Stolen Ships

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 521, 26 November 1928, Page 11

Stolen Ships

HOW A CAPTAIN WAS DOUBLE-CROSSED

Helped to Rob Underwriters

OF the thousands of ships that have vanished, not all found their way into Davy Jones’s locker. Some of them have been stolen and have had their names and features altered so as to defy recognition until a sport of chance revealed their trcu identity. That was what befell the Namoa and the Charco, whose strange and thrilling adventures are told in this article, written by a sea captain for the “Sunday News.”

A FTER the long-boat of the big barquentine Namoa was discovered floating among wreckage in the Pacific everyone concerned with the ship naturally came to the conclusion that her hull reposed fathoms deep beneath the waters. Anyhow, the insurance was paid after a bottle message from Captain Nolan had been picked up which indicated that she had "sprung a leak and was sinking,” Things worked according to plan, for Nolan, after the ship arrived at Callao with a cargo of Oregon pine. He gave his crew sufficient money to enable them to load “fire-water” so as to get foul of the vigilantes a few hours before his ship was ready for sea again. Then, shipping a halfcaste crew of beachcombers, he set out on his great adventure with the fast craft under his heels. But he made one mistake. He took unto himself a pretty wife, one Senorita del Castro, and this eventually led to his undoing. It was a most audacious achievement, altering the rig and name of the barquentine from Namoa to Sea Witch and loading a cargo of guano at Galapagos for Santa Rosalia; but, under the name of Phelan, Nolan succeeded in making several thousand dollars, which set him up in business to trade shell and copra among the islands. La Senorita was let into the secret, and for two years matters worked smoothly. He took considerable care to disperse his Callao crew one by one among the little-frequented islands, and employed Kanakas to take their places. A WOMAN’S SUSPICIONS But Nolan’s luck was too good 1o last. He had made so much money that he grew careless and neglected his “wife” for native girls. She grew suspicious of his long spells ashore at Noumea and Tahiti. It was always the same excuse, “business up at the agent’s.” One night, to satisfy herself, she persuaded two of the men to land her, and she found her gallant “husband” in a native hut, in company with a number of hula girls.

Broken-hearted, the Peruvian beauty returned to the ship without saying a word to her lord and master, who remained blissfully ignorant of his “wife’s" visit. Determined to be revenged, yet not knowing what course to take, his wife awaited her opportunity. It came within a fortnight after leaving Suva. The Pacific, of all the oceans in the world, is subject to moods. It can present the most placid blue skies, gentle breezes, and delightful aspects, but as if by magic the peaceful atmosphere can be changed to the most awe-inspiring. CURSED THE MATE Bowling along with a pleasant breeze on her port quarter, the Sea Witch listed geniy to the breeze, until the spray from the azure blue ocean sent up cool showers over the lee bulwarks. Without the slightest indictaion of its approach, a pale cloud appeared in the sky and, like a bolt from the blue, a terrific white squall struck the ship, and before a rope could be touched her sails were stripped from the ropes. Nolan, who was below at the time, came on deck in time to see the foretopsail yard crash from aloft, and, cursing the Kanaka mate for carelessness, he booted him off the deck. That was another mistake he made, for the man was not to blame for the disaster, which the most experienced sailor could not have foreseen. The squall passed as quickly as it came, and once more the peaceful ocean resumed its normal appearance. Hands were aloft setting the last of the new sails, when at some distance away a ship’s boat was seen from the masthead. The course was altered toward it, and before nightfall the survivors of the Italian barque Mindosa were taken on board.

A young Italian officer in charge of the boat reported that his ship had capsized that morning in a squall, and he and his four companions were the only survivors of the ship. “You need not be long without a

ship if you are a navigator," said Nolan. “I’ll put you on articles right away, but I don't want your crew.” This arrangement appeared to please the Peruvian woman as much as it did her “husband," and, without suspecting his wife, he allowed her to persuade the Italian to fall in with his arrangements. At the next Island the European seamen were landed, and things went on aboard the Sea Witch in much the same way as usual. The Kanaka mate, who had been disrated to boatswain, showed no ill-feeling toward the man who booted him off the deck, but, like all natives, he nursed his grievance in silence. MAROONED FOR 18 MONTHS It was the Chilean warship Abtao that was responsible for the discovery of Nolan. Cruising among the islands, the Abtao chanced to poke her nose into the palm-bordered lagoon of Mas a Fuera, where Nolan had been marooned for 18 months, and that was how the story came out. His “wife” and the young Italian fell in love and secretly planned to do away with Nolan, and take charge of the ship. The big Kanaka boatswain helped them, and it was he who administered a stunning blow to Nolan and lashed him securely until such time as he was cast away on the island where he was found. The Sea Witch was later traced to Nukahlva, where she called for water and provisions. What happened afterwards remains a mystery. Nolan, to spite his wife, confessed to the stealing of the ship, in the hope that the authorities would take up the case, but he was disappointed. Least of all, the owner did not want the case of Namoa taken up. The insurance had been paid and the incident of her loss forgotten. Apart from that, Nolan had no papers to prove his transactions since the Namoa sailed from Callao. VANISHED WITHOUT TRACE It was recalled that other cases of demented men who had survived shipwreck and who had been cast away on Islands had told strange stories. So the discredited Nolan was glad to pursue his revenge without punishment. Stranger still was the story of the trading schooner Charco. She was lying at anchor off Hawaii, with the captain and one man aboard, who kept anchor watch while the remainder of her crew went ashore. Yet when, in the early hours of the morning, her crew put off from the quay, she could not be found. A peak cap belonging to the watchman was found on the beach two days later, and several weeks afterwards a body which could not be identified was washed ashore on one of the neighbouring islands. Foul play was suspected, and up and down the Pacific news of the missing ship was sought: but nothing resembling the Charco could ne found. At all the islands a full description of the ship was given by the son

of Captain Wansell, the owner and master. Young Wansell scoured the Pacific for years in search of his father and the ship vanished in the •.darkness of a calm night. By associating with toughs along the water-front of ’Frisco, he learnt that ship-stealing was the work of a gang who stopped at nothing so long as anything of value was to be bad Ssifore sbips were made away without trace. Shipmasters who had drawn freight money became so alarmed that they refrained from taking it on board. It was known that Captain Wansell possessed a large sum in notes, which he had drawn for outward- freight the day his ship was missing. There had been no ship in port that night to have caused collision. The anchor chain had been slipped and buoyed to prevent noise, and this work, it was realised, could not have been done singlebanded. GANG OF SEA SHARKS It was quite by accident that young Wansell heard of the successful raids made on the pearling beds by the schooner Constance. Big money was being made by a gang of sea sharks, led by a big Hollander, named Mass. For weeks a French patrol-boat sought the raiders, but the luck was with them. The patrol always arrived a day too late. Mass took care the French did not catch him on the grounds or in the act of taking shell. At length the French became wise to his moves of keeping look-outs posted at the mast-heads, and set a trap for him. They landed a six-pounder and gun's crew among the palms on a bill-side position, which commanded the lagoon entrance. After waiting many weeks, they had the satisfaction of seeing the Constance sailing through the reefmarked channel. They allowed the ship to go round the point and get well inside the outer line of reefs. Unfortunately, the man behind the gun became so excited that he fired before the ship reached the lagoon. Quick as lightning, Mass realised the trap and put about, but he had sailed too far into the narrow channel lo navigate in safety, and the saw-teeth of the coral bed tore the bottom out of the Constance before she 90uld be got round. As she sank the sharks tqpk. toll of the struggling crew. For months the wreck lay pounding on the reef before she went to pieces and it was not until one of her deck beams washed ashore that the identity of the Constance was discovered. Cut deeply into the beam was the name Charco and her official number. How she came into possesion of tbe Hollander will never be known, but her theft had evidently been managed a gang expert at the game.