HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1927-09-01, Page 7•
A GRiM DRAMA OF THE HIGH SEAS
The Log of the Schooner Kingsway is 'a Tragic Tale of
Ten Men and a Woman
•••••.•••••••••••••.mmwr•••
MURDER THE END
That truth is stranger than fiction'
was illustrated' 'anew when the
schooner Kingsway came into New
York Harbor a few days ago with a
tale of ten men and a woman—a story
of primitive passion, jealousy, sick
-
ness„ murder on the high .seasand
peaceful death. What follows is an
account of tht, Iringsway's voyage,
:pieced together from herlog and from
the story disclosed during the investi-
gation conducted by the Federal
:authorities,
On the afternoon of Feb. 5, 1927,
lic
.... the schooner Kingsway was dipping
,quietly through the tepid waters of
-.the South Atlantic southeast of the
,Cape Verde .Islands and not far off
,e. the coast of Senegal. Seen front a
7i, little distance, the wallet outlines of
'her hull softened by the thin streaks
of foara, her four great lower sails
swelling to the wind, lithe would have
'been a sight to gladden an old sailor's
eye. She held, steadily to her course,
dipping to the long swells with a
:springy motion Unknown to those who
,go to tea with steam. She was one
in a vast watery wilderness. Africa,
reeking and pestilential, was out or
...e sight on her port bow, and on the star
-
board wore only the measureless
:miles of ocean. But the Kingsway
carried with her more than a gee -
graphical loneliness. She was one of
the last of her kind, one of the final
relics of the age of sail.
She sailed ostensibly to carry lum-
ber to the Gold Coast and bring back
•cocoa beans, but her real errand was
the vain and ancient pursuit of joy
'Those on board sought it in various
ways.
The Cook's Wife.
The cook's wife, a slim mulatto
-woman, pretty after her fashion, was
'polishing the lamps in the saloon
'where the captain and the mates had
their meals, It was a spacious enough
, ,,1,04131, with a nolid-looking table cov-
•,ered by a re dand white cloth, a cool
stove in ene corner and a. radiator
-connected in cold weather with the
donkey engine forward. Badke ran
the donkey engine—a German with a
swaggering, confident way with- him.
On tho IVA as ono entered the sa-
4.- loon was the door leading to the cap-
tain's cabin. •Dirdetly ahead, with its
port Isola opening on theh starboard
aide, was the pantry. To the lett an-
other door opened into the storeroom
-There are reasons for Moping store-
- Teems under the captain's eye.
The cook's wife having polished the
last lamp, sot it back in the bracket
aboye the table. She sang a little.
ea 'Then she slipped into the bathroom,
W next the room she and her husband
occupied, and looked at herself in the
captain's rather large square mirror.
-She smiled, showing white teeth. Life
had its moments for her.
• Battice, the cook, a dark -visaged
Porto Rican, was busy with his pots
mat paps in the galley. In good
weather, with its porta facing aft and
door opening to the deck, the gal-
l". ley ems not an unpleasant place. It
wee warm enough, to be sure, with
the temperature beginning to range
ebore 100, but the cook could reach
the rail in tour steps and get what
moving air there was. Battice had
kin dreams and his troubles.
The Husband's Dreams. '
His dreams had to to do with a girl
Sin Porto Rico, but his trouble, unfor-
tunately, wore near at hand. One of
them he could bring to light by open-
ing the door which led from the gal-
ley into the engine room, the head-
• quarters of the German, Badke. 'Or
if he did not caro to open that door he
could walk round the outside of the
galley and look in at Badko through
a broad open window.
The engineer on the Kingsway was
en essential member of the crew, but
not 'a continuously busy ono. Tho
schooner did not depend on auXiliary
e. power Lo kick her throtigh the dol-
denns. Her steam was to hoist sail,
to pump out bilge water, and in port
to handle cargo. Badke was, there-
fore, a man of leisure as well as of
reek, He walked with a swing, spoke
in loud tones, lorded It over the cone
mon seamen and held long confabs
in German with his -compatriots, Mello
bar and Kline. Ono look at him end
01 -any captain would -have known that
• he belonged to the tribe of sea law-
yers.
Ten Men and a Woman.
There were ten men and a woman
., on board—ten men alicl one woman
alkelooped within a space whose greatest
WIPilimonsioaly s was on203 feet; ten
mon and ono woman searching one
another with their oyes day after day,
elearning the least intonatioas01 otfe.
lenether's voices, becoming gruesome-
ly fainiliar with ono another's least 1
11
ing the door into the engine room to
got his ,coal, and though Badke- was
a violent man the two did. not oomo to
blow's.
,Th Skipper and the Mate,
On, the poop, deck, aft, two old men,
separated by law end tradition from
the, proletariat ot the forecastle, eyed
each 'other when they had to ex-
change words or when this), sat at
meals with a cold and growing hatred.
It was this hatred that gave the voy-
age- its puagency for them, .Captaln
Lawry, going aboard at Pensacola to
take the plaCe of a sick mister, had
found the Melt mate, Fred Mortimer,
already jealeue and hostile. Mort!.
iner had served the sea for half a
century. Command had ,been dang-
led before hie eyes and always he had
failed to grasp it.
Years ago he had known Jack Lon-
don and something like fame had
'come- hie way, Ile had sat for the
character of. ISIr. Pike in "The lguilslY
of ., the Elsinore" ---Mr. Pike of the
"stiff, craclaftweds smile," "huge Mr.
Pike," Mr. Pike the mauler,. Mr. Pike
the fearless, Mr. Pike with his love of
classical music. Since then, it was
said, he had trled to be Mr, Pike. But
he . was an aging, a bitter, a disap-
pointed, sometimes even a barrulous
Mr. Pike. He had the utmost Con-
tempt for present-day sailormen. They
were scum, fit only to bo knocked
about, lucky to be out of jail. it had
not been so in the golden days.
Stirring Mutiny.
Nevertheless he had a habit of go-
ing forward to talk to the crew The
talk on board—though few had ever
heard of Dr. Freed of Vienna—re-
volved about two subjects— sex and
food. Mr. Mortimer conversed with
endless animation about food. What
had the men had for supper? he
would ask. No fried notatoesi What
a pity. There had been fried potatoes
at the captain's table. He would rub
his stomach comfortably. Fried po-
tatoes. Pudding. He couldn't see
wh, the forecastle ehouldn't eat ,aa
weft as the cabin. ..
The men listened. One or two of
the older ones found it embarrassing.
They were not used to officers who
talkedrin such a fashion, There was
tension in the air; faint at first but
Iciatso gilyrowing, Badke's swagger
took on a touch of insolence. Ten
men—and one woman. Tho prestige
of captains and mates faded before
that tremendoue fact.. Ho Swaggered
in front of the captain, ho swaggered
in front of Battice.
The cook, thinking of the girl in
Porto Rico, kept silence. But Porto
Rico was being left further and fur-
ther astern. And Battice was becom-
ing a laughing stock. Men jeered at
him openly. Or a group would break
into loud guffaws as he approached
an dthen become suddenly silent. Ile
carried about with him a little private
hell of rage.
The Captain's Troubles,
Captain Lawry held to his course,
front Pensacola to the San Juan
River, front the San Juan River south-
ward and eastward to the Gold Coast.
He was not so much a part of the
drama as the centre about which it
turned, the one force that held the
ship's company togetMr. He was
law, order, government, public opin-
ion, a sense of responsibility. Be-
cause ho willed it the watches tum-
bled out regularly on deck, the sails
were' trimmed to the breeze, the
helmsman kept his place at the
wheel, and the Kingsway slid steadily
onward.
Who on board the schooner 'cared
whether or not the Gold Coast had
another cargo of lumber? Who cared
whether the schooner's owners in
New York got back the expected car-
go of cocoa beans? But this was what
she set out for and this was What
Captain Lawry, whose cold blue eye
not even Badlce could meet, was de-
termined she should achieve. Yet at
66 one does not set much store by
cocoa beans. It was a cargo of pride
that Captain Lawry was after—pride
In being one of the handful of men
still left in the world who could take
a four -masted schooner . :safely tient
Now York harbor to the Gold Coast
and back; pride, too, in meeting and
breaking the oppooing wills of other
mem
The Mate's Ambition.
The mate fought him doggedly, si-
lently, watch in and watch out. The
mato took off -sail at sundet, the Cap-
tain mad o him put it- back „regain.
Whenever their wills were in Melilla
the-• 'Captain's . prevafleas, ' Bet the
inate would not give up. 'TM sour -
less of half a century oe disillusion-
nent kept rising in him. He walked
heh Kingsway's holystoned decks,
ookod aloft at her 'varnished ma.sts,
he was slow, small, obsolete, but if
e had boon -her Captain how' he
Quid have loved her!
She was hie symbol of success, his
ast chance to put meaning into a bat-
ered and aimless life. And the Cap -
airs lied taken that chance from him,
it this his final voyage. Tho gloat
2 Mr. Piko rosewithin, his weekened
()fly, But the body of the mate was
eventy-foar years old., It could 110oeger Meek a 'tall man head over
heels with an uucleanched. hand. .It
could not, in any bold and dramatic
fashion, challenge destiny. Tho ghoet
of Mr. Pike looked out of frustratacl
and weary eYee.
email mannerisms, sometime, far
from Christian thoughts. Ten mon—
end ono woman, Badko, booking up
to catch the flash of white teeth at
his window, claimed the woinan, not
without competition. He strode about
the decks, a conquering male. For
him, too, life had its moments. t
In the forecastle, on the other side t
• ' oC the bulkhead from where the co-ok o
slammed his kettles on the stove, o
there was sneering gossip. Tho cook b
knew all about it, it was said. The s
cook was willing, it was said. But 1
Shore were those who thought other-
wise. a the cook were willing, why
did the •women flaunt the affair in
his face? Sho had been heard ,faunt-
ing him. I3ut Battice went on °nese
•
SISKSsesaseefiba,r'sd
''s4Stirs,'"osabSasS
The KisegeWay Hee' Melettecg
•
'-'S.S.;22eiss.APSSiVi.Oatesse
THE HOODOO SHIP OF THE ATLANTIC
The Tension Grows
•
Day by day the heat increased and
with it the electric tension in the
Kingsway's little world. There were
minor quarrels., resulting in oaths and
blows. Battioe grew more morose.
TM Captain found him prowling about
the storeroom and drove him out with
a belaying pin. Badke became in-
ereasingly truculent. The women went
about her work with a gay audacity.
What was there to conceal? She
leaned into Badke's window and the
engineer came grlmy-faced to talk,
with her,
The ten men and the woman were
on a small stage, with no exits and
no intermissions, under the merciless
spotlight of the African sun. They
could not .escane, they could not avoid
one another. Something had to hap- /
pen. Everybody knew it. On the
afternoon of the 5th of February
something did happen.
The Kingsway; healing to the wind,'
was doing her steady pace of some -1
thing less than ten knots, a white!
bloom of sails moving beautitully over
a calm eea. Batiks had left his,
engine. Where was he? He had been
, seen going aft, no one knew where.
No one? No ono but the woman, who
had finished cleaning her lamps and
-had disappeared. Battice was sltp-
piag stealthily out of the galley, leav-
ing his steaming pots behind. He
dropped into the shadow of the after -
companionway, ran along the passage,
darted to his right for a swift glance
into his own TOOM, with its tumbled
bunk and disarray Of clothes, .than
turned left, ran across the saloon and
paused, his right hand on the knob ot
the store -room door, his left band in
bis poeket. Then be burst the door
open and the woman screamed,
Badke Dodges the Razor
Badke the terrible, facing a black
man who carried an opeu razor in his
left hand, dodged like a scared rabbit,
reached the door, etunibled through
the cabin. His heavy boots clattered
down the passageway, up the ladder,
along the deck, The women scream-
ed again—a different kind of scream.
Would she never stop screaming?
The two enemies, Mortimer and the
Captain, burst into the store -room to-
gether, with the bo's'n behind them,
The Captaln picked the woman ap 'and
carried her into the after -cabin,
where he tried to stanch the blood.
Battik°, in irons, was clapped lute 1118
own room and his pots left to stew and
simmer without him. His voice rose
fitfuldy es madness eame upon him,
and he shouted and pounded on the
door. As If io ans-wer, came the wo-
man's groans. The Kingsway, bow-
ing delicately to the roll of the South
Atiautic, held. her -course. No roman-
ticist could have looked at her with-
out lamenting the passing of sails.
She swam upon the sea, a spectacle of
infinite peace.
A week went by, and the Kingsway
Atli pointed her bow, with its collar
of foam, to the southeast, carrying
lumber, seeking cocoa beans. The
woman still cried out and Battice still
beat upon his door. On the twelfth,
when the schooner was off the shore
of Liberia, the women became delirl-
ous. She wanted to be taken to a
hospital, she wanted tea with sugar,
she' wanted yellow etooltlagS and a
drink of whiokey. Early in the afters
11004 her cries wene sillenced. Sho
• fell into a sleep and died. At sunset,
So -wed hi t'allY S, she was' ell& into the
seas Badke the berrible, the -conquer-
ing male, Mood by with the rest of the
crow, heard the Captain read the burial
eervice and watched hor go.
• Mutiny and BadCookery
The Kingseeay'e great dramatic
moment had paesed. • But still she
slipped southeastward, for the Gold
Coast ,'stili needed lumber and New
York still needed oonon. On the asc-
end of March she was at SekoSadi, on
the Gold Coast, whore you may be-
lieve, if you dike, that Hanno's men
caw gorillas and mietaok them for
human beings, 13attlee, hewing at
the bulkhead between., his- roam and
the captain'e bathroom, escaped,
Plunged into the eterf with two life,
preservers, and was- hauled back.
The nervee of eight harassesi men
gave way and the crew refused: duty.
Daelke, 'leader of an lnainlent mattilY,
had a chair raised to strike the cap-
taln—so the forecastle verelen of the
incident had it. But the oaptain's
cold eyes and a suggestive lump in
the captaieSe right-hand pocket stop-
ped the miniature revolution before
it had fairly begun, °
The Kingsway went about her busi-
ness, poking her nose leisurely in and
out of the inlets as tar as Aocra, leav-
Sag lumber ane picking up cocoa.
Codgo, a negro who appeared out of
the wilderness at Sekondi, was cook
in Battlee's• place. His intentions were
good, hie technique, poor. Digestions
began to suffer. Even the captain be-
gan to take strychnine to weed off the
evil he felt desoendin,g upon him.
• But the mate, his hold ult.= life
loosening with the loss of his last bat-
tle against destiny, took no precast
terms against •the beackwater fever
and the dysentery which lie in wait
along the African coast. The guar -
rel between the two old men, had s-et-
tled now into a -chronic irritation,
m• oldering, hut never coming to a
violent outbreak Ishe kingeway's
bow was at last turned homeward.
The Mate's End
A sullen silence settled over the
vessel. But VOW a new kind of strut,
gle was manifestly taking plaee—no
contest for a woman new, no wrestle
for powr, but an old man's fight to
live until he could touch land again.
The Kingenay was more than half
way home, and heading in toward the
Braille -re coast when the mate fell ill
of fever. Two days later he returned
to work. Twelve days after that the
fever seized him again. He could not
eat, but lay in his bunk all day arnict
the fumes of his endless cigarettes.
In his extremity he turned to the
captain for reassuranoe. Perhaps,
he said, he was emoloing too etrong
tobacco, and it was affecting his heart.
The captain felt of the swellings on
his feet and lege and prescribed ra-
tions of whisky and milk three times
8. day. h 19th h
tottered to the deck to take charge of
his watch. It was his last dream of
command. A seaman ran to the cap-
bain with news that the mate had
gone below, leaving the deck without
an officer. Six days later the mate
died.
Captain Lawry, who had been
standing in for the Barbados in the
lhope of getting a decker, wrote in the
ship's log in his crabbed hand that
the dead man's fate was "probably
due to ruegleot of health rules on the
African coast." With a seaman's
0E1143 of unsentimental juatice to the
dead as to the living he added a final
and meroilese comment upon the
passing of Mr. Pike. A master a n
vessel is required to eat down in the
log his opinion a the ooncluct and
ability of eaoh member of his crew.
Captain Lawry, dipping his pen in
tek tinctured with half a century of
bitter experience, wrote clown his
• opinion that the dead mate's ability
ADAMSON'S ADVENTURES—By 0. Jacobsson. 't had been "poor" and his conduct
' dibad." Such was the epitaph of Mr.
Pike.
Irony's Final Touch
The Kingsway touched at Barbados
to put ashore whatever was forbal
Fred Mortimer, then beaded north-
ward again, wilh the fruits of her
adventure -450,000 worth of cocoa
beans. But the irony which had at-
tended her voyage had in reserve a
deft final touch. Codga, whose mo-
tives were above reproach, was as
poor a cook as ever put to sea.. Some
members of the crew, finding him in
a earner mumbling over two sticks,
were inolined to believe that he was
casting a voodoo charm over the ves-
sel. It is more likely that he was
merely invoking his tribal gods—
vainly, as it turned out—to make him
a better cook. The captain fell sick
and Mgt alive, as he believed, only
by heroic doses of drugs. Cadge him-
self was sick, his legs swelled as the
madte'e had before 111.111, and he lay
hila bunk and groaned.
Baltics, alone could cook. So it
happened that ten days before the
schooner reached New York he was
released from his irons and put back
in the galley among his pots and pans,
Badko, on the other side of the galley
dome stood by his engine. Captain
Lawry walked, the poop deck and sot
stile course. In tilts fashion the Kings, -
way waived off Barnegat and the
Coast Guardsmen came aboard. And
then the strange little shipboard
world fell apaggr One man went to
jail on sa, muster charge, four were
held as witneseee, the flees in the en-
gine room were allowed, to go, out, and
the eaptain Lisped his papers and
went ashore.
1.:
Ftop
1-14m"c91i1'1T
-.F.on.obis:Al30ur-
-1-07 pun.,
-rza '0/E. -PON%.\
WILL BE
Pi 5T01-5.1/
^ ' ,
COUNT LE, BUM SErees
25 REGARDS—zE fesEeTING-
mit. TAKE PLAca
SUNRISE?'
ADAM 1
015
0
Cancer Fight is
Making Progress
Duke of York Writes Encour.,
aging. Letter Read
- to Meeting
London. --"I am delighted to oee
that the work' of the Cancer Caln-
paign has been steadily moving tot,
ward towards Its goal—the discovery
of the cause and cure of cancer,"
wrote the Duk of York (President)
in a letter read at the annual Meeting
of the Cancer Campaign at the Mouse
of Lords --the Lord Chancellor Presids
ing. "I am glah, too," he wrote, "that
the work being carried out includes
important research into the cure of
calmer, as well as into the cause, and
it is my earnest and heartiest hope.'"
that advancement may be rapid, and
that discoveries helping the solution
of the problem may be made In the
near future,
The very successful appeal for the
establishment of a cancer research
centre in connection with the Univer-
dity of Sydney, New South Wales, ,re -
milted in a munificent support of near-
ly E155 0,00, and 2 am pleased to
know that an application is before
the Grand Council for affiliation from
this now researoh centre of our great
dominions, and that a further link
may be forged by the inclusion ot
their representatives on the Grand
Councll. , Another happy association
is the appointment of your former or-
ganizing adviser, Lieutenant -Governs
or Sir John Goodwin to the Governs
orship of Queensland.
I know his enthusiasm for the cause
of cancer research will awaken much
sympathy and help in that countrY.
I am interested to learn that dur
ing my absence overseas the National
Cancer Campaign (Ireland), which
consists of associated representa-
tives from the North and South "of
Ireland, has been granted affiliation
by the Grand Council.
If success attends our great effort,
as we are determined it shall attend
it, we shall owe much to the untiring
devotion of the laboratory workers,
together with our physicians and sur-
geons, the lay members of our com-
mittees, and the generous supporting
public. I would rigs like to express
ray cordial thanks to the press for all
the help they rendered to this cause.
It will give xne great pleasure to re-
main the president of this great hu- •
manitarlan movement."
The Lord Chancellor said they were
all greatly encouraged by the strenu-
ous and successful work being done.
The campaign was receiving the sup-
port of the whole Empire.
Herder's View.
Sir Thomas Herder. said, although
the campaign was still far from Its
goal, there were more hopeful tenden-
cies in research than ever before.. It
was clear that concentrated effort was
being made in the problem from
many different angles.
The campaign did not accept re-
sponsibility for the 'scientific state.
ntents made in the various reports,
for it was really a co-ordinating body
and clearing -house giving its support
to institutions and workers conducts
Mg research. .
It often happened that independent
laboratories tackling identical prob-
lems produced identical results which
did not entirely coincide, and until
the whole problem had been investi-
gated sueh apparent anomalies would
occur. A matter of 'great interest re-
ferred to in the report is the treat-
ment of cancer by metals in solution,
and particularly lead. A generous
grant has been made to St. Bartholo-
mew's Hospital to enable the staff to
carry on research into that subject.
It was known that methods along that
lino were dangerous to patients, but
he looked forward to the elitnination
of risks. Efforts were also being made
to find an effective serum, and he
hoped that iu both these lines of
treatment lay great possibilities of
dealing with the disease. There was
need for an extension of treatment by
radiam.
It was decided to grant affiliatioe
to the Thsivereity of Sydney Canoes
Research Committee,
Sun's Storms More Furious
Than Earth
Storms on the sun aro nothing but
hurricanes, like those that sweep the
Caribbean Sea and the Florida coast,
but on a much grander scale.. Instead
of a speed ot 100 miles an hour or so,
they move farther than that in a
second, and instead of being coms
posed of air they are hurricanes of
flaming gases, says Popular Meehan-
les Magazine. A hurricane on the
earth revolves around a central calni
that may be 20 miles Or So across.
The whole world, and several more
like it, could be placed side by side la
the central vortex of such storms on
the SUS.. They get their name of sun
spots because this central vortex
photographs as a black spot 011 the
astronomer's plate. But it is only a
comparative black, for actually- it is a
flaming zone far brighter than the
greatest searchlight over built. It is
only in comparison with the intense
'bright -nese of the ret of- the ,sun that
it appears black, ,
Couldn't you -mention several
places in this coentry where profit-
able employment might ho given the
nalssicmaries driven out of China?
Is your vocation worthy? Of course
it is. Are you worthy of it? Of
course you are or 3011 wouldn't be in
it,, •