EVENTFUL VOYAGE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19804, 17 December 1929, Page 10

EVENTFUL VOYAGE.

| COFFIN ON BOARD SHIP. CREW WALKS OFF. | CrBOK Off* own COEMSPOirSI.Tr.' J SYDNF.Y. December ) It is *n oid superstition of sailor* j that when a parson boards » ship be j brings bad luck. But when a. d-n-i parson is carried on board it is said that he brings more than bad lurk—- ! he creates a hoodoo. That is what the I crew of the Commonwealth and 7>oi minion liner Port Nicholson, whi« h sri rived ir> Sydney this week, consider ' ertr rate. S On the trip from Sydney tb.ey bad a sequence of bad luck that can only be regarded as extremely unusual. They don't say that the dead parson that was carried in a coffin had anything to do with it., but as one of the men put it : ''l did tx>t know <vh<U somethin' was goinc to 'appen next Why. I didn't breathe safe until thit cortin was put on the bloomin' shi;> " The first unusual event occurred when the Port Nicholson was ten days out from London on her way to Australia. The w-athcr had been hot in the Mediterranean, but not unusually so, according to hardened traveller;. Anyhow, one of the firemen, by "the oppressiveness, ended bis life by leaping overboard. The ship wa.-> stopped, but no trace could be found of tho unfortunate man. It was stated i that many sharks had been seen cruv- | nig around the ship, and one scama-i j declared that lie had been torn to : pieces by hungry sharks. "What coil!-' you expect?" he said. ''Look at our cargo;" Then engine trouble set in, and the vessel was delayed for some time :it Port Said, much to the disgust of the crew, who, it seems, dislike Port Said more than any other port in the world With that trouble fixed the Port Nicholson proceeded once more on her wav, and no sooner had she put to sea than a fire developed in her bunkers. Luckily the vessel was not far from Perim, and she immediately put into that port, when it was sefti that the fire was serious. She was there tor three days discharging the affected coal and taking on new coal. Her usual stay in that port was three hours, quite enough, too, for any member of the ere v.-. But the sequence of had tuck had not ceased. While unloading cargo from No. 1 hold in Sydney one of the men was badly injured and had to be taken to hospital. Throughout the voyage murmurs of discontent had been heard from the crew, and when the ship" renched Townsville they oil walked off and refused to go hack. However, after two davs and a night in g;iol, thev reboarded the vessel and brought it to Sydney, fearing all the time, as thev sav. that the Port Nicholson would be piled up somewhere on the Queensland coast. Enquiries are being held into the action of the crew. Tt seems that, most of the trouble among the crew was due to the superstition.