FATE’S WHIRLIGIGS

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 26, 25 October 1921, Page 5

FATE’S WHIRLIGIGS

STEAMER’S ROMANTIC VISITOR FREQUENT FLAG CHANGES Varied are the nationalities and types o-f vessels which sojourn a little while at Sydney, and then leave with their holds full of golden' grain. But of all the 4 strange visitors probably none has a history so romantic as the steamer Iris. Furthermore, few emeu in Auscan claim to have passed through such a .hell on earth as her skipper, says the Sydney "Sun ” It was this master, Captain Ino Hreglich, who explained why,-re was the Italian flag fluttered at the stern of the sturdy tramp, whilst her officers conversed in another language. The story of tho veteran skipper was: “Together with my wife, and three of our children, I was in command of the Iris when the war broke out. We were then in the Black Sea, mid. the first I know of tho war of the nations was when the Cossacks swept down on us. Completely outnumbered, all on board were made prisoners, and chained heavily. My family was taken away from me, in spite cf the entreaties of my wife and daughter. who, with tears, begged the rough Cossacks to let them share my fate, whatever that was to be. Then for three and a half months the officers, crew, and myself were consigned to an absolute hell on earth. The Russian authorities had given orders that wo were to be taken to Siberia, in the throes of winter. "From one prison to the next we were convoyed. Sometimes herded as animals in cattle trucks without any clothing or coverings other than whjt we stood in, wo travelled weary miles. Other times chained hand to hand the ship’s company, with mounted Cossacks on both flanks, was forced to inarch onwards. Snow and ice lay everywhere, tho temperature was degrees below zero, and many died from privations. "Nightfall generally brought .another prison in sight, and there, 36 men in a room 15 feet square, we were horded with Russian criminals. There was a complete absence of coverings—all were forced to lie on the concrete floor of tho dungeons. Floor, walls, and rafters wore all alive with vermin, and the filth of these chambers was abominable. We had a supposed daily ration. It consisted of a piece of black bread as big as one’s hand. We were not always able io get that. The Cossacks would stick to it.

“Do you wonder that in those three and a half months my weight was reduced from 14st. to half that amount? For thirty-five years I have- sailed the sea, and have encountered many hardships, but all the privations of my life at sea would not equal the hell through which I passed on the way to Siberia. Once we were there fortune again began to smile. Wo found the Tartars very friendly. I managed to obtain money from friends, and the crew, finding it impossible to live on the allowance, of 2d. a day, went to work. Of course, we had to report to the police twice a week, but it would have|been impossible for anyone to leave the village without his absence being generally known. As the next village was 1.50 miles distant, it was no good running away. Everything in those parts could then be bought very cheaply. I estimated that a man could live comfortably in lodgings, with smoking and other expenses, on £3 a month. Indeed, many of the crew found life there all that could be desired, and married Russian girls, and settled down.

"After twelve months in Siberia I was released because the Tsar had promised the Pope that all prisoners over fifty years of age would be given their freedom, and subsequently our family was reunited.”

In the meantime, and throughout the war, fortune strangely affected the Iris. Captain Hreglich dismissed her history very rapidly. The Irish was built in February, 1914, for a company at. Trieste, and with her present captain in charge traded to America. The Russians, after they had seized her in the Black Sea, did not retain her long, for Austria extended her operations in that sea, and took the steamer back again. Then the Rumanians held her, and afterwards the Serbians. When tho war ended she was in the Serbians’ possession. It was then determined that tho steamer should revert to her former owners at Trieste, but the Peace Conference awarded the port to Italy, so that her flag was not Austrian, as originally, but Italian —although the owners were the same.

“Because the ship and her officers are from Trieste,” said the captain, "we should not be called Austrian, but exAustrian.”

To an Australian, who visited tho Tris, it seemed strange that an Italian crew should be working with ex-Anstrian captain and officers. But tho skipper was emphatic that the family was a, particularly happy one, that he never had n better lot- of’ men under him, and that he had proofs of their appreciation of his treatment. “Why, at Fremantle, after forty days at sea,” he said, "they held a serenade for my benefit, just to show their gratitude."