STRUGGLE ON SHIP

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 85, 7 October 1936, Page 12

STRUGGLE ON SHIP

: MATE ASSAULTED c ■ ■ t " ■ r , : .. I AXE THROWN INTO CABIN i ■. - ■ . • ...-. f . ■ ■ ; ' (By Telegraph—Press Association.) 1 . CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. : With the ship following a zig-zag ' course the third officer and the quarter- . master struggled at the wheel of the I Remuera as the vessel • was passing > Cape Campbell on Monday night. Later a ship's axe thrown by the ■ quartermaster crashed through a glass - panel into the captain's cabin, where L the third !officer had gone seeking aid. • The quartermaster followed the axe and grappled with the mate, but received a black eye and was taken into custody. ■ The' quartermaster, James Lundy, aged 42, a native of Ireland, appeared in court this morning charged with assaulting the third mate, Harold Hill, on -the high seas. He was sentenced to three months' hard labour by Mr. E. C. Leyvey, §M., and ordered to be placed on the ship at the end of the term. . The police said the Remuera sailed from . Wellington at 5 o'clock on Mon"day afternoon. Lundy was due on the .bridge at 8 ■ o'clock but arrived ten minutes late. The third,mate' knew that Lundy had been drinking in Wellington and after, a few minutes he sent for another man to take the.wheel as. the mate was anxious ..to get an accurate bearing from Cape Campbell. Lundy refused to' go, but. after a struggle was put out of the wheelhouse. Lundy returned and the mate went into the captain's cabin to . call the- captain. . -There was- a crash as an axe came through a panel.Hill, in evidence, said that soon after Lundy .took • the wheel he found that the ship:was off.her.course.-: A chart produced by witness indicated that a zig-zag course had been taken and Hill said he found it impossible to get another bearing'with Lundy steering. ', In evidence, Lundy said the mate told him, the ship was off her course and. his reply was that he was bringing her back. He claimed that the mate struck him and''stupefied him. After he was put off the bridge he saw the axe and the sight of it tempted him to'threaten the thifd: officer. ' ; '. In reply to the Magistrate, Lundy , declared that his mind was a blank . from the time' he alleged he was struck outside the wheel-house until he found himself• in the captain's cabin.