To the Admirals, Captains, Officers and Men of the Royal Navy and of the Royal Naval Reserve:
To the men of the merchant service and the landsmen who have volunteered for work afloat:
To all who are serving or fighting for their country at sea:
To all naval officers who are servingmuch against their willon land:
Greetings, good wishes and gratitude from all landsmen.
We do not wish you a Merry Christmas, for to none of us, neither to you at sea nor to us on land, can Christmas be a merry season now. Nor, amid so much misery and sorrow, does it seem, at first sight, reasonable to carry the conventional phrase further and wish you a Happy New Year. But happiness is a different thing from merriment. In the strictest sense of