A SEA ROVER. SOMETHING ABOUT TOM LAWSON

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1060, 24 February 1911, Page 2

A SEA ROVER. SOMETHING ABOUT TOM LAWSON

"THE TIME WE MUTINIED." Tom Lawson, the Nelson sculler, who is with tho Arnst brothers to represent New Zealand in the Parramatta Handicap, to be rowed in Sydney next month, has had a carter that is lull of interest. From first to lost it smacks of the briny. When a mere' boy, barely i 4 years of age,-in Newcastle-oii-Tyne, he jumped out into the ocean's arms as cook's mate ,on a coastal. and cross-Channel schooner. Cook's mate at 11—on tho North Sea: a hard, grimy life, my masters! Bad enough to crush tne spirit and sink tho soul of any ordinary lad. But they are a. hard lot on -the .Tyne, and have learned .to light misery—to joke at dinneriess uays and laugh at the bitter gales irom tne icy nortn. ' - "What did you know about cooking?" • "Xvotriuig-except that potatoes' were cooked by boiling water, i'ho captain used to make the duff when the weather permitted, and 1 used to scramble with the'potatoes and tea. What a life! No man knows what bjys.sufler at sea. I've been on a Nova Scotian, sailing out of Boston, when the skipper has kept a boy up all night polishing brass-work, who had alreauy done bis twelve hours during the day. Yes, I made a couple of trips lietween Boston and Buenos 'Ayres .with a Nova Scotia skipper. Hard? i'ou talk of. novels; they don't tell you half —Jack London excepted perhaps.. There you have to. light—tight ■ men you sympathise with—that's what I had to do as second mate. Too much work, too little to cat—that's what makes V men . wild beasts at.sea. ; "Talking about ffrod reminds me of the time we mutinied on an Italian barque lying six miles off Buenos Ayres. There were two Yankees, two from Liverpool, and myself, contracted to sail, for Newcastle, New South Wales, under the csndition that the food would be the : same •as served Out on a British ship. We went On board and started to get the sills tent. The first morning no coffee—and three feids of, thin macaroni;, and tea—well, it was meant for tea,» but it had never seeb ; "'& tea-leaf; it was hot.water sweetened with molasses, rl never saw siich stuff in my life. We complained, but no improvement .was mado by the mate (in the absence of the skipper ashore). The third day we decided not to turn to, but on my suggestion went to.tell; tho sccond mate, the only one of 'erti who could speak ,a word of English, that we wanted him to hoist the police flag or a pennant. all had'our knives, and were ready for any kind of trouble, but when we said we' Would not leave the cabin until the flag w'as: hoisted, Antonio got a" bit, scared, ar.d up went the flag. ' We got our.things" up a.nd bundled into the launch/, each with one hand oh his ( sheath, knife as ho scrambled over the 1 bulwark.. One of the ctew had been stabbed to death | a few days before oii. hoard, and it, was a real, surprise not- to'see:.the flash of steel so common with fho enraged Italian at.sea. . ; Y- ■ "That, was on.the old La Plata—there's a river for you. For a " long way 'up the other side is; out'of sight, and. I have steamed 800 miles higher up than Buenos Ayres—winding, in "and. out with the country stretching", away On. every side as far' as the eye could' reach—a. dead level..; No. life,'.savo here, and there a solitary horseman, a few head of cattla -f-a big, empty land then." • . ' Lawson ca'mo to New Zealand as boatswain's'mate of the new Tongariro, and since then has: worked on the Anchor, beats Nikau. and ' Kiiitoa, 'and;was for ten; months, a. member of 'tho pilot'/, crew. 'He is a' pood' and powerful swimmer, has won medals for rowing,'6nd came •second in the heavyweight ljoxing con■test.at Nelson (wliich he onlv lost through accidentally fouling his mail). He stands ,oft.- 2in., weighed 13st. 31K dressed yesterday, and is built in'attractive proportions.* If ho is as active'as he is powerful he .should • -showing in the Parr'iimaffa 'HSndlclp?''! • i