DASTARDLY CONDUCT OF A SHIP'S CREW.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 53, 5 October 1878, Page 3

DASTARDLY CONDUCT OF A SHIP'S CREW.

The Steamship Childwall Hall, of Liverpool, on the 12th April, was stranded at Sagress, near Cape St Vincent. The captain's conduct and that of the officers was a redeeming contrast to that of the cowardly and treacherous crew, who went off in the lifeboat, leaving ladies and children to their fate. This conduct is so utterly un-English (says a contemporary; that we trust some means may bo found of making the backs of the deserters, if they survived, acquainted with the taste of the eat. The doctor of the ship died a true martyr. Findiug that he was one too many in a boat which contained ladies, he voluntarily gave up his tinai eh mee of safety. When last seen on tiiedo lined ship he was looking sad, as well lie might, for it is certain such a man knew in,a his death would cany sorrow to many hearts. The presence of mind and preserving courage displayed by the ladies who survived the repeated capsiziugs of their boat was remarkable. Onrescued her husband from drowning, and, be it noted, that Mrs. L'Estranges' owed the preservation of her life to her knowledge of swimming. The tale is a very sad one, and in some respects reflects disgrace on the name of British sailors, if the deserters, were really Britons. On the other, the conduct of the ladies, the unfortunate captain, aud the self-sacri-ficing doctor, leave us loom to think well of human nature, and to be proud of our countrymen and countrywomen. As for the poor child of thirteen months old, evidently life had been frozen out of its little body before its parents had to commence the long struggle to preserve their own existence in the fog-canopied waters.