THE CURSE OF CAIN.

Taranaki Daily News, 12 July 1918, Page 2

THE CURSE OF CAIN.

UPON GERMAN SEAMEN. ~ THEIIE WILL J3K NO JIiiKCX SHOWN THEM. The following article appeared in the Liverpool Juurnal of Commerce over the signature "Nauticus." That it re-, fleets tin; unanimous sentiment of British and French seamen there can be uo doubt.. In reproducing it the Manufacturers' Record says: "What 'Nauticus' says Will be the treatment of German sailors should be the treatment of all Germans everywhere on earth until, in sackcloth and ashes, they repent and dedicate • their lives to atonement fori' their nation's awful crime." Both '•Nauticus" and the Manufacturers' Re-, cord are right. Dirty, foul, horrible, and abominable as the beast of the land' are the beasts of; the sea,, "Let there be no mistake about the depth of the feeling against Germany which all decent .seamen entertain at this moment. It is fiercer than the worst storm that ever blew and as. strong as the trade wintj ■ which comes from the south-east. "There will, be strange ships 011 the waVes—vessels flying a ,fiag which lias, been hidden in canals and backwaters where dastardly deeds are plotted for close on four full years. They will outwardly look like other ships. To all. appearances they will be honest ships,but to every seaman that was not suckled by a German mother or sired by 0110 of the ravisliers of brave Belgium I they will be known as Scheussliclie ■ So'hiffe, or horrible, abominable ships! They may fly the German flag in all its flaunting flashiness, but it will always be foul and bloody even in the pure sunlight of the tropics. "Against the deep blue sky of summer this flag will look like an old boot on a sacred alter; the very vault of heaven will be stabbed with shame when it swims into the light of day. No one will salute it; no eyes will be turned upon it from the crow's nest without a curse; it will pass along t'he silent highways of the world like the murderer of a little child seeking to hide from justice. Dirty, foul, horrible, and abominable, red with the blood of brave men, even the cleansing ozone of God's great sea will not wash it clean in twice ten thousand years. It will stink in the nostrils of all mankind for ever and ever! "To a clean honest sailor the sea is like a mother. The British Seamen's Union knows all about the "foul murders which have been committed by German seamen, and its members will see that the full price is paid for these awful crimes against humanity. Three socalled peace delegates have been trying to sneak away to America for some time past, hut so far they have found it impossible to embark. Why? Simply because the British seamen say 'No!' They would refuse to work a vessel if pacifists and otihers of like type were on board. "This shows the spirit, and if further evidence were needed it can be found in the recent utterances of J. Havelock Wilson, who has stated in public that the merchant marine masters, engineers, Bailors, firemen, deck hands were fully resolved not to carry pacifists across the ocean. In addition to this, the merchant service, from the officers down to the cabin boy have pledged themselves not to salute tile German flag in any port abroad, and they will refuse to salute it, or even recognise it, on the high seas. (N.B. —French sailors have since agreed to take similar action.) "The German papers, which undoubtedly reflect the German mind, gloat over the crimes of their U-boats much as a foul murderer gloats over his victims. They take a sort of diseased pride in such gastly work. But the feeling of all neutral seamen is against them, Norway, since the outbreak of the war, has lost 745 vessels and 946 sailors throueh the German butchers, and it may lie taken for granted that the result has been a legacy of eternal hate. Spain, Brazil, Uruguay, every nation on earth, has suffered at the hands of the Teuton pirates, and the seamen of every nation will make them pay the bill. "At a large meeting held in Copenhagen some weeks back, whereat hundreds of officers of the Danish merchant marine were present, it was agreed unanimously that in view of the fact that the German nation had approved of the outrages committed by their U-boats against neutral seamen, all friendly intercourse with Germans must be broken off for a long time to come. "As far as this country is concerned, the punishment of German seamen may be safely left to British seamen. They know exactly what the brutes have done. They know that more than 4000 British civilian men, women and children have been foully murdered by the German submarines and they will act accordingly. For generations to come no S.O.S. will be heard wtoen it germinates from a German ship in distress. Every hand will be known as the sharkmen of the sea, and something of the treatment accorded to captured sharks by fishermen in certain parts of the world will be theirs whenever opportunity affords. ■ 1 "In every foreign port Germans will lie marked men. Every hand will against them, and they will never sfi'e the welcome smile of a friend. In the drinking dens they will drink audibly and slowly, as is their custom, but they will drink alone. No friendly glass or pot will clink or knock merrily against theirs. They will sit apart like colored trash, and even the commonest Lascar will greet tliein with scorn. In all the world's great harbors they' will be known as butchers end muTderers —men branded through their very souls with the mark of Cain. And on all the seas and oceans their ships will be known as Scheussliclie Schiffe —low, horrible and abominable ships! "Such is the punishment for their dreadful and wicked crimes, and it has been given by the even justice of the wlhole of the civilised world. Let 'Kultur' take heed of this, and tremble for its sons, for in the days to came they will cry out for mercy. But there will be no mercy—seamen never forget and seamen never forgive, and they have looked upon their dead not once, but a hundred times."