The Laws of the Navy

When I joined the Navy, I was given a printed card which gave us 'The Rules of the Navy', a poem written by Captain R A Hopwood RN way back in the year 1890. Over the years I lost my copy. I know that all cadets received their personal copies and many like me might have lost theirs. I just re- discovered it on the internet and it gives me a great pleasure to append the great poem.
Krishan Punchhi

The Laws of the Navy
by Admiral R. A. Hopwood, RN (Ret)

Now these are the laws of the Navy,
Unwritten and varied they be;
And he who is wise will observe them,
Going down in his ship to the sea.

As naught may outrun the destroyer,
So it is with the law and its grip,
For the strength of the ship is the service,
And the strength of the service the ship.

Take heed what you say of your seniors,
Be your words spoken softly or plain,
Lest a bird of the air tell the matter,
And so shall ye hear it again.

If you labor from morn until even,
And meet with reproof for your toil,
'Tis well, that the gun may be humbled
The compressor must check the recoil.

On the strength of one link in the cable,
Dependeth the might of the chain.
Who knows when thou may'st be tested?
So live that thou bearest the strain!

When a ship that is tired returneth,
With the signs of the sea showing plain;
Men place her in dock for a season,
And her speed she reneweth again.

So shall ye, if perchance ye grow weary,
In the uttermost parts of the sea;
Pray for leave for the good of the service,
As much and as oft as may be.

Count not upon certain promotion,
But rather to gain it aspire.
Though the sight line may end on the target,
There cometh perchance the miss-fire.

Can'st follow the track of the dolphin?
Or tell where the sea swallows roam?
Where Leviathan taketh his pastime?
What ocean he calleth his own?

So it is with the words of the rulers,
And the orders these words shall convey;
Every law is naught beside this one,
Thou shalt not criticize but obey.

Say the wise: How may I know their purpose?
Then acts without wherefore or why;
Stays the fool but one moment to question,
And the chance of his life passes by.

If ye win through an African jungle,
Unmentioned at home in the press,
Heed it not. No man seeth the piston
But it driveth the ship none the less.

Do they growl, it is well. Be thou silent,
So the work goeth forward amain.
Lo! the gun throws the shot to a hair's breadth
And shouteth, yet none shall complain.

Do they growl and the work be retarded?
It is ill; be whatever their rank.
The half loaded gun also shouteth
But can she pierce target with blank?

Doth the paint work make war with funnels
And the deck to the cannons complain?
Nay, they know that some soap and fresh water
Unites them as brothers again.

So ye, being heads of departments,
Do you growl with a smile on your lip
Lest ye strive and in anger be parted,
And lessen the might of your ship.

Dost deem that thy vessel needs gilding,
And the dockyard forbears to supply,
Put thy hand in thy pocket and gild her.
There are those who have risen thereby.

Dost think in a moment of anger
'Tis well with thy seniors to fight?
They prosper who burn in the morning
The letters they wrote overnight.

For many are shelved and forgotten
With nothing to thank for their fate,
But that which on a half sheet of foolscap
A fool 'Had the honour to state.'

Should the fairway be crowded with shipping
Beating homeward the harbour to win,
It is meet that lest any should suffer
The steamers pass cautiously in.

So thou when thou nearest promotion
And the peak that is gilded is nigh,
Give heed to words and thine actions
Lest others be wearied thereby.

It is ill for the winners to worry,
Take thy fate as it comes, with a smile,
And when thou art safe in the harbor
They my envy but will not revile.

Uncharted the rocks that surround thee,
Take heed that the channels thou learn,
Lest thy name serve to buoy for another
That shoal the 'Court Martial Return.'

Though a Harveyised belt may protect her,
The ship bears the scar in her side;
'Tis well if the Court should acquit thee,
'Twere best had'st thou never been tried.

Moral

As the sea rises clear at the hawse pipe,
Washes aft and is lost in the wake;
So shall thou drop astern all unheeded
Such time as these laws ye forsake.

Take heed in you manner of speaking
That the language ye use may be sound,
In the list of the words of your choosing
'Impossible' may not be found.

Now these are the Laws of the Navy
And many and varied are they.
but the hull and the deck and the keel
And the truck of the law is- OBEY.

SCPC: Suggestions for Protest Cards

With a view to keep our protest against the Pay Commission recommendations in focus at all times. It is suggested that all veterans, their spouses and their dependents, if they so desire, should wear a black and white protest card as shown above at all times. The word 'Military' may be replaced by 'Defence'. Either can be used, although perhaps military may be more focussed. This should be worn at all times, including on your T- shirt when you play golf or in your office if you have a job. This will soon become a talking point with whoever you meet in an office, shop, train, airline, cafe and so on.

These protest tags can made cheaply, resembling an Id tag one usually wears at conferences, seminars and of course in our formations and headquarters. The cost, for a plastic cover and a clip would be between Rs 5 to 10 and the text can be either got printed if it is a bulk demand, or printed on your printer.

A similar sticker can be pasted in the rear window of the four wheeler and suitably positioned in the two wheeler for maximum readability. The size of card and font size selected can add to readability.

Tsangdhar: Providing Communications 10 Oct 1962

The Thagla Ridge as seen from Tsangdhar
Responsibility
I had to provide the line communication irrespective of the fact that I had no dispenser packs hardly any cable and even the full contingent of linemen some of those still en route. Every one who was fit and some not so fit cook barber dhobi and available linemen were pressed into collecting the few drums of cable from the Dropping Zone and making coils of the cable for hand laying.

Maj Ram Singh
It was the first time that I saw the famous Assam Rifles post at
Dhola from where it all had started. I was not much impressed by the few huts for living and may be a few rifle and LMG posts surrounded by trees bushes and no view or field of fire. It is there that I met Maj Ram Singh who had been sent by the CO to contact Gen Kaul and had some how missed him. It was also the last time I saw him.

CO's Compassion
Having completed the task it was night time by now I wanted to return back to Tsangdhar but the Commander would have none of it he ordered me to stay put for the night. He was a worried man expecting a Chinese reaction to the clash earlier in the morning possibly the same night. However he still had time and compassion to worry about his young Signal officer's welfare and safety night had fallen and it would have been fool hardy of me to try moving up the trail back to the DZ at Tsangdhar.

Sharing Sleeping Bag
Interestingly there was no food or place for me to sleep. I shared the one- man sleeping bag that is how the bags are designed with Maj Kharbanda. A unique experience luckily both of us were on the thin side even then we had to synchronise between the two of us whenever we wanted to turn in the sleeping bag which was fairly frequent on the hard rocky ground. Turning and twisting both of us spent the night like this.

Escape to Bhutan
I came back to Tsangdhar leaving very early and reaching there by 9 am in the morning. I had no food now for about 24 hours. I have been talking about food all the time rather lack of it but it does give one an idea of our administrative back up during OP Leghorn as the operation was known. Missing meals which had become with us a rule rather than exception since we either had no time to eat or no meals were available due to administrative failure. Having got used to this helped us later when we had to be without food for days together on our escape via Bhutan to India.

Brig Lakshman Singh VSM (Retd)