MOTE OF THE DAY.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 12876, 1 June 1936, Page 4

MOTE OF THE DAY.

“LOST, STOLEN OR STRAYED”? The exciting adventures of the straying British trawler. Girl Rat. have served to revive memories of the theft and recovery of a Scottisn vessel. the Ferret, which, in 1881. left the Homeland on a voyage under charter 'ostensibly to Marseilles. She was reported upon passing Gibraltar. Subsequently, the upper works of the Ferret were altered in an attempt to disguise her. In furtherance of the plan, even a boat and the lifebuoys were thrown overboard. The Ferret then returned to the Atlantic, and iicr name was changed. As the Bantam. she sailed to Santos, in South America, and under charter took on a cargo of coffee consigned to Marseilles. Instead, however, she went to fane Town, where, with false bills of lading, (bo coffee was sold. Ultimately she dropped anchor in Hobson’s Bay. Her Scottish owners advertised for her under the heading of “Lost, Stolen or Strayed.” On April 20. 1001. the Ferret, as the India, passed through Port Phillip Heads. An astute. official at. Queenscliff detected her similarity to the missing Ferret and 'suspicion was aroused. 1 1 tarn a tel \ •Tames S. Henderson (the charterer), William Wallace’ and W. B. Wright wove sentenced to imprisonment in the Central Criminal Court at Melbourne on, counts alleging conspiracy to cheat the owners, conspiracy to cheat the purchasers (the vessel was offered for auction in Melbourne), and intention to defraud the Customs Department. The . vessel was, later, sold- eventually to the Adelaide S.S. Company, and traded m Spencer’s Gulf. How far the Girl Pat will get remains# to lie soon. ! It seems that the underwriters consider that she is not worth spending a lot more money in searching for. What is most likely to happeh is that she will he i e-cap timed, sooner oi later, by a war vessel. In these'modern days, with the aid of wireless, she' has much less chance of a lengthy career as a “free lance” than did the Fciret.