A SHIPOWNER SENT TO PENAL SERVITUDE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1511, 19 March 1887, Page 4

A SHIPOWNER SENT TO PENAL SERVITUDE.

At the Court of Justiciary, Edinburgh, a young man named Malcolm Brown was charged with having euok the ahlp St. Athena, of Inverness, In order to defraud the insurers. The Indictment ■rated that the ecouaed wan owner, or joint owner, of the sohooner, and interested Id her on behalf of his falhsr, Archibald Brown, Balaphuil, Tirco, md that insurances, (mounting m all to £750, were effeoted upon her ; that on a voyage from Plymouth to )<uncorn, cv the -\jrßey, he wilfully bored several holes la the bottom or tides of the ship, and having plugged the holes with plugs until the schooner reaohrd Dear Longship Lighthouse, he then withdrew the pluyu, whereby the sohooner leaked and rapidly filed with water, and toon thereafter the schooner sank, and was deotroyed. The prisoner pleaded not guilty, end a jury was en panelled to try the case. Jnmeß Walker, master of the ship Bt. Athens, was the first witness examined. Be depoied that when tb.e ship was filling with water they could only work one pump, aa the handle of the second pump oould not be found. He went down the cabin, and lifted the hatchway, and found chips of wood. When he opoke to Brown about the chips, he replied that he did not know anything about them. Witneis em»'ked that it looked very "fishy," | and the ohips appeared to be freeh. When he found the chips he had suspicion that an auger had been put through some part of the ahip. No one gave an explnnation how the accident happened. He was told afterwards that the second pump-bandla haa been found under the cabin floor. They loaded china clay at Plymouth. He found the prisoner's mattreaa m the hatchway. The crew ail tefi ;n a boat, and the schooner sank. John Lamont, a seaman, said he waa with the nchooner when it went down. He saw -mall pieces of wood m the hatchway. They look like chips out by a hatc'iet. In Mill Bay the schooner suffered so mo n-.mping, but he did not tbiuk it would do her any harm. Mr J*mes McDougall, master mariner, said that he jointd the *t Athens. Brown said that the dohoouer belonged to himself, but that it was m his father's name to save her from the oreditors. .tie (prisoner) said that ohe Baltic would be a fine plaoe to do ;w a} with her. He several times afterwards «poke about doing *way with the dohooner, and offered witneas first £25, second £40 and a gold watch, and third £100. fie refused to do it. The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and the adorned was sentenced to five years' penal Mtvltade.