SERIOUS MUTINY AT SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 December 1918, Page 5

SERIOUS MUTINY AT SEA.

v Sydney, Dec. 5. Details have now been made available of a very s&rious mutiny which occurred on "the high seas early in the sear, abpjtad a JpijgevTjsfcsel tratla. ThkM hacPbeen many; alarming rumors about this affair, to which the exercise of the censorship ranted significance. lse steatner was a new vessel Of 16,000 tons, and she "left London voyage. to Australia with.aJarge.MSal>er of invalided Australian soldiers aboard! Som» difficulty was experienced in getting suitable men fat the stokehold, and eventually 62 Livefpool "Irfihiiiißii tiiSM taken on. They were a weedy lot, apd were not accustomed to long-distance voyages. Th&y mostly did four and fiveday trips, with a spell of two or three days between each. The voyage to Australia; meant forty days' continuous work, and the Irishmen soon began to get restive. At first they maintained a good pressure of steam, but as their tired feeling grew the. steam pressure became less, and the ship went more slowly. Matters became serious in thf» Red Sea, whftre the officers threatened and cajoled, and the men were sullen and obdurate. A few days out from Bombay the men refused altogether, and mutinied. The position wag critical, the Irishmen seeming to promise trouble and every available man on the ship being waited for stokehold work. By the strenuous efforts of the officers the ship reached Bombay, where tho mutineers were hand* ed over to the authorities, and brought hefore a court, for trial. . The circumstance* of the mutiny—particularly in view of the war and the shipping situation —were seriously ' regarded by the court, which ordered the 62 men to be imprisoned for the duration of the war .<and for six months thereafter. | The steamer, after gome trouble, shipped a stokehold of Cingalese Ifri ««tti»t*i' ; w