COSMOPOLITAN

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 49, 27 February 1937, Page 21

COSMOPOLITAN

THE CITY OF MANCHESTER

The City of Manchester, which visited Wellington recently to discharge cargo from New York, carries a very mixed crew,.' but,■', according to her master, Captain T. Robinson, there are few quarrels among the men, and he, although disinclined to talk of himself, is obviously proud of His vessel.

Officered by Britishers, her crew Malayan, her firemen; Hindus, and her stewards Goa boys, she is. in truth a cosmopolitan of the seas. So it is with the more than eighty other vessels of the Ellerman Line. At fourteen months old the City of Manchester is one of the line's youngest daughters, and into her planning Went all the experience of her owners, whose present building programme provides for the construction of six similar ships, says a writer in the "Christchurch Star-Sun."

The. City of Manchester's coloured crew is signed on for twelve months only. At the end of that period—this is mast strictly laid down —the men must be returned to India or to Malay. Hence, Ellerman ships trading from London to the East usually carry in addition- to their crews numbers of men whose articles have expired. The wisdom of this repatriation system, in sharp contrast with" the practice once obtaining, lies in the .fact that no coloured seaman hailing from a land under British rule is now left stranded on a foreign beach.

According to Captain Robinson, the three groups of Asiatics aboard the vessel do not fraternise, one with the other. Hindus and Malays each have their own mess and their own cook. Rice is their principal foodstuff, although they use a great deal of dhbll, a yellowish flour from which are made chupaties—flat • thin. cakes which are cooked on top.of; the.stove. :■. •

There was one time, however, when Captain Robinson saw rather more of Asiatic crews than appealed to him. There were between six and seven hundred of them aboard his' ship,l and they were all'in a state bordering on panic. Considering what had befallen them this was not surprising. . .

It was on a night in September, 1914, when the Kabinga, the merchantman of which he was then master, was steaming across the Bay of Bengal, bound from Calcutta to New York with, a cargo of foodstuffs. Suddenly, out of the darkness came a shot fired across the ship's bows. This was followed by a signal, flashed in English, ordering the vessel to heave to.

As they thought that the cruiser was British, the order was obeyed, and not until a boat came alongside did the Kabinga's officers realise that their ship had fallen a prize to the German raider Emdcn. An armed crew of forty men was promptly put aboard, and Captain Robinson was informed that his ship would be sunk 'within an hour.

Luckily the high sea running made the transference of the Kabinga's people to the raider an impossibility, and a reprieve was granted until dawn. Dawn, however, brought on the scene another British vessel which met the fate intended for the Kabinga. The Emden then signalled the Kabinga to follow, and steamed away. • During the next five days, forbidden the bridge and the engine-room, the Kabinga's people could only look helplessly on, while four more good ships were sunk. They were the Clan Grant, which was carrying German cargo; the Indus, which had been fitted up as a troopship, and was voyaging to Australia, empty; the Killin, carrying coal; and the Harrison liner Diplomat, with a cargo of tea valued at a quarter of a million sterling. .

Curiously enough, all the ships sunk by the Emden during those five days carried Asiatic crews. .Finally ;these' were put aboard the Kabinga, and Captain Robinson was instructed to take them to' Calcutta. " ' v ,