CAPTURE DESCRIBED

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 227, 22 June 1936, Page 9

CAPTURE DESCRIBED

Clever Manoeuvres Until Wind Dropped

(Received June 21, 7 p.m.)

London, June 20.

The special correspondent of the “Daily Mail” at Georgetown, who watched the Girl Pat’s capture from a motor-boat, cables that the Girl Pat anchored four miles from shore awaiting the tide. Meantime, after conferences throughout the night with the port authorities, Sir Geoffrey No'rthcot, the Governor, ordered the chase and arrest of the vessel.

Thirty armed native police, three British ex-servicemen and three local military police officers boarded the police steamer Pomeroon, which steamed out at dawn. The Girl Pat, with damaged sails and a generally battered appearance, set sail, started the auxiliary engine and steered for the open sea. She cleverly manoeuvred until the wind dropped as the sun rose, enabling the Pomeroon to run alongside, sinking the Girl Pat’s dinghy, which was trailing astern, and smashing the trawler’s bulwarks. The crew declare that they did not steal the Girl Pat. They did not want to return to England. They declined to see Press representatives. At present they are not detained, and the police authorities have cabled to England for instructions. The authorities decline to state whether they are prosecuting.