Evening Star Newspaper, November 1, 1931, Page 84

I - S — THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, P. €, NOVEMBER 1, M3L Giddy Gabriel's Lap Dog of 'War The Romantic Story of the Only Private War- ship, the Smallest One Afloat, and How the Italian Government Sperzds a Third of . a Mitlion Dollars a Year Just to Make a Mad-Cap Prince Behave. ABRIEL D'ANNUNZIO, who can be called either a poetic warrior or a . warlike poet, depending on which facet of his personality happens to be catching the sun at the mo- ment, is the possessor of the only pint-sized, privately ow;mec::1 warship that saus anywhere on earth. 'h'erhnl.:svnmmp is about the smallest one afloat. It is just 45 feet long and 12 feet wide, but it carries two torpedoes, three machine guns and a small cannon and it is also to do duty as a mine layer. To be sure, the warship plies the peaceful and unsalted waters of Lake Garda and its torpedoes do not carry war heads. But its gunsueredgmxs,itissshipotthexmhn navy, manned by a regular naval crew, and D’Annunzio—whose only commission is that of colonel in the army reserve—is the boss. Furthermore, the tiny ship is a war veteran th & fine record. MAII this rather surprising situatjon hinges the fact that a combination of warrior and poet is something that any government is bound to treat with a kind of respectful awe. It is an unstable combination, apt to break out into either poetry or war at“any moment. If D’Annunzio should happen to effervesce he might do things to the Fascist e in Italy, so the Italian governmest does what it can to keep him contented. ONSEQUENTLY, the Italian government spends around 6,000,000 lire a year on D’Annunzio—approximately $300,000. It main- tains his private warship for him and also subsidizes a military airplane, with pilot and mechanic, for his personal use in a nearby airfield. It does things for him in other ways, too, and the upshot is that the famous war- rior-poet’s home on Lake Garda is one of the most interesting and unusual spots in all of 'I‘hl:e King of Italy has made him Prince of Montenevoso. On top of a hill on his estate a part of the old Italian cruiser Puglia has beenputupon-masonrybaseandmlts bridge D’Annunzio receives distinguished visi- tors, has occasional concerts and fires gun- powder from life-sized cannon to commem- orate triotic events. Wmfil: k?ea high walls of his secluded hermitage are cannon shells, airplane wings and other war trophies, mixed with works of art, silver lamps and exotic gifts which have been sent to him from all parts of the world. The entire property, known as the Vittori- ale, will become a national monument after his death; meanwhile he is spending a lot of money on its adornment, wishing every stone to symbolize some particular episode or dream of his life. D'Annunzio, in fact, has become a sort of symbol for all Ttaly. He stands for the Ttalian dreams of greatness, and the govern- ment maintains him in his semi-military splendor, so that he can go on acting as sym- bol and not start trying to turn his dreams into realities. Along the bow and stern of his toy war- ship is the inscription MAS-95. The letters are simply the trade mark of motor boat Ansaldo Savoia, but when D'Annunzio first saw them he made up a motto to fit them— “memento audere semper,” which means, “re- member always to dare.” That has become the password of the crew. It was put on a silken banner which D'An- punsio gave to Kaye Don, the English racer, and it was carried as a mascot when Don's speedboat, Miss England II, cracked all rec-"® ords in a run across Lake Garda. D'Annunzio’s warship, incidentally, has an interesting history. OATS of this type, com'ronly called the Mas boats, were first built in 1917. Many naval men were skeptical about their usefulness, but the first squadron that entered the Adriatic found pilenty of work, both on the defense— as anti-submarine flotillas—and on the offense. Each boat carried one officer and six men in her crew, and in the Winter of 1917 four of these little boats actually succeeded in sinking three Austrian warships. It was in the Winter of 1918 that one of Gabriel J¥ Annunzio in full uniform and wearing the dagger that was adopted during the expedition to Fiume. the Mas’ boats most daring exploits was achieved. Three boats—Nos. 94, 95 and 96—under command of Capt. Costanzo Ciano, who fis now one of Mussolini's right-hand men, set out from Venice to attack the Austrian naval base on the Bay of Buccari. D'Annunzio was & major in the army at that time, but he had a flair for desperate adventures and he got permission to go along. Lying face down on the bridge of Mas 95 and inhaling the spray-laden, briny air, he ac- - D’ Annunzio’s boat as it looked during the World War, when it was active in the campaign against the Austrians. companied the vessel he now commands into action. Up to the harbor of Fiume crept the little squadron, in the dead of might. Because of their shallow draft they escaped the mines at the harbor mouth; entering the harbor, they launched torpedoes at two Austrian dreadnaughts anchored there. Unluckily, steel nets caught the torpedoes and the big battleships were unharmed, but the three little boats got out of the harbor without being damaged by the rain of shells that followed explosion of the torpedoes. D’Annunzio took advantage of the confusion to perform a typical D’Annunzio trick. With his boat he darted boldly up to a pier and deposited there, within 50 feet of an armed sentinel, an autographed copy of a book of his own poems. Then he and Mas 95 raced away. i Now over 60, D'Annunzio entered the Italian army as a volunteer as soon as war was de- clared. He was made a captain in the crack cavalry regiment called Lanceri di Novara and, because pf his great reputation as a poet and his known bravery, he was permitted to serve on all parts of the front, taking part in some of the most audacious adventures of the Italian army. His trip with the Mas boats was only a sample. With the ace aviator, Capt. Palli, he flew over Vienna. With the troops of the Duke of Aosta he took part in the storming of the Castle of Duino, beyond the River Timavo. He was one of the first Italian sol- diers to look upon the city of Trieste. It was after the armistice, however, that this most spectacular feat was performed. Raising a sort of volunteer army, he seized Piume, declaring that he would hold it for Italy. He and his troops abandoned their ordi- nary uniform and adopted a soft black shirt and sport coat much like the current Fascist uniform. They also wore daggers in their belts, just as the shock troops of Yhe regular army did. ’ANNUNZIO'S venture at Fiume was not looked on with approval by the govern- to obey. discontented, he retired to % ; and there he is kept by the Italian government— llwlys“mainmm a close scrutiny on all from all over the world have him. Mussolini himself once Garda, and rode with D'Annun- old Mas 95; but what they talked about a sort of mystery surrounds tude toward the Italian gov- lavishes gifts and honors on t understanding that he will When one goes to visit D’Annunzio it makes The poet-werrior's battleship on a run across Lcke Garda. It carries machine guns and torpedoes, little difference whether one has letters of in- troduction, or even whether one is a personal friend. Visitors are received or turned away strietly according to the poet’s mood at the moment. His own son, Ugo Veniero D’Annun- zio, who lives in America, had to wait three days in a hotel in Gardone before he could see him. Visitors are shown through the military museum in the ship Puglia, on the hilltop, and are allowed to roam through the garden, which contains many columns erected to commemoe rate victories in the World War. The building in which D’Annunsio lives is & convent-like affair, and contains a refectory with Franciscan inscriptions and a “prior's chair” in which D'Annunzio sits and presides over the few guests he occasionally entertains at dinner. = ITH the help of leading artists and dece orators, he has prepared a room in which his body is to lie in state after his death. A low bed is placed in an alcove, and the walls are hung in gray chamois leather. Elaborate lamps hang from the painted ceil< ing, %pflntmgs symbolizing his many fa- mous affairs decorate the panels of a large cupboard. There are also pictures of dogs, horses, women, airplanes, battles and motor boats, and there is one great painting of the four archangels who, he asserts, have spone sored both his life and his art. Into the inner sanctuary of his studio no one is ever allowed access. Not even Mussolini, when he called on the poet, was permitted to go in, although he was allowed to put his hand on the door, the poet explaining to him that “beyond is silence.” D’Annunzio, in this retreat, has escapéd from reality—which, for him, does not exist. He rarely calls his friends by their names; ine stead, he invents fanciful and poetic titles for them. His women friends, for instance, will be called by such names as “the light bearer,” “the twilight one,” “the sunrise” and “the darkest hour.” Kaye Don he has named “the undaunted knight of Gdrda,” while he calls & certain famous army surgeon, who was always ready to work in the middie of the night if nieed be, “a sleepless nomad.” Failing Spray Proves Benefit WEIN the lime-sulphur spray, considered a standard preventative of the San Jose scale, failed in the orchards of the Pacific Northwest a few years ago and almost brought about ruin to many orchards, there was & bright silver lining to the cloud, although not then visible, Experimentation was begun by Federal ex- perts in the hope of finding why the spray didn't work and if another more satisfactory one could be developed. The result is the covery that a lubricating oil emulsion only a cheaper and more satisfa than the lime-sulphur, but has the vantage of being a repellant to other fruit tree pests, such as aphids, leaf tree hoppers and red spiders. The Light That Leads