Is it true that the Admiralty was slow to develop submarines because it thought them “unsporting”?
This is a myth. The first practical submarines were developed in France and the US in the late 1890s, and during 1899 and 1900 there was some excitement in the press over the Admiralty’s perceived inactivity.
In fact, the Admiralty had kept a close watch on their development and contracted with Vickers in mid-1900 for the construction of the first British submarines. This was kept secret, and before it became public knowledge in January 1901 Rear-Admiral Sir Arthur Wilson had stated in a memorandum to an MP that he regarded the submarine as “underhanded” and “un-English”.
This is often taken out of context. It was Wilson, as Controller of the Navy, who had first suggested that the Navy buy submarines and the statement was surely meant to maintain the official line of discouraging the use of such craft while concealing that the Admiralty was already constructing them.
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David Hepper, Woodbridge, Suffolk
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What is a first cousin once removed?
While we all appreciate that our cousin’s children will be first cousins once removed, we do not so easily remember that the children of our great-aunts or great-uncles also have this title, as we tend to think of removal (as Anahita Hoose claimed on Nov 10) working only downwards. With the dissolution of the extended family, many of us are unaware these days of who our parents’ cousins are. We certainly don’t think of them as our cousins.
However, Ms Hoose’s belief that this person is known simply as one’s mother’s or father’s cousin seems unsatisfactory to me. We must maintain “first cousin once removed”.
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Unless there is a title at stake, the British can be lax about such things. Americans, obsessed with genealogy, give it more thought. First-cousin marriage remains illegal in 31 US states.
Sandra Rhodes Seddon, Norwich
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How old do human remains have to be before grave-robbing becomes archaeology?
Brian Pearson, London E18
Science fiction stories used to end with “until time itself comes to an end”. Will it?
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Neil Parsons, Aldershot