LAND PIRATES.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 45, 23 February 1911, Page 2

LAND PIRATES.

« ARMED THIEVES BOARD A STEAMER. The lawlessness permitted in the port of Buenos Aires has always been the talk of visiting mariners, and the following story of a sea captain now in Melbourne will illustrate how inefficiently shipping is protected there: — "Lying at the No. 3 dock when I was there," states the captain, "was the British steamer Blue Jacket, loading cereals. At about 9.30 a.m. one day, when the Bteamer was busy taking aboar dcargo with thiee gangs of stevedores' labourers, an armed posse of professional thieves boarded her. A number of them immediately set to work to steal tho tarpaulins off No. 1 hatch, and the remainder proceeded to tho forepeak to rake whatever they could lay their hands on. The labourers andshi pping clerks, all of whom were residents, were afraid to cry for assistance, 23 the thieves were armed, and would make them marked men. Even a dock policeman near by took no notice. The chief officer, however, came on the scene and immediately armed him-s-.elf with a revolver, and threatened th.i raiders. Some jumped ashore, but others drew knives and stood their ground. One man wifcth a knife about a foot Ion? lunged ac the officer, who did not shoot, because the captain ha dgiven strict orders not to get into trouble with the port authorities, -those on shore began hurling stones at the officer, one of them cutting his wrist badh - Seeing they could not take anything off the Miip m safely, tho thieves decamped, but none of them were captured. This was the third attempt made on the steamer during her stay in port, but knowing how futile an attempt to get justice. would be, the master did not complain to =;he captain of the port. Tho British consul was notified, however, and it is believed he is taking action." — Melbourne Argue.