RUNNING THE BLOCKADE.

Evening Post, Issue 128, 1 June 1895, Page 1 (Supplement)

RUNNING THE BLOCKADE.

yei A portion of the crew of the Meta- ] pedia, Liverpool, which successfully for ran the Chinese blockade with war &« material last December, have returned ™j to Swansea, where they were shipped. a^, They include John Dumphy, fire- the man; Alf. Pugh, seaman; James gu Weteh, donkeyman; Charles Wil- an . liams, fireman ; Dan Bryant, sea- 0 man ; Jack Euston and James > Fergusson. The men shipped on the ex: vessel at Swansea in October last, tal having no suspicion that they were ££, going to carry contraband of war. ra j At 'Havre and Antwerp several cases coi of rifles and sidearms were shipped, oa: with half-a-dozen heavy cannon, and severalcasesof ammunition, including "° dynamite, etc., were taken on board aca c — an operation which was repeated in th port at Hamburg. TheSwanseamen l<u took the first opportunity of inter- j™ viewing the captain, with the result that four of them (cook, steward, wl donkeymau, and fireman) thereupon re left the ship. Some new hands were £ c shipped, and the vessel proceeded to sea — and to Japan. The Swansea af men who remained say they had no bt alternative, seeing that they had no to money to return, the half of their pay being left at homo for their wives. pt They also had the oaptain'B assurance that they would be all right. Seventy en days were occupied by the voyage. ™ : Kobey and Eucoska, in Japan, were "j the alternative ports of their destina- ba tion. Describing the running of the ca blockade, the men say that their *« vessel ignored Gibraltar, and, pro- ™ bably because they were flying the *] English flag, were let pass. At Port pi Said, where they were bound to stop, Id they took in a few tons of bunkers as a blind. Every precaution was taken *J in other ways, and by clever man- pc ceuvring every vessel was avoided. It sb was here, too, as they afterwards <« learnt, that the Chinese Government ** first suspected her, and a search was Bt made for her immediately. After re her departure Japanese waters were oi reached in due course, and Kobey P ( was reached, and here the dynamite gl and saltpetre and powder were dis- j B charged. On Christmas Eve the D Metapedia sailed for Eucoska, where n< there is a Japanese dockyard, and ?' there the remainder of her cargo was " discharged. She then returned to ii Kobey, and, having been inspected ti by the Japanese officials, was sold to t! the Government, and the men were ;i Bhipped home as passengers on board „ a North German Lloyd mail steamer, £