1935-12-17 — Page 23

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CHINA MAIL CHRISTMAS SUPPLEMENT

The Fighting Steward

HATEVER may have been

the failings of the roughs who manned the sailing ships of half a century ago, cowardice

among was not

them. They were hard to the last degree,. which is not surprising, consider- ing the life they led. If there was one man in a ships" com- pany who need not be a fighting man, however, it was the steward, whose chief virtue in the eyes of a discerning captain was an unquestioned ability to swindle owners and crew alike, to his own and his commander's great pro- Fit

Constant Van Hoyndock was neither better nor worse than the No others of his profession. doubt he drew "cumshams” from ships' outfitters and providers, and fed his men inferior meat, while drawing money for the best. In this he was merely following the rules of his trade. and had he failed to do so, be would not long have been a ship's however, steward Constant,

was to prove a super-steward. in the hour of crisis, and to per- form deeds which were to earn him the profound admiration of "Iron Skippers" and "backo” mates in every "hell ship" on the seas.

those days Shipowners i shared with many of their mo- dern prototypes an affection for filthy Southern Europeans and questionable half-castes in their ships Soch men could be hired. at the lowest rates, and in moet eases the owners could rely upon their officers to make their lives: so miserable that they would desert at the first port of call, consequently saving wages and reducing the ship's running costs. That such men were responsible for most of the mutinies which occurred with altning-fre

quency at the time was of no moment to the owners, to whom profit was of paramount import-

ance.

The mutiny of the schooner "Lennie" can, therefore, be laid at the door of such owners, who were-indirectly responsible for the presence aboard of Matteo “Cargolis and-Giovanni Carcaris when she left Antwerp early in 1876. Strangely enough, the tragedy of the "Caswell" was new "z public memory, but des~ pite this, Cargolis and Carcaris formed part of a crew of twelve Levantine hirelings who had been kicked or foundered on to the Antwerp waterfront. Trou- ble was not long in coming, and on the third day out, Cargolis refused to leave his bunk, plead- ing illness as the result of a fierce beating from the second mate, Mr. McDonald, whose fists. were harder than many kuckle- dusters.

"Ball" Wortley, the mate, knew of only one cure for such indisposition. He flogged Car-

golis with a rope's end, and left him suspended from the rigging for an hour, after which Cargo- I's, stiff and resentful, went to work. So common were such punishments that Wortley did not give the matter another thought, and possibly he was a surprised and much aggrieved man when Cargolis and two other men entered his cabin - a week later and stabbed him to death

Following the example of other mutineers, Cargolis planned the rising for the "dog watch," and began with the murder of the mate, knowing that such an act must bind the crew to him by 2 bond of mutual gufft. For the law governing mutiny at sex is

aids 2

a far-reaching one, and condemas the man who tacitly mutiny with those who actually commit the crime. McDonald. the second mate, put up a valiant fight for his life, but such was. his contempt for them that he did not carry a revolver, and be was quickly beaten and knifed to death Captain Stanley Hat -field was stabbed in his bunk by -Paroschos Leonis, another inuti- neer, and all three bodies were flung over the side.

Constant Van Hoyndock, mean- time, slept the, sleep of the m just man who has not been found out, and arrived on deck to find The command Cargolis in mutineer asked him if he knew sufficient navigation to take the ship to some secluded part of the French coast, where

the

might land and disappear. Van Hoyndeck, like a wise man, pro- mised to do so, and suggested that the men celebrate their emancipation by opening the whisky cases in the cuddy. The suggestion being gleefully agreed to, the steward took the wheel humour, and, with atavistic beaded the "Lennie" for the Isle De Rhe, in the Bay of Biscay.

Here the wisdom of M. Van Hoyndock was beyond question, for he knew the Isle De Ehe as the French prison island where desperadoes are kept pending transportation to the living death of French Guiana and Devil's Island It would be possible. for him to yo close inshore without the mutineers suspect- "ing this intention, and he knew that boats filled with police and prison guards would not be long in pushing off to make enquiries of the strange vessel.

M. Van Hoyndock's second sce in the hand proved his best card, however. The unaccustomed

spirit first made the men quar- -reisome and then stupefied them.

and the first stage was 2000m- ... panied by the violent deaths of five of the mutineers, and dur- ing the second, two of the more timid of their muüber crept to the steward with a proposition. Cargolis and. Carcaris, the dread- ed leaders of the rising, were lying on the caddy floor în a hazrible state of drunkenness from which it must take them some konts to recover. The two young men, Charles Renker and Giovanni Mores, who had acted throughout under duress, would disarm them and give the wea- pons to Van Hoyadock. When the Dutchman agreed, the pair disappeared below and presently Van Hoyndock was in posses- sion of two revolvers, a brace of hideous knives, and the knuckle- dusters of the late "Bull” Wort- ley.

The steward then did a brave thing. Locking the cuddy door on the unconscious ringleaders, be rounded up the remaining three men and, to the accom paniment of oaths that would have roused the admiration of the departed Mr. Wortley, he kicked and cuffed them on to the deck. Crisply he ordered them to their several duties, and like lambs the chastened rebels obey- ed him. Only one man, Leonis, who had murdered the skipper, made serious trouble, and Van Hoyudock soon disposed of him. Leonis accused the steward of being false to them, which M. Van Hoyndock instantly admit- ted Leonis then flung himself. at Van Hoyndock, but staggered back screaming, as a pair of kanckle-dusters, expertly used, smashed into his face. He gave -po further trouble.

Nor TR Van Haydock a stranger to the unveracious art of propaganda. Without a blush he informed the crew that "he would secure free pardons for all save Cargolis and his com- panion, and that he would con- tent himself with securing a modest five years for Leonis. Thus pacified, the men helped to place the two leaders in irons, and Van Hoyndock proceeded to the Isle De Rhe It took the short-handed vessel ten days to reach the island, and during that time the steward snatched his few hours rest in a locked and harred cabin, prepared all his own food for fear of poison, and went everywhere with his revol ver in his hand. He did not trust one of his allies, and twice he had to beat up Legais in ap proved "bucko" style.

At last the ship reached the prison island, however, where the all BEVEN authorities seized mutineers and surrendered them to the British courts.

Leonis, Cargolis, Carcaris and two other men, Karda" and An- gelos, received the death sen- tence, but Renken and Mores were pardoned for their aid in All of quelling the muting. which being satisfactorily set- Hed, M. Van Hoyndock returned “ to the sea, and became onca** more a humble, but not despised ship's steward: