ADVENTURE AT SEA.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2070, 20 December 1919, Page 4

ADVENTURE AT SEA.

.SOLDIERS’ SUMMARY JUSTICE. MAN THROWN OVERBOARD. From time to time there have been many surprising revelations regarding occurrences on transports, but it is doubtful whether any of them were of such a dramatic nature as an incident, or series of incidents, which happened during the homeward voyage of the transport Plassy, which arrived at Port Melbourne recently. Just after leaving Colombo the troops, who were under the command of Colonel Corrigan, becoming incensed at the behaviour of one of their number, whom they suspected of thieving and other crimes, deliberately set upon him and hurled him overboard into a shark-infested sea, where he struggled for about an hour before he was rescued.

When seen at the Sturt Street depot, many of the Plassy men spoke freely regarding the incident. Tt appears that shortly after leaving London many robberies were perpetrated on the boat, officers, men and nurses alike complaining of Josses of clothing, jewellery, or other valuables. Despite strong precautions, thefts were reported almost daily, the criminality culminating in the robbery of about £lB5 worth of blankets and hammocks, which were sold, it is alleged, to natives of Colombo, but were recovered by the military authorities before the vessel resumed its voyage from that port. Suspicion had rested upon three or four men, who were said to have had very bad records, and who it was thought were acting concertedly. The “sandbagging” of a girl and some of the ship’s troops in Colombo, while the vessel was in that port, led to the arrest of the men who had been under suspicion for the thieving operations on the boat, and a courtmartial was ordered. The long-pent-up indignation of the troops, however, was not to be appeased in that way. Watching for a favourable opportunity after leaving Colombo, they set upon the man who, it is declared, was the leader of the disreputable gang, and after handling him very roughly, hurled him overboard, A sailor immediately threw him a lifebelt, and an attempt was made to launch a boat; but owing, it is said by some, to an accident, and by others to interference by the enraged troops, the launching was not successful, and an officer and lascar crew were upset into the water. A second boat was lowered, however, and the members of the crew and the soldier who had been thrown overboard were rescued. The victim of the men’s wrath had had a particularly narrow escape, not only from drowning, but from an' attack by sharks, which were declared to be numerous in the vicinity. He did not take very long to recover, however, and soon after--1 wards was sentenced tit court-mar-tial, on various charges, to 12 months’ imprisonment. Two “Other men received a similar sentence, whilst a fourth man received one of nine months. No one, it was stated by several of the men, was apprehended by the authorities in connection with the attack on the soldier. “They would have bad to arrest thewhole lot,” was the comment of an officer. “They were all in it.”