PACIFISTS’ KETCH

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28606, 7 June 1958, Page 4

PACIFISTS’ KETCH

Interception At Sea (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) HONOLULU, June 5. The United States Coastguard had intercepted the ketch Golden Rule as it made its third futile attempt to sale toward the forbidden nuclear test zone at Eniwetok, apparently under the “doctrine of hot pursuit,” United Press International reported today. The news agency reported a crew member as saying that the ketch had been taken into custody by a Coastguard cutter more than three miles off the Hawaiian coast. The United States Government usually considered three miles off the coast as the limit of its jurisdiction, but the legal “doctrine of hot pursuit” permitted seizures on the high seas. A full crew of four men was aboard the Golden Rule. The vessel was under the command of William Huntingdon, of SV James, New York, who had returned to Hawaii from a visit to the United States mainland. Huntingdon normally was second in command of the ketch, but earlier in the day its skipper, Albert Bigelow, of Connecticut, was taken from the boat just before its sailing and returned to the County Gaol cell which he had occupied for several days after his original sailing attempt on May 1. Suspended Sentence

Federal Judge Jon Wiig last month found the pacifists in contempt for defying his order against the voyage and gave them a 60-day suspended sentence. All American citizens have been barred from the test area by an Atomic Energy Commission order.

United Press International said George Willoughby, a member of the crew, in a radio-tele-phone call had said that the Golden Rule had gone beyond the three-mile limit when two Coastguard boats intercepted it. Coastguard Lieutenant Robert Hanson .boarded the ketch and informed the crew that Huntingdon was subject to an arrest warrant, Willoughby said.

“In accordance with those orders we have turned about and are returning under our own power,” he added. The news agency said a Government spokesman had said Huntingdon was singled out in the warrant because he was second in command of the original crew. Apparently, it was the Government’s intention to have as few gaoled martyrs on its hands as possible, the news agency said.