THE WHINLATER.

West Coast Times, 25 June 1912, Page 4

THE WHINLATER.

DESERTER’S STORY. WHY THEY LEFT :THE SHIP. AUCKLAND, June 18. The veil which has enveloped tho circumstances surrounding the unexpected appearance of tho Norwegian barque Whinlatter at Ahipara Bay recently, has gradually been lifted. Further light was thrown on the incident when a “Herald’ 1 ’ representative heard the crew’s version of the story from Aiders Peterson, one of tho sailors. “ Why did wo desert ? A biscut a day, with little prospect of getting anything hotter, was enough to make a man desert,” remarked Peterson, in narrating the circumstances which led up to the trouble. Petersen addc/,1 that on tho night before tho Whinlatter sailed from Rio the crow obtained a number of bottles of whisky, a-.t. they spent tho night in drinking. When the mate ordered all hands on deck next morning to weigh anchor, tho men refused to work until they were supplied with more liquor. Tin’s Hd to considerable trouble, and, as matters grew worse, some of tho seamen complained that they did not have sufficient clothing. When they asked the Captain to make an advance l he refused. Ho told the men they would bo supplied with plenty of clothing after tho ship loft port, but his assurance (said Petersen) did not result in anything. For some time after leaving Rio all was well on tho Whinlatter, lint, although the quantity aud quality of the food satisfied, it became evident that the supply was not sufficient to satisfy the demand until the vessel reached New Caledonia, whither she was bound. Five weeks before the Whinla tier readied Now Zealand tho fare was reduced to biscuits and water.”

1 For live weeks, we got nothing but one biscuit a day, and a quantity of water,” continued Petersen, “and very bad biscuits-they were. No. one would be satisfied with one biscuit a day, even if the biscuits were of the highest quality, but these biscuits weri condemned food, which was not f;t for a dog, and then you ask mo wh . I deserted!”

The craw complained to the Captain, and asked him to put in to tho nearest port ,aiui obtain adequate supplies of vit teaks, and, consequently, sail was sol for New Zealand, and, some days ago, the Whinlatter arrived in Ahipara Ray. Soon after anchoring, tho .captain and the second.mate rowed ashore, to obtain provisions, and, presently, they' returned, bringing a small quantity of. tinned .meat, .potatoes, and onions.' Tho men realised that insufficient •foot! liad boon obtained and they there upon copveyed their complaint to the captain.

According to .Petersen, the captain would not heed the men’s objections, and ho said that there was enough food for twenty men for the remainder cf the voyage. The crow were still not satisfied, and then the captain tc.id them that a boat was to come out late with additional provisions, hut the men had no faith in the Captain’s statmeiit, and his reply was not ac-‘ cc-pted.

"Six of us accordingly decided to desert,” continued Petersen. “We ■got one of the boats and took it into th; forecastle in the dead of the night. When all was quiet on board' we lowered the boat, and rowed towards the shore. As we did not know the coast, the navigation was difficult,' and, .after we had gone some distance, the boat struck what I think must have been a reef, and we wore pre-, cipitated into tho sea. ,We had to strike out and swim for tho shore.

= On reaching the beach wo made inland for some two miles, where we lit fires, dried our clothes, and set- > tied down to spend the night in the open. The weather was cold and wintry. Wo were all wet through, and ; we had no food. As we were deserters, .we had to avoid people, especially the police, and so, for days, we tramp- ■ ed about The country. Wo slept out at .nights, and at one ' .time we had only one loaf of bread To (divide amngst six of ns for two days.. Eventually wo reached Whangamunui, ai-d There we hoarded a steamer for Auckland.” “ What are you going to do now?” 1 •Petersen was asked. “ I don’t know. We have passed the education test, and .we do not: want to go to sea again. "We are going to try to obtain employment somewhere about here and become eiti- ; zen- of New Zealand.”