SHORT CUT TO ADVENTURE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 70, 8 January 1947, Page 3

SHORT CUT TO ADVENTURE

FIVE BOYS FROM WALES STOWAWAYS ON STEAMER Five boys stood on the quay wall of the Queen’s Dock, Cardiff, and wistfully looked up at the grey bulk of the II,OOS-ton steamer Samderwent. The cargo of coal was aboard. Five pairs of eyes watched the crew as they went methodically about their job of making ready to sail on the night tide. A curl of smoke from the funnel showed that steam was up. In another hour . . . The crew went below for supper. The dock lights twinkled through the evening dusk. Five boys who longed to go to sea still gazed at the ship. For them she stood for adventure, romance, and the chance to visit strange lands. Each lad had already tried to sign for a trip. But two were too young, and the other three had been told, “Sorry, no boys needed.” Dusk turned to darkness. That was on Saturday. Next morning five boys were missing. Johnny Bostan, aged 16, and Ali Hassan, aged 15, were missing from Cardiff; Davy Francis, aged 17, of Bedwas; Ivor Weston, aged 15, was not in Pontypridd; and way up in North Wales the parents of Dickie Carlisle, aged 16, searched Caernarvon for him.

Next stage in the story of the five boys who longed to go to sea was a radio message from Captain S. A. Brooker, master of the Samderwent: “Have found five boy stowaways. Am taking to Freetown.”