WANDERING DANE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21029, 13 November 1931, Page 9

WANDERING DANE

STEWARD OF A BARQUE.

HOW HE GOT THE JOB

Mr. John Sorensen. steward of the barque Winterliude, while in Sydney recently broke an important rule he has laid down for himself. He talked. Early in his adventurous life Mr. Sorensen adopted the motto. "Hold your tongue and look wise, and they'll believe you can do anything." He would have preferred to have continued to live up to his motto, but was too polite to refuse to answer questions.

It was, judicious questions that drew forth liis interesting history. One gathered from his drawl, says the Sydney Morning Herald, that he was a native of the United States. But he corrected the impression. He is a Dane, but he lias wandered all over the two American continents and has tried his hand at almost everything. After several years at sea as a youth Mr. Sorensen went to Argentina to seek his fortune. r i here ho learnt to speak Spanish and English. Fortune refused to smile and after working in an ice works arid in a factory which manufactured ice chests and refrigerators he learnt how to lay pipes. "That is how I went to Chile," Mr. Sorensen told the interviewer. The connection was not very clear until he explained. "Nobody could lay pipes in Chile," he said, "and pipes were wanted in a saltpetre mine. If you keep your eyes open you learn, and I managed to be useful in the mine.'.' Unfortunately the mine closed almost as soon as constructional work had been completed, and Mr. Sorensen stayed in Santiago and Valparaiso until his money was exhausted. Then he decided to leave Chile and try his luck in Tcni. The journey up the coast presented difficulties to a penniless man, so he stowed away. Discovered, he was handed over to the police at the next port. As soon as the vessel had left port he was released, police officials being glad to got rid of a stowaway in whom no one was interested. So he stowed away again and again found himself locked up at the next port. Persistence won the day, and at last Mr. Sorensen was in Callao. The daily revolution amused him for a while, but lie did not like the thieving propensities of the natives. Not even a man's hat was safe if lie was a "gringo" (white man). Rut being a "gringo" had its advantages. When a revolution began the police would grasp him by the arm and lead him into the police station, out of harm's way. A drink, a cosy chair until the fighting ceased, and then release. The Winterhudo reacliel Callao a few days before (lie revolutionary leader Sanches Cerro became a candidate for the presidency, llis election cry was "deport the 'gringos.' " But the Government of the day proved too strong. Well-trained mounted troops, supported by foot troops, with machine guns, drove the rebels back. Nevertheless, to he a "gringo" was to go in fear of one's life, so Mr. Sorensen decided to leave. Mr. Sorensen rowed out to the Winterhudc, found that the steward had been sent home ill and offered himself for the post. Eighty-one days later he reached Sydney.