STRANGE CARGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23431, 22 August 1939, Page 7

STRANGE CARGO

OLD DESTROYER'S FATE FILLED WITH BAD ONIONS SUNK WELL OUT TO SEA EFROM OUR OWN correspondent] SYDNEY, Aug. 18 The hulk of the destroyer Stalwart, which served with the Royal Navy during the Great War, and was later in the Royal Australian Navy, had the ignominious fate of making its last plungo with a cargo of 400 tons of bad onions. These onions, which were consigned from Egypt, arrived at Sydney in the Dutch motor-ship Algenib. No supersensitive sense of smell was needed to find the vessel at her berth. The Algenib brought about 800 tons,- and half the consignment, in one hatch, went bad during monsoonal weather between Colombo and Fremantle. "We did all wo could to save them," an officer on the Algenib said, "and shed many a tear over them during our frequent descents of inspection into the holds. The weather was so bad that the hatches had to be battened down for long periods. They were opened for ventilation at every opportunity." Problem of Dumping the Cargo The onions were condemned by tho health authorities as unfit for human consumption. Then there was the problem of destroying them. Ordinary barges and hopper barges were considered unsuitable for the destruction of 7980 bags of onions. If they were dumped close to the coast, the onions would dri£t to tho beaches. It was questionable whether tho barges would be able to get them far enough to sea. The Holland-Aiis-tralia Line, owners of tho Algenib. took no risks. Those onions had to make a long sea voyage—the longer the better. So negotiations were entered into with the ship-breaking firm of Penguin, Limited. This firm bought five obso lete destroyers from the Royal Australian Navy in 1937. One of them, the Stalwart, was almost ready for destruction. It was decided to destroy both sliip and onions together. Unpleasant Task for Wharf Labourers Wharf labourers set to work to discharge the onions from the Algenib to the old Stalwart and soon were "working with tears in their eyes." The bags, sent over in slings, were dumped in all parts of the destroyer. There were onions in the mess deck, and onions in the wardroom. Onions nestled around the funnels. Some of the bags had rotted and the onions had to be shovelled into slings, and dropped into the hulk of the destroyer. A tug took the Stalwart in tow on Saturday, the crew making sure that there was plenty of rojie between the vessels. Twenty miles out from Sydney Heads, in the prescribed area for sinking ships, a party from the tug opened the sea-cocks of the Stalwart, which plunged to the depths nose-first with her last strange cargo.