NOT A “FLOP-SHIP”

Grey River Argus, 27 August 1946, Page 5

NOT A “FLOP-SHIP”

U.S. TRANSPORT : EXONERATED r « ■ Return Trip Begins SAN FRANSISCO, Aug. 24. ; The United States War Shipping Administration has angrily denied ) the charges that the “Marine Falcon” was a “floating flop house,” as she - was named on arrival at Sydney: The Administration pointed out that the j “Marine Falcon” has carried as many - as five thousand when a troop-ship. , Commercial lines’ troop-ships had to " be reconverted to provide emergency transportation. The passenger traffic I chief of the Administration, Mr. A. S. Stanford, said: “We cannot provide pre-war luxuries. We have received nothing but complaints and trouble from people travelling to Australia and New Zealand since the end of the war.” SYDNEY, August 24. The United States authorities in Sydney will make a full investiga- I tion of the passengers’ allegations “ A of “filthy and disgusting conditions” on the American transport “Marine ; Falcon.” Mr. S. H. Richter, regional representative of the United States I War Shipping Administration, will " inspect the ship. Captain Robert ~ Eastman, master of the “Marine Fal- Z con,” and representatives of the ~ Matson Line, the agents of the ship, •• will accompany him on the inspec- * tion. I A New Zealander, Miss Nola Luxford, the founder of the Anzac Club I in New York, who, at her own ; expense, brought home an Australian seaman suffering from advanced - tuberculosis, said: “I travelled to Europe during the war with 5000 - American troops and conditions then ... were fifty times better than on the ’ “Marine Falcon.” This ship was filthy. I was promised a two-berth cabin with a porthole and screen for myself and my seaman patient, ■■ but the promise was not kept. We . ~ were placed in an isolation ward with no- privacy. Nobody was assigned to - clean our quarters and eleven days - after leaving San Francisco I was still mopping floors and cleaning the < bathroom with my own disinfectants. I asked the captain to have the isolation ward cleaned. Three days later a coloured boy topped the floor. “Sick children cried during the night in the hospital ward next to our quarters, but the nurses were apparently off duty at. nights.” Captain Eastman said that Miss ; Luxford later had been given a sixberth room with a private shower ; and a room adjoining for herself. ; While admitting that there had been .. complaints, Captain Eastman .said ) that complaints of overcrowding and insanitary conditions were not justi- - fled. He had heard no' complaints of r girls being molested.

U.S. Troopship Sails 774 PASSENGERS LEAVE SYDNEY. '■ /FIGHTING AMONG NEGRO 7 . CREW. / SYDNEY, Aug. 26. ' The United States troop transport ■ Marine Falcon, left the wharf, on Sunday night for America with 774 passengers, including 72 Australian brides and 150 fiancees of American servicemen. An inspection of the ship during the week-end following complaints by passengers resulted in a verdict favourable to th e ship. The great / majority of the passengers had ex- ; pressed themselves as satisfied. There - were only six cancellations of passages to San Francisco of which, four were because of sickness. Departure was delayed last night by fights among Negro members of ; the crew. More than 2000 friends and relatives of passengers stood on the wharf. Negroes fought on the ; crowded decks and in the mess hall. * The police and United States pro- ■ vosts had to be called aboard the ship „ to quell the disturbances, which be- - ban on the wharf when a Negro re- ?. fused to leave a white girl. He “ struggled with two shipmates as they “ dragged him to the ship’s side. The ■ gangways were raised, so the men ~ tied a rope around his waist and haul- - ed him aboard. Before he disappeared I he was fighting among passengers / at the rail. Another Negro stripped to the waist appeared on the deck, ; and picking up a passenger’s child • kissed it. When the passenger remonstrated another fight broke out. ; White girls embraced Negroes lean- *_■ ing from portholes. In a lull a white . woman on the wharf diverted the interest of the crowd by knocking to - the ground a man whom she alleged had insulted her. Before the ar- , rival of the police the Negroes were using table knives in a brawl on the mess deck. The ship eventually cleared Sydney at 1.40 a.m. to-day.