Assistant to the Controller of Navy, Director ofNaval Ordnance and Controller of the Navy that his most valuable workwas done.

Another important position behind the scenes which he filled was thatof Superintendent of the building of ships of war in private as wellas in Royal Dockyards.

The object of this little book is better to acquaint the generalpublic with the man who stands with his hand at the helm of the Shipof England's destiny, the ship in which we must all sink or swim.Never since the days of Nelson has such a responsibility been vestedin one man. Never in the history, not only of our Empire, but of theworld, has the issue of the fight for sea power and supremacy been sovital, so tremendous.

What our ships and sailors have accomplished in the past gives us hopefor the future, and courage to wait in the silence of the long nightthat now hides England and her defenders from one another.

But above all we are confident, because we have faith in the man whowas sent us with the hour; the man on whom the cloak of the Emir ofthe Sea"Emir-al-Bahr"has fallen.

That this brief sketch of the Sea Lord and his career is altogetherunworthy of him I am quite aware. My apology for offering it to thepublic must be that it is the first attempt to give any coherentaccount of his life that has been made. A life, as I have alreadypointed out, which has been lived behind the scenes, devoted to duty,careless of opinion, fearful of applause.

For the details of his career and a brief outline of the work he hasdone I am indebted to his wife, Lady Jellicoe, who most kindly placedat my disposal the few chronicles she possessed of his services, andgave me all the help she could in my task even to the extent ofreading the MSS. of the volume before it was set up in type. A. A.

If Admiral Sir John Jellicoe had been born in 1858 instead of a yearlater, he would have first opened his eyes on this now sorely troubledworld on the Centenary of Nelson's natal day.

But the gods timed his arrival exactly one hundred and one yearslater, and it was on the cold and blustering dawn of December the 5th,1859, that Captain John H. Jellicoe was informed of the happy event.How happy for the Empire, as well as for himself and his wife, thegallant Captain little dreamed at the time.

Southampton was Jellicoe's birthplace, and he came of the race thatthe sea breeds. His father, who only died in the autumn of 1914 at theage of ninety, was Commodore of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Companyuntil he retired from active service at the age of seventyyearsstill a young man. He then became a director of the Company andtook an active part in its affairs almost until the day of his death.

Though as British as the seas which christened the Admiral of theFleet and the Guardian of our Empire, Sir John Jellicoe's name isderived from the French, and it is probable that the family originallywas of French extraction:"Admiral Sir John Jellicoe serait, pariteil d'origine franaise, et descendrait d'une famille protestanteemigre la Rvocation de l'dit de Nantes, et son Nom indiquerait sonorigine. Jellicoe serait une sorte de contraction de Anglycois, nomdes habitants de St. Jean d'Angely."

Gentilcorpsanglicized Noblebodywould be the modern Frenchequivalent. There is an English surname somewhat similar,"Handsomebody," a name that was found on the Honours List some five orsix years ago. Jellicorse is another form of Sir John's name, and itis doubtless from this that one of the nicknames has been derivedwhich is popular among the men of the FleetJellymould.

Admiral Patton, Second Sea Lord at the time of the Battle ofTrafalgar, was Jellicoe's great grandfather; it is something of acoincidence that at the outbreak of the present World-War AdmiralJellicoe was also Second Sea Lord. Jellicoe's youngest daughter iscalled Prudence Patton, and Prudence Patton served King Charles II.faithfully in the troubles and wars that filled that unfortunatemonarch's reign.

Like all popular men in the Servicewith the sole exception ofAdmiral May, who, though loved and respected by everyone, has, likethe Springtime, been always "May"Sir John can boast a multitude ofnicknames.

"Jacky-Oh!" "Hell Fire Jack!" (owing to the revolution he made inNaval gunnery), "All-Jelly" (reminiscent of Epsom Race Course on DerbyDay, but again due probably to the deadly effect of his ship'sgunnery), "The Little Admiral" (this in polite society), "Silent Jack"and "Dreadnought Jack."

Jellicoe, as everyone connected with the Navy knows, was aDreadnought man, and one of Lord Fisher's most enthusiastic pupils.

The nickname most in favour in the "forecastle" for Sir John is HellFire Jack, yet there is nothing of the fire-eating commander or thebold buccaneer in Admiral Jellicoe's personal appearance. He wasalways a little boyhis mother and father's "little boy," without adoubtand, physically, he is a little man. Nelson might have beenable to give him half an inch in height. And it is worth rememberingthat the majority of great leaders of men have been small of stature,from Julius Csar to Napoleon, Domville, Sir John French or the lategreat little Lord Roberts.

Marat was insignificant to look at, and the Kaiser, in his socks,hardly suggests the leader of the Race of Nietzsche's Great BlondeBeasts.

Not only does Jellicoe lack inches, but Nature built him on the lean,light pattern, yet hard as well-tempered steel. He possesses a vastamount of vitality and reserve force.

Time has given his bright, piercing eyes shrewdness and kindliness;they are the eyes of a man who, while he is willing to give all,demands allor nothingfrom those who serve. His nose is long andadventurous rather than Napoleonic.

Quiet as a boy, he has less to say as a man when he is at work. Butamong his intimate friends he has the reputation of a brilliantconversationalist and a wit, and when Jellicoe speaks those about himlisten. At sea he has not the usual flow of highly-coloured languagegenerally associated with those who go down to the sea in ships. Asmall vocabulary has always sufficed him. His mouth is remarkable; thethin, lightly-compressed lips suggest determination and severity; butthey turn up at the corners in a curious way, and one feelsinstinctively that the disciplinarian has a delicious sense of humour.