FLUCK OF AN ENGLISH SAILOR.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1136, 1 September 1882, Page 2

FLUCK OF AN ENGLISH SAILOR.

The following is an extract from a London paper, which relates to a young officer, a nephew of Mr Caleb Whitefoord, of Christchurch. |

“ On the sth of September last the ship Tome Tomo Marti, 981 tons purchased for a firm of Japanese merchants and shipowners for the China Seas trade, sailed from the London Docks for Yokohama, Japan laden with railway iron and glass bottles. Captain Corbett was in command, Captain Lee Whitefoord acting as first mate ; there was an English second mate and steward, and a crew of 25 hands, all Lascars or Japanese sailors. After crossing the equator the crew began to show signs of insubordination, and it became necessary for the officers to carry loaded revolvers. On the sth January Captain Corbett, who had,for some days previously shown signs of mental aberration, while on deck placed his revolver to his forehead and blew his brains out. The command of the ship therefore devolved upon Captain Whitefoord, who next day, after committing his late chief’s body to the deep, the Protestant burial service being read, assembled the crew, took possession of all revolvers, threw them overboard, and told the men he would take the ship w into Yokohama harbour without firearms, 'but if any one of the crew disobeyed him he would throw him overboard. The crew were favorably impressed with their new captain, whom they knew to possess the will and power to keep his word. By the continued exercise of vigilance and firmness, Captain Whitefoord managed to keep his crew well in hand and after a voyage of 189 days, encountering within 200 miles of Japan such rough weather as to be dismasted, took his ship and cargo safe into the harbor of Yokohama, never having undressed from the time of the death of Captain Corbett, a |>eriod of over two months. In recognition of his services in bringing the ship safe into port, Captain Whitefoord has been presented by the owners with a sum of £250. The captain, who has shown such sterling qualities of seamanship, had only obtained liis certificate a few weeks previous to his leaving England. ”