DUNKIRK SEAMAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23733, 13 August 1940, Page 10

DUNKIRK SEAMAN

INCIDENT ON FERRY BOAT A CIVILIAN'S ACCUSATION A young Scottish seaman who assisted in the evacuation of Dunkirk as a member of the Royal Navy, aged 21, appeared in the Police Court yesterday. He pleaded guilty to charges of drunkenness and using obscene language on a Devonport ferry boat on Saturday night. Accused's counsel, Mr. Bryee Hart, said accused and his companion, both of whom saw service in the Dunkirk epic, had been at sea for six weeks before reaching Auckland on an overseas ship. They had some liquor after football on Saturday, and while crossing the harbour on a ferry boat they were speaking with two civilians, when one asked why they were not in uniform. "Accused was on mine-sweepers for the first five months of the war,; and was then transferred to the Navy, and assisted in the evacuation of Dunkirk," continued Mr. Hart. "How galling it must have been for the man and his friend to have this civilian's allegation hurled at them. It obviously put accused's nerves on edge, as bis chief engineer vouches that his conduct on board ship has always been exemplary." The police said accused spent the week-end in gaol. Accused was convicted and discharged on the charge of drunkenness, nnd ordered on the second charge to come up for sentence if called upon within three months.