SINKING OF SHIP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22005, 11 January 1935, Page 9

SINKING OF SHIP

INCIDENT IN 1929 COMMISSION'S FINDING AMERICA TO APOLOGISE COMPENSATION AWARDED CANADA ANI) THE CREW By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright (Received January JO, 5.5 p.m.) WASHINGTON. Jan. 9 The American-Canadian Arbitration Commission decided to-day that the United States must apologise for the sinking of the schooner I'm Alone in March, 1929, and pay Canada 25,000 dollars compensation. Canada had claimed 386,000 dollars. Mr. Justice van Devanter, of the United States Supreme Court, and Chief Justice Duff, of Canada, presided. The commission further decided that no compensation should be allowed to the owners either for the ship or for its cargo. The master and crew of the I'm Alone were not found guilty of smuggling and therefore were ordered to be compensated for lost clothing and effects and for their imprisonment, the amount awarded to them being 25,666 dollars.

Early on the morning of March 20, 1929, the schooner I'm Alone, which cleared from Belize, British Honduras, for Bermuda, encountered the United States revenue cutter Walcott off the coast of Louisiana at a place alleged by the United States preventive authorities to be 500 miles off her course to Bermuda. The United States Government also alleged that at the time when the I'm Alone was encountered by the Walcott she was within the limits prescribed by Article 2 of the Convention respecting the regulation of the liquor traffic signed at Washington on January 23, 1924, but this was disputed. The master of the I'm Alone declined to obey the command of the officer in charge of the Walcott to lieave-to, and made off with the revenue vessel in pursuit. The chase continued until the morning of March 22, when the I'm Alone was sunk by gunfire from the United States revenue cutter Dexter, which had joined in the chase some time earlier, the master of the I'm Alone still refusing to heave-to. When the I'm Alone sank the master and crew were thrown into the sea, which at the time was running moderatelv high, but were able to reach the Walcott or the Dexter, and were picked up by the crews of one or other of these vessels. The boatswain did not react to artificial respiration on board the Walcott and died. The crew of the I'm Alone were taken to New Orleans and proceedings were initiated, but on April 9, these were discontinued, the charges against them being withdrawn. On the same date Mr. Vincent Massey. Canadian Minister at Washington, acting upon instructions from the Canadian Government, made strong representations to the United States Government.

Although widespread indignation was expressed in the Canadian press—particularly against the treatment of the vessel's crew by the American revenue officers who had put Captain Randall and his men in chains —it was generally recognised that the vessel was engaged. in rum-running at her own risk, and the official correspondence exchanged between Ottawa and Washington (subsequently placed before the House of Commons), was characterised by a restraint and judicial firmness on the part of Canada that evoked the commendation of the British Foreign Office. Ultimately the matter was referred to arbitration by mutual agreement.