QUEER CARGOES

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 13325, 30 April 1941, Page 6

QUEER CARGOES

Condensed from "The Trident," London.

In days scuttling a ship seems to be, in certain quarters, a comparatively easy matter, but there was one captain, who, try as he might, found it impossible to scuttle his vessel, although under orders to do so. It was in 1895 and the vessel, the Adelphi Couppa, having shipped in utmost secrecy a cargo reputed to be of great value, slipped quietly out of Smyrna harbour, the ship and cargo carrying insurances amounting to nearly £ 200,000.

For one reason or another the suspicions of the underwriters were aroused, and so it happened that each time the skipper was on the point of scuttling his vessel another ship appeared on the horizon, apparently by unfortunate coincidence. Actually these "unofficial escorts" were there at the instigation of the underwriters, the suspected skipper never being left alone long enough to accomplish his nefarious purpose. In Port Again So it came about that, after wandering unhappily through the Mediterranean and the Bay of Biscay, the ship was docked, willy-nilly, in port again! The "valuable" cargo was examined, to be exposed as a colossal fake. "Cases of opium" handled on loading with the "utmost care," were in reality, cases of squashed raisins wrapped in leaves; "casks of oliveoil" were ordinary sea-water, and cases of "finest-quality fruit" just so much rubbish.

In 1915 another vessel and her cargo came under suspicion, but for vastly different reasons. Havoc was being created by a German mine-lay-er among British shipping plying between India, Colombo, Malaya and Burma. The suspected vessel was. to a,\\ intents and purposes, an in-nocent-looking old Norwegian tramp steamer.» Convinced that this was indeed the ship with the deadly cargo, the naval authorities stopped her time and again, to carry out extensive search, to no avail. Then by a subterfuge a down-and-out Norwegian sailor, in the pay of the authorities, was placed aboard the suspect, and through this man her deadly cargo was eventuallv revealed, cunningly concealed in a false stern, the mechanism of which was so simple that a touch of a lever was sufficient to lay a mine direct in the path of British shipping. Cursed Some cargoes are profoundly and thoroughly cursed on account of the discomfort they create. The crew of the Medon had a few words to say about her cargo before they were through it. Consisting of 1,000 tons of Egyptian onions, to be taken to Sydney, Australia, from Alexandria, the unwelcome cargo had to be kept well ventilated and at a certain temperature to prevent fermentation. Every morning a party was detailed to go below and air the Medon's holds returning each time to report to the captain with tears coursing down their cheeks, to the unrestrained mirth of their companions.

Another unwelcome cargo in hot weather is sugar. The nauseating smell penetrates to every corner of the ship and the crew cannot get it out of their nostrils while the sickly taste permeates everything. Usually by the time the vessel reaches port the men are consumed with a craving for anything sour. The fumes arising from fermenting sugar can also prove dangerous, as was the case -when ten men were gassed in

the hold of 'theliner CkwrkM was laden with sugar- " Seeing Things" When the Kenllworth doctei San Francisco and her taken off the captain thought B "seeing things," for what 0* to be a green and &*» .rain extended the entire >«£ the vessel. The steamer W£ a cargo of California*,** Leith, taking in as ball , return Journey a good u U Scottish earth. U»«* <( had been clinging to the ; hold s had dropped dog.j* soil and sprouted. H • 0 usual "cargo" of a =■ barley Some shipper **•*,, to'cater especially °' $ l cargoes, and a ca,e,»'' ml( , : Mr Christen Sm'.,^ the Press in l^ J - llvP are fitted with.except* lining gear to ena . aboard such unwieldy railway locomotives „ and in the sixteen yeart ; rled rolling stock 000 to all parts of tn der wrlter. ""£***>* upon to pay a single No account of complete without * , classic story of tM Golden Fleece, tor mystery there was, » wherever sailors mee.^,; The Golden ***&*#' Boston Harbour for 1871, with *ffgt*<<* 5, at three o'clo^^. ce , a; . the packing around t^ old^ -* e ablaZe " -j! a furnace. Ppnj; d p0 t?« the ice did not me flames, and the;<g»WJ ed to put into ;P| „*■ spite the inten^ 6 brigade the cargo fiercely-