A PEEP BEHIND IRON CURTAIN FOR BRITISH SEAMEN

Grey River Argus, 6 October 1949, Page 5

A PEEP BEHIND IRON CURTAIN FOR BRITISH SEAMEN

LONDON, October 4.

.British seamen, who returned to Southampton to-day in the freighter Springfjord, said that every time they entered a Russian port, armed troops searched the ship. The Springfjord brought the first cargo of timber to arrive from Russia since the war. The timber was loaded at Archangel and Onega. The seamen said that each time they left or entered port, the crew of 25, except one officer who accompanied the Russian search party, were kept under guard in the saloon

or on the bridge dock. Binoculars, cameras, navigation books and personal mail were seized by the Russians until the Springfjord sailed. Russian boys and girls of school age were employed on loading the ship. The boys worked on the hatches and the girls on the wharf as tally clerks. Boys aged 12 worked until midnight. The British crew offered them chocolate and oranges but they took them only when out of sight of the Russian armed guards.