BLOCKADE TRICKS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 14048, 19 July 1916, Page 4

BLOCKADE TRICKS.

; "jf SOME TRUE STORIES. / IBy "A Blockader/; m the Daily Mail.) "Onions one., mighty play tennis with! •What an . absurdity— " ' ' ' Not , so ' big a one as it , sounds- ; wait until .you have" heard'Hhe storyv" - • Tumbling over^fche, waves one her way back from a "search" came ,the...'SeaBoraper'si boat. She- tied up. /alongside; nnd her crew scrambled inboard 7 along the boom. } '• • '-' « 'Bill , • here's something , to put m your Boup,". called pne of tliem to a hiessmate, holding up a large. onion. ; }j A "Right youi are ; pitch it here, an-i swered^ Bill,' extending a huge- workhardened 'palm. Whiez came the onion, which; touched Bill's horny Ypa'w, rebounded from. itr;r struck, the v edge-, of a table, and then . went .bounding along the mess-deck like a, ball. ■'■ ■_ ' "Well, I'm blowed!";exclaiined Bill, looking after it with; a, surprisfed, yet understanding eye. < ' "So7that's.. the latest, is it ? Blest , if ; you can ever ' make sure you've properly • overhauled >them <'* nntil yon'.vje' Prized open the mouths.; of '" the crew and looked down their. ; throats With a telescopy." . The alleged "pnion" was made,of rubber, and had been , brought back. a s a curio by one of the , search party frpip the ship that had mist-been overhauled, and aboard iwhichYthere; wens., many bushels of other "oniona'.' exactly^, like it. All sorts of clever, devioes are^adopted to try to get contraband (through dhe British blockade. TjKe American:,, genius who invented wooden .nutmegs .gave' a n idea to wouldrb©; blockade runners which they have elaboratied/ and vastly improved. V ,-a . But hard war experience y has .. taught our patrol service' nott to- accept .things j as beiug just what/they seem— npgnatfaer how guiltlessly like them- they, may^ appear. In this' particular oasey whem. the vessel was boarded*, many> sacks of: onions were found amongrhejr cargo., MosUsucculent. oniony onions,- too, they looked, and the crew opehedh tho sacks ." quite confidently. However-, ? when , the ,. examining., officer picked, vp t one oft the .onions at random and*,. dropped jit on ,the deck, it bounced back into his hand— and- tlie game was up. Except for a few. real ones spread carefully; at the- top- of - ; tne sacks, the whole ofi the /"onions'.' were made of rubber. Thtfy^were undoubtedly oh their way t^ Gern^ny,, through some neutral ports, but the discovery ; pf, their real , comppsition rfieant ,cornscatipn r and the wily Hun got none ,of these;"vegetables" for his war-broth.. » . A£ rubber lends?^itsalf to clever 'Taking" this is always being done.- Germany offers- a .good, market for tlje'article if the ..sender can only; get ft -there — and he does no tf 7 fail m doing this from lack of ingenuity' m trying.- . •••--. QUEER HONEY. - Long months spent' m. countering' the wiles of clever tricksters have madef'rthe crews of our blockading ships' the" most suspicious people- oit- earth. And*, not without good cause dp they decline 5 to judge by appearanos* only. Yet with all their astuteness they sometimes come very near- tb 1 beiiig deceivedl' Would anyone think that rich, juicy honeycomb, with honey dripping' from it, could be anything' than-^well, just rich, juicy honeycomb': made by ; "the little busy bee";, whose habit of "hpprpying each shining, hour"^ receives' so much praise from poets, philosophers, and others who arerriorfe rri veil to talising than working tliemselves; . Qur naval patrol service can tell you:.tha;t tfliere is a kind of -lionet made: by. bees which do not buzz while they, labor, although they try to "improve each shinirig hour*' well .enough. Specimens of it are occasionally found m the blockade. area. As usual, it was first unearthed m, a ship that was being searched for contraband, and so good was the imitation thaji.the "honey" had a chance pf getting through.- ' v' ;y - Part of the vessel „':c>rgp consisted pi, case after case labelled "pure honey,."' This turned out to be "pure fake'Wbut this is getting rather ahead of the narrative. When the cases . were opened they were found'; to;, be filled 7 with > the familiar lit.tlc square boxes of., comb with honey — or what looked like honeyrunning out of it. Oilie.\mquisitiye sa'iipr tasted this, made a grimace, and' tasted again ; then lie wrenched, a comb' from its box and dropped it on tlie deck — and loj it. bumped up. and .down, there--right tfierrily. Closer investigation revealed that the combs were;- built of rubber and had been, filled- • with- some smeary, honey-colored- f substance' to make,, them resemble the- real thing, as;.they did- to the life. A clever idea this for getting rubber into Germany, though it failed. Y AND "COFFEE." Among the lading. ,of M another ; merchant ship the "search" found'what purported to be many bags of coffee. Th_3e were overhauled and tested , t with; the • result that a great deal of rubber was dis . covered hidden ih, them, . this being: made to appear as nearly like, .coffee; as possible. Behig ; accommodating stuff m the hands of the clever "faker/ rubber has the prime> masquerader. B moiig "contraband goods... It; has. been found ppsing r as riisty ;'ir^n hppps; toys, sponges , and as an hiside filljhg, to. yari-. c7us' v artS*l'e3, froih tinned meat cans to broiom- handles^ _1. tlie earlier days of tEeTiwa^ gonjp of, these blpckade-running. 1 dod»;{.:s may have been .successful, : They stand n0,., clianco j of escaping exposure n\':vY' ''.'.' — -""Biit- rubber is by np 'means the only sahit^n.ce' which) the: exponents of -contr„ b-uid- tricks endeavour to- get- through'} Gji'iwi ny wants copper- badly, and there are always- people trying~iio/ supply herwith* it." S.o'me.,of them nit upon- an.- >ngteniqus" plan, whioh- seeaned -to promiseeerta|n sueoegs. Instead of; being: hidden ixu the ship,, the copper was-- clamped-' to - ncr- bottjpm.. Apparently the consigners' thought ' that^, however closely the-. Brityh*. _Ja|v.y might search.. the? interior of. a vessel, r.o onevwould havo^nousaenough? tp .thmkiof ..examining-;.. the outside 1 ? of' her below the,~water4ine. Bnttthey : had. Uric. sailing vessel when intercepted'andy ' cvevhauU_ /was founds to have la.great- .\ uantity of, copper fixed along-, her ' Keel, into liai;bor she. went and^ the- copper v-a^.sei^cu. ..■;..,..,,- --■ ■Jbu'lg.. liiroughi. one,, ship th<y?-. search party noticed .that her. bulkheads ; were abnormally .. thick, "When 1 m doubt i-i---vest'pate" being the principle 1 s. iificn which tliie examination service is run, tiryj bulkheads were ripped open nirl quite an extensive arsenal discovered ii> 'side them. Rifles and ammunition -galore nad been secreted there. Upon another occasion a' big stock of rifles was found packed jiist. under a tramp steamer's decks, ..and so cunningly stowed away that detection seemed impossible^. Really, the , only way of making sure that some v easels carry no contraband would- seem to- be -by pulling them to pieces. \ COTTON : SMUGGLING. Hollow masts filled with petrol were part, of the .-"find" m one tramp "picked up" m therblockade area, and her" double bottoms ..were.: also stuffed with contraband. 7 Double bottoms are frequently used as places of concealment, though much less secure .than some others that are improvised— such as j for example, the hollow furniture and bunks like a conjurer's trick-box \yhich came to liglit m one i^ocentrlopking^old trader. Since cotton- bfecahie contraband all sorts of ingenious, dodges have been tried to get it through; the blockade: One ship which was intercepted carried what purported to be a. cargo of flour. . Certainlyj theye was a. : great deal of floui iii it — arid a greai $eaX of cotton as wej]. Some of the first sacjts examined (panned out correctly. Then an officer kicked one mid-way, The sack yielded- oddlj to the impact pf his foot. No dusfcjlevv out, and it seemed, as he expressed >it "like kicking a pillow. " At oriib tht t.ack was emptied', and what "a,- reve 1 . tion! The, middle part of it YqpnVi ■ -.i-c oi.':" cotton. And the other sacks gay* up a like secret. The'yo was, flour' al the top. flour at the, bottom— and ebbtxn vi the. middle of them. all. ' '.',, Said a bluejacket, indicating the crev of an overhauled steamer that he wai just leaving, "If any of those c|^,ps - *el overboard they'd sink like stones, will the -'stuff they've got. hidden m thai: boots. " A iiumorohsly t satirical exag deration, no doubt, but* none the les: expressive of what they think who ar. engaged m the exacting task of blockad ing.