FEARFUL CRUELTIES AT SEA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1016, 12 October 1882, Page 3

FEARFUL CRUELTIES AT SEA.

The following frightful incidents are said to have taken place on board the American ship Gatherer, during a voyage from Antwerp to Wilmington : “ A seaman was so badly beaten that he was laid up for months ; the eyes of another seaman were nearly put out, and his mouth so badly injured that eating and speaking were rendered very painful. A third was lashed to the rail and beaten and bruised b}’ the chief officer, who broke his nose with a pair of brass knuckle dusters. A heavy capstan bar was lashed to the back of John Burns, the mate compelling him to stride up and down the deck, and at the same time kicking the helpless sailor as he piassed. Another of the crew committed suicide. One man went mad after being struck by the mate <ni the head, and was placed in confinement and deprived of food for five days. Another sailor, having been partially stripped, was fastened by a strap to his waist, hoisted up the mizzen stay, and held

head * ownwards till black in the lace. The second mate drove another of the crew half crazy by beating him about the head, shoulders, and legs with knotted ropes. The flagellation was so severe that the flesh was cut from his legs in chunks, and. his entire body was a mass of bruises and sores. The mate ordered him aloft to bend the satis, and the poor fellow, with tears in his eyes, obeyed, but being exhausted and weak he fell into the sea from the mizzen.” The chief officer has just been arrested in Queenstown, whither lie had escaped from America. The captain has been arrested in San Francisco.