DEFIED THEIR CAPTAIN

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 719, 19 July 1929, Page 1

DEFIED THEIR CAPTAIN

Firemen Go to Prison

DUTY REFUSED AT SEA

AN hour after leaving the Port of Auckland yesterday afternoon, the Canadian National steamer, Canadian Conqueror, was forced to return, and the police, boarding the ship at her anchorage, arrested four men who had refused duty. They were sentenced to imprisonment terms of one month each today.

John Flynn, aged 42, Tom Isaac MeJlwaine, aged 38, Angus Chisholm, aged "3 and Arthur Larmour, aged 38, all flr’emen, appeared at the Police Court today to answer charges of disobeying the lawful commands of the master while members of the crew of the British ship, Canadian Conqueror, on the high seas.

Mr. Terry appeared for Captain N. T> Hocking, the master of the vessel, nd Mr. Smyth, for the four accused, entered a plea of guilty. Mr. Terry described the offence as moat serious. The men were members of the stokehold crew. The ship I-ad sailed at three in the afternoon and dropped the pilot, being well out !o sea by four, when the four men were due to go on duty. There was no sign of the men in the stokehold, so some of the engineers had gone to their quarters, where the quartette bad refused to go down. Finally the . aptain had gone to them with one of the engineers. “Two of the men agreed to go on duty,” continued Mr. Terry, “but Larmour, who is the ring-leader, would not and the others stood by him. Their only explanation was a casual remark that there was a shortage in the crew.” Mr. Terry said that was entirely wrong. Not only was the stokehold crew complete, but there was not one man missing from the whole ship's complement. Counsel pointed out the serious loss of time and money involved In the ship’s having to return to port. Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M.. remarked that he was more concerned with the possible loss of life when orders were not obeyed at sea. Mr. Smyth repeated the assertion of the men that the chief engineer had treated them like dogs all the time they had been with the ship.

The Magistrate: Why did they not prosecute? Mr. Terry: This is the first suggestion of such a thing. The Magistrate: This is the excuse I get every time. Mr. Smyth admitted that it was no excuse, but suggested that it might well be an explanation. The magistrate considered that the men should have told their story to the shipping officer in port. “The law is very solicitous of sailors,” he said, “but it requires them to obey lawful commands given on the high seas, and rightly so.” The four men were then sentenced.

TOOK FRENCH LEAVE

GREASER ALSO GAOLED I REFUSED TO SAIL A fifth member of the crew of the Canadian Conqueror made his appearance in the Police Court this morning wheh Ernest Ray Ives pleaded guilty on a charge of being absent without leave. Ives, a greaser, aged 26, exclaimed, “I refuse to sail on that ship,” and then relapsed into silence. Mr. J. B. Paterson, Auckland agent for the Canadian National Steamship Company, said the man had taken his effects and left the ship, leaving a note of explanation. He could not stay in New Zealand, being a prohibited immigrant. Ives was sentenced to one month s imprisonment and ordered to he placed on the ship at the expiration of his 1 sentence.