CURRENT TOPICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6597, 22 September 1899, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

The disappearance of the A sea British barque Caswell, tragedy, -which is mentioned in a cable message from New- ( castle this morning, recalls a tragic incident in her past history. The story, as' told by Mr F. J. Dunn, the only surviving actor in 1 the tragedy, has been published in the ' " Sydney Morning Herald." . In 1875 Dunn found himself at Buenos Ayres without a ship, and he agreed to take a berth as an i "able seaman" on the Caswell, which was then discharging her cargo c-f railway iron in the harbour. She had just completed her maiden voyage from the Clyde, in comI mand of Captain George Best. The ship ; had been given a bad name by deserters, and ; when Captain Best wished to sail, his crew , consisted of Dunn, Peter M'Gregor, the carpenter, J. Carrick, an able seaman, two apprentices namal McDonald and Ferguson, a black steward, and a number of foreigners t only one of whom could speak English. Mr Wilson, was first mate and Mr M'Lean second. The Caswell sailed from Buenos Ayres for Valparaiso for orders, and although one of the foreigners struck the captain, there was no general dissatisfaction,and the mutinous sailor \vas laid up for the , rest of the voyage, to be discharged at Val- [ paraiso. On New Year's morning, 1876, the j Caswell weighed anchor at Valparaiso for I Queenstown. It was. a Saturday, and all j went merrily till evening. It was in the dog watch, between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. that trouble arose, a big, powerful Greek named Georeg Penos,' nicknamed " Big George," refusing to obey- the. first mate when, ordered to change it'to another watch. The" matter was smoothed over, but the Greeks on board had apparently taken umbrage. "There I were in the mate's watch," says Mr Dunn, "J. Carrick, Gasper Pistoli, Christopher Bombos, and Ferguson. In tie second mate's watch were J. Dunn, J. Pistoli, George Penos, and M'Donald, also a Greek cook. On Tuesday morning, January 4, 1876, at eight o'clock, the watch was relieved. Ifc was the sceorid mate's watch on deck. Joseph Pistoli went to the wheel. 'Big George' was sent to carry the ratlines down off the star- ' i board main rigging, the ship being close hauled on the port tack. The captain had just' come on deck ; the chief mate was at thb break of the forecastle. He had just been telling 'me to go on with the ratline' 'down off the fore rigging."' Dunn had set- ; about his work when he JieaTd a cry and a ; 1 sha^and, .Iw^ng^r.ouj^-ssa l T^eji^pi^nJ

and Big George down together on the main deck. ' :■■■-. " ' j , __ — i .... Dunn was apparently murder horror-stricken, and for a and moment he .could not move. eevkxge. " Big George " was stabbing the captain repeatedly with a sheath-knife, while- Joseph Pistoli had left the wheel and was standing by with a revolver still smoking in his hand. The chief mate had heard the captain's cry, " Oh \my God," and rushed aft to his assistance, but the cook seized him, forced him against a rail and stabbed him twice. He 'fell with-, out a struggle, and when the second mate came down from the fore-rigging, Wilson lay at his feet, and the disembowelled body of the captain had been thrown under the main rigging. He rushed aft, crying, " Put the ship back men, for God's sake, and stop this." He was shot in the arm, and ' received a knife thrust in the back, and staggered about the deck crying like a child. I Then the steward was called on deckj and as he came up from the cabin' " Big George" ; seized him by th'ehair, and the Greeks liter- j ally hacked him to pieces. M'Lean was the , next victim, and in his wounded state- he was unable to escape the murderers. The two apprentices, had fled into the fore-rig- | ging, the carpenter had locked himself in \ the deckhouse, and Carrick, the other able ! seaman, was in the forecastle. Dunn does not say how he managed to escape, but tho Greeks finally agreed to spare the lives of j the- rest of the crew. Then the bodies of i the dead were thrown overboard, and the I decks were washed down. The whole affair j did not last ten minutes. A sort of truce was declared, the cook navigating the barque while the rest of the crew 1 attended to their ordinary duties. The carpenter did the cooking. For five or six weeks this state of -affairs continued, until the Caswell rounded Cape Horn, and was off the South American coast. Then the Greeks fell out among themselves, the two Pistolis being anxious to avoid further bloodshed, while the others desired to kill the Englishmen. Finally the Pistolis took a boat, and left tho ship, carrying away with them their shares of the cabin property. There was now no chance of peace, and Dunn and his mates decided, to make an attack on the Greeks. One fine. night they managed to secure a small axe and a heavy solderingiron, for all the arms had been taken by " Big George " and Bombos. Dunn was at the wheel and "Big 6eorge " and M'Gregor were the only others on deck. As the , Greek came aft, Dunn rushed at him and felled him with, the iron, and the carpenter "finished him" with the axe. The noise brought the others on deck, and in the fight that followed the cook was killed and Bombos wounded. This was -the end, and Carrick with M'Gregor and Dunn managed to take the ship to Queenstown. Bombos was executed, and one of the Pistolis, arrested two years later in Monte Video, shared the same fate. In view of the present j the cape trouble in South Africa, unparliament. usual interest attaches to the personnel of the Cape Parliament. Roughly speaking, it consists mainly of lawyers, doctors and farmers, a sprinkling of merchants, three journalists, and two or three ex-military men. The jHonW. P. Schreiner, Q.C., the Premier, >is a well-known legal light. His father was a German missionary, who afterwards became a Wesleyan, and his mother, according to " M. A. P.," was a woman of singular character and charming appearance. To her he owed his early education, the first part of his life being spent on a mission station in the wilds of Kaffraria, where his sister Olive, the gifted novelist, was his constant companion. At school young Schreiner carried all before Mm, and he afterwards went to England to complete his law studies. He has a reputation for being hot-tempered, and, it is said, has quite lived up to it during the recent trying session. Another very interesting figure in the Parliament is Mr Edmund Garrett, the brilliant young editor of the V Cape Times." He is One of the coming men of the Progressive Party, and is described 'as being full of life and possessing plenty of grit and " go." He is sometimes called' " the member for the ' Cape Times,' " but his worst enemies can find no more opprobrious nick-name for him than " the young man in a hurry." The other journalists in the Parliament are Mr E. H. Walton, editor of ! the " Eastern Province Herald," and Mr F. Y. SI Leger, the late editor of the " Cape \ Times." Mr John X. Merriman, Trea- j surer-General, has the reputation of being the best speaker in South Africa. He is j somewhat egotistical. At the. time of the Kaffir Avars, when he was Secretary for Native Affairs, some anxious folk in a frontier town telegraphed for more troops. " Don't worry," he wired back, " I am here !" Among the other professional men who hold seats in the Cape Parliament is Dr Hoffman, who has made himself prominent by his displays of rabid anti-British spirit. Agriculture claims about 50 per cent of the members, and there are at least three whose profession could best be described -as "millionairism."