EXTRAORDINARY TALE OF THE SEA.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1809, 30 October 1888, Page 4

EXTRAORDINARY TALE OF THE SEA.

In the issue of the 20fch inst. we had a short notice of the extraordinary conduct of the master of the barque Gylfe. The following are the full particulars, which are taken from a Home paper The British barque Q-ylfe, 984 tons, sailed from Quebec on July 3rd, and subsequently put into St. John’s in a leaky condition. She soon put to sea again; and all went well until August 19 th when the boatswain discovered that the vessel was making water with alarming rapidity through a hole in her bows, the usual means were used to keep the vessel afloat, and soon afterwards the steamer Persian Monarch, bound from London to New York, hove in sight. When the steamer was within hailing distance Captain Gittens, the master of the Gylfe, called all hands on deck and informed them that he was about to abandon the vessel. At his request all the crew signed a paper declaring the vessel unseaworthy, and the boatswain, with six men, then rowed to the Persian Monarch, Captain Gittens following. The latter was informed by Captain Irving, of the Persian Monarch, that he would put a crew on board the Gylfe and take her into port. Thereupon Captain Gittens, with his crew, returned to the barque, and both vessels parted company. The Gylfe, however, soon sent up signals of distress, in response to which Captain Irving sent his carpenter and boatswain on board, They examined the vessel, and found 10ft of water in the hold. They also reported that everything on board was saturated with paraffin oil, Meantime Captain Gittens, with his first officer and part of his crew, had been conveyed on board the steamer, but the third officer, Robinson, declined to go, declared that he commanded the Gylfe, and threatened to blow out the brains of the first man who attempted to board her. Robinson’s conduct induced the captain to return to his vessel, but none of the seamen would accompany him. The Persian Monarch then left the Gylfe, which was then about three hundred miles from St. John’s. Gittens and bis two officers stopped the hole in the bow, but they endured terrible hardships, having to work night and day, and they are now in an exhausted state.

A despatch fram Queenstown says: —Captain Gittens is acting in a most peculiar manner. Although he has only two men to work a large barque of 964 tons, and has succeeded in reaching a position close to a safe port, he refuses to seek refuge therein. He declines to take on board additional men to work the ship, and merely accepts the service of a tug to tow the vessel to Greenock direct.