"MUTINY" SHIP

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 198, 7 September 1937, Page 9

"MUTINY" SHIP

-Press Asan.-

Crew III From Smell OI Live-Stock Cargo CAPTAIN PEELS THE POTATOES

(By Telegraph-

-Cocyright.)

I LONDON, Sept. 6. * ] I The Daily Telegraph's Antwerp correspondent reports that the steamer Sherard Osborn arrived at Antwerp un- ; kempt and eoated with rust. Captain ; Charles McLure and the crew went to ' London to night to attend an official : Lnquiry. Mr. W. Gore-Graham, fourth engineer, ! who studied at Harrow and Cambridge, said that, before leaving Cape Town, the inen objeeted to 72 chickens near ! the sleeping quarters. ; Then the cook became ill and was re- ; placed with three men, one able to ' cook, one a baker and one a butcher,.- ; The crew complained t/iat the potatoes I were undercooked. The captain surprised the crew hy pceling and cooking the potatoes himself. He tried to stop the men going ashore at Walvis Bav to complain to the authorities against the food, but failed. The strain told on everyone. At Sierra Leone the second engineer stayed in his eabin. The captain 's wife took refuge behind a hcncoop astem when the tempers hecame too frayed | for her. Soveral of the crew refused to sail I fr'om Madeira until the forepeak, which ; was leaking, was pumped dry. The capi tain summoned the British Consul at Madeira after an overtime dispute. Finally the captain thought the men were interfering with the compass and summoned naval assistance. The arrival of the dostroyer Broke staggered the crew as they had not .threatencd [ violence. i The Antwerp correspondent of the i Daily Sketch says that the ship's butcher jumped to the quay after the SheraTd Osobrn berthed. He said pigs and sheep were quarter- • ed in the forecastle and the crew were ill from the smell. Once there was a fight betwcen two officcrs. A London cable dated September S j stated': — The SQS from the steamer ! Sherard Osborn is reported to have j i stated; "Almost a mutiny amd sabotage j aboard." .The captain had previously ; wirelessed saying that he was dissatis- j fied with certain members of the crew j and asking that they should be re- j placed. The vessel xecruited a scratch j crew at Capetown, mostly men who were "hard up" and working their passage. The captain 's wife is on board, aeeompauying her husband on j the 30th anniversary of their wedding. ] The destroyer Broke has been sent from J Plymouth to investigate reports of j ttrouble on board the South African j steamer Sherard Osborn in the Bay of Biscay. She is bound for Rotterdam from Table Bay. The Sherard Osborn, which was built in 1878 at Greenock, visited New Zealand in 1895. She is a twin 'screw ; steamer of 14S1 tons, at present owned by Fish Products, Limited, and regisI'tered. at. Capetown.