So on their record, writ for all to know—
The task achieved, the homeward way half-won—
Though cold they lie beneath their pall of snow,
Shines the eternal sun.
O hearts of metal pure as finest gold!
O great example, where our sons may trace,
Too proud for tears, their birthright from of old,
Heirs of the Island Race!
In this context I may note two great disasters, the one at the beginning and the other at the end of this period, which served to illustrate the "price of Admiralty" and the perils of speed when combined with enormous size and structure of a type in which design has outrun strength. The first was the loss of the Victoria in the manoeuvres off Tripoli in 1893, owing to an error in judgment on the part of a great admiral—Sir George Tryon. The second was the loss of the Titanic in April, 1912. Punch in both instances confined himself to the expression of sympathy and condolence, without endeavouring to draw morals or recalling, à propos of the Titanic, his curious prophecy, given in an earlier volume, of the likelihood of just such a disaster resulting from the cult of speed at all costs and in all weathers.
The perils of the sea naturally suggest the means of endeavouring to avoid them. After a long interval the Channel Tunnel scheme was revived in 1906, and in his cartoon in January, 1907, Punch indicates that it was calculated "a double debt to pay." Neptune is shown objecting to have his power undermined, but Britannia retorts: "I want to see more of my friends over there, and I never look my best when I've been seasick." So again, in August, 1913, under the heading "The Entente Tube," when the steward on a night Channel boat observes, "If they bring in this 'ere tunnel, my job's gone," Punch replies, "That's the only sound objection I've heard yet."