SAILORS ASHORE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21763, 31 March 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

SAILORS ASHORE

AN EVENTFUL RETURN ALLEGATION OF ASSAULT SEAMAN SUES CAPTAIN * " BLAZING " NATIVE LIQUOR A midnight scene on board a liner while she lay at anchor in Santos, South America, was described to Lord Hewart, the Lord Chief Justice, and a special jury in the King's Bench Division in London recently. Hjalmar Sorensen, aged 50, an able seaman, sued William Brower Atkins Angus, master mariner, for damages for assault. Sorensen was one of the crew of the steamer Napier Star. He alleged that when he went on board, after a night ashore, as the ship lay in harbour at Santos,. Captain Angus, without provocation, struck him a heavy blow on the jaw, " which was broken in two plactes. Tho defence was that Sorensen went on board shouting insults and threats, and, when asked for an explanation, attacked Captain Angus, who'struck him in self-dofence. Mr. Malcolm Hilbery, K.C., for the plaintiff, said on the night of June 17, 1929, the winches wore at work in the Napier Star, and Sorensen and three of his friends decided that, as they coiild not sleep, they would go ashore. They had a bottle of beer apiece and spent some time at a place of entertainment. After midnight they returned to the ship. Norwegians and Scots One of the men, named Jock —apparently of. the same nationality as Captain Angus said there was some joking discussion on the relative generosity- of Norwegians and Scots. It was suggested that somebody made offensive remarks about the captain while the men were on the quay, but it certainly was not Sorensen. However, when he put his foot on deck he was iity once tackled by Captain Angus, who shouted at him and struck hiiri on the jaw, knocking him down. He was carried to his berth, and afterwards sent to a hospital ashore. Owing to the way his fractured jaw had set he could not masticate his food, and was not able to carry on his work as a seaman. " There are no special cooking arrangements on board ship for a seaman who cannot eat hard food," said counsel, who added that Sorensen had also lost his nerve for going aloft. Sorensen • said lie went ashore with three others —Jock, a Scotsman, Gustavisan, a Swede, and Wesa, a Russian Finn. He had 6s. in his pocket, and spent very little of it. They had three glasses of beer. Lord Hewart: • Not between youP— three apiece. (Laughter.)

- " Ten Times Meaner " As they were, reaching the ship Jock asked him to " stand another drink."' Ho /refused, and : Jock remarked"l thought Scotsmen were mean, but Norwegians \ are ten. times meaner.". (Laughter.) • "/ihere were no ' high words,' " said Sorensen. " Jock went up the gangway ahead of me,, and "when I reached the deck Captain Angus caught hold of my right arm and, turning me round, shouted, • 'Are you the man who i 3 going to knock my head off? Are you as good a man as you were on the quay? "y r - V - •' " I . replied,: ' Bog pardon, captain, but I haVS' neyec seen nor spoken to you.' " • '>\ •: Lqrd Hewart: I always thought that on these occasions able seamen said " Goodness gracious! " (Laughter.) " Captain Angus said to me," continued Sorensen, ' I heard you on the wharf,' and struck me a hard blow on the iaw with his fist."

Witness said he fell on his knees and the captain hit him again and shouted. " Take him aft before I do him in altogether." The following day Captain Angus, the'ship's doctor and the British ViceCotisul called to see him, and Captain Angus 'said: "I am sorry this has happened; I must have made a mistake." Question ot Drinks The Vice-Consul said: 'I suppose you were drunk? I did not answer him. I considered the remark not worth answering. The first thing they do is to put things down to drink where a seaman is concerned." Mr. Norman Birkett, K.C. (crossexamining) : Do you say you were not drunk that night?— Yes. I had only some light beer. And a native drink called Kasash? — Yes, a little, one portion. If you put that practically pure, though cheap, spirit in a saucer and put a match to it, it will blaze up?— I don't know. This was the first time I had drunk it. I am going to suggest that drinking of /Kasash makes men mad and " beside " themselves. —I know nothing about that. You went to three " boozers," as sailors call them?—No, we went to a grocer's shop first, where he had beer, then to the Parisian Cafe, where there was music, and we had two glasses of beer and one Kasash, and then to another place In all I drank six glasses of beer and one Kasash. Witness denied that he was in the way. when passengers were going up the gangway and that the captain pushed him aside. " TJngentlemenly Conduct " Mr. Birkett, opening the defence. Raid Mr. Hilbery (for Sorensen) seemed to suggest that a captain, rebuking "a seaman, should say, "My dear fellow, you have been guilty of conduct not becoming a gentleman." (Laughter.) Captain Angus, giving evidence, said for the last four years he had been tnai4ne superintendent for the Blue Btar Line at Buenos Aires. On the night of June 16, 1929, he returned to the ship with two passengers, and at the gangway he saw a group of men singing and shouting. Sorensen was at the end of the gangway, and he (witness) said: Stand aside and allow the. passengers to frass." He heard Sorensen shout, " Who the does he think he is? I'll fix him."

Later Sorensen came aboard hopelessly drunk. He (witness) told him and his companion to get to their quarters, and added, " What do you mean by Using filthy language to me in front of the passengers and threatening me? "

" Sorensen made no reply," Captain Angus continued, " but came forward in a threatening manner With clenched fists and staggered into me. I pushed him away with both hands.. He caine back at me, so, realising that 1 had a drunken madman to •leal with, 1 struck him an ordinary t'low with my left hand, ft was not so hard a blow as 1 can strike, but I knew that, unless I defended myself, T should ' net if,.' He fell to a sitting position on the deck. I only struck him nnee. I would never have struck him ivhe'n he was down."

Cross-examined by Mr. Hilbery, Captain Angus said he had no particular proficiency as a boxer. He had never before struck a man under his commrWul.

Quartermaster Bell, formerly of the Slapier Star, said he had to caution •nine men, including Sorensen, when they came on board about 1.15 a.m. They were in a drunken condition. " I «iiity" continued Bell, " that tho ' old inan ' had returned." The Lord Chief .Justice: Is that a term of affection? (Laughter.) Bell: It is a nautical term, my lord. It means no disrespoct whatever to the master.

Bell said that it was not a hard blow that Captain Angus struck. " That blow never broke the man's jaw," he added. " Wouldn't I give assistance to ht man with a broken jaw when I have feoVft first, aid certificate? "

Constable Watson, formerly a quartermaster in the Napier Star, saicl that Sorensen and the other men were in a drunken condition when they returned to the ship about 1.15 a.m. He saw the "captain push Sorensen aside. Sorensen afterwards said, " 1 am going to get even with the skipper." About 3.15 am. Sorensen went ashore again, though he tried to persuade him to " turn in." There was nothing wrong with his manner of speaking. Dr. Donald Arbuckle, of Burnley, formerly surgeon in the Napier Star, said he saw Sorensen in hospital at Santos. His face was bandaged and he had great difficulty in speaking. " I went to a ' boozer,' from there to the police and then to the hospital," lie said. Mr. Norman Birkett, K.C. (for the captain): If Sorensen had received the injuries at the hands of the captain that he said he did, what would have been his condition ?

Dr. Arbuckle: He would have been kuocked out. I should say it would have been' impossible to have inflicted such injuries with an unaided fist, except by a super-man. Mr. Malcolm Hilbery, K.C. (for Sorensen): Have you ever seen a man kuocked out in boxing with a smack on the jaw?— Many times. Dr. W. H. C. Bomanis, a Barley Street specialist, said Sorensen had two scars on the jaw which must have been caused by a severe blow. The injury might have been inflicted with a bottle, lb was quite impossible for the scars to have been caused by one blow with the fist.

The jury returned a verdict in favour of Sorensen who was awarded £687 damages.