THE CURSE OF CAIN UPON GERMAN SEAMEN.

Western Star, 3 September 1918, Page 4

THE CURSE OF CAIN UPON GERMAN SEAMEN.

The following article appeared in the Liverpool ‘Journal of Commerce’ over the signature “ Nautious.” That it reflects the unanimous sentiment of British iseadnen there can be no doubt. In reproducing it the ‘ Manufacturers’ Record’ says : “What ‘Nautious’ says will be the treatment of German sailors should be the treatment of all Germans everywhere on earth until, in sackcloth and ashes, they repent and dedicate their lives to atonement for their nation’s awful crime.” Both “Nauticus” and the ‘Manufacturers’ Record ’ are right. Dirty, foul, horrible, and abominable as the beasts of the land are the beasts clt the sea.

" Lot there bo no mistake about the depth of the feeling against Germany which all decent seamen entertain at this moment. It is fiercer than the worst storm that ever blew and as strong as the trade wind which comes from the south-east.

“There will be strange .ships on the waves—vessels Hying a flag which has been bidden in canals audi backwaters, where dastardly deeds are plotted for close on four full years. They will outwardly look like ships. To all appearances they will be honefet ships, but to every seaman that was not suckled *by a German mother or sired by one of the ravishers of Brave Belgium they will be known as Scheussliche Schiffe or horrible, abominable, ships! They may fly the German flag in all its flaunting Jlasimelss, but it will always be foul and bloody even in the pure- sunlight of the tropics. “ Against the deep blue sky of summer this flag will look like an old boot on at sacred altar; the very vault of heaven will be stabbed with shame when it swims into, the light of day. No one will isalnto it, no cheery message from cheery heart will greet it as it passes; no eye will be turned upon it from the crow’s nest without a. curse; it will pass along the silent highways of the world like a. murderer of a, little child seeking to hide from justice. Dirty, foul, horrible and abominable, red with the blood of innocent women and', children and brave men, even the cleansing ozone of God’s great sea will not wash it clean in twice ton thousand years. It will stink in the nostrils of all mankind for ever and ever!

“To ;i clean, honest, sailer, the sea is like a mother. The British Seamen’s Union knouts all about the foul murders which have been committed by German seamen, and its ‘members will see that the full price is paid for these awful crimes against humanity. Three so-called peace delegates have been trying to sneak away to America for some time palst, but so far they have found it impossible to embark. Why? Simply because- the British seamen say ‘No!’ They would refuse to work in a vessel if pactifists and others of like type wore on hoard. “This- shows the spirit, and; if further evidence were needed it can he found in the recent utterances of J. Havelock Wilson, who has stated in public that the merchant marine masters, engineers, sailors, firemen and deck liandis were fully revolved not to carry pacifists across the ocean. In addition to this, the merchant marine service, from the officers down to the cabin boys, have pledged themselves hot to salute the German tlag in any port abroad, and, they will refuse to salute it, or even recognise it, when they meet it on the high seas. “The German papers, which undoubtedly reflect the German, mind, gloat over the. crimes of their U-boats much as a fond murderer gloats over his victims. They take a sort of dis-

eased pride in such g;ha.stly work. But the feeling of all neutral seamen is against them. Norway, since the outbreak of war, has lost 7-15 vessels and 904 sailors through the German butchers, and it may be taken for granted that the result has been a legacy of eternal hart©. Spain, Brazil, Uruguay, every nation on. earth, has suffered at the hands of the Teuton pirates, and the seamen of every nation will make him pay the bill. “At a. large meeting, belch in Copenhagen some weeks back, whereat, hundreds of officers of the Danish merchant marine were present, .it was agreed unanimously that in view of the fact that the German .nation had approved of the outrages, committed by their U-boats against neutral seamen, all association with -it was impossible, and it was decided that all intercourse with German seamen must be broken off for a very long time to come. “ As far as this country is concerned, the punishment of Gemma seamen may safely bo left to British seamen. They know exactly what the brutes have done. They know that more than 4000 British civilian men, women, and children have been foully murdered by the German submarines, and they will act accordingly. For generations to come no S.O.S. will be heard when it emanates from' a German ship in distress. For the next two hundred years German seamen will be known as the shark-men of the sea, and something of the treatment accorded to captured sharks by fishermen in certain parts of the world will be theirs whenever opportunity affords. “Tu every foreign port Germans will be marked men. Every band will bo against them, and they will never see the welcome smile of a friend. Tu the drinking dons they will drink audibly and .showily, as is their custom, but they will drink alone. No. friendly glass or pot will clink or knock merrily against theirs. They will sit apart like colored trash, and even the commonest Lascar will greet them with scorn. In all the world’s great harbors they will be known as the. butchers and murderers—men branded through to their very souls with the mark of Cain. And on all the sea.s and oceans their ships will he known as Scheussliche Schiffe—low, horrible, and abominable fthips!

“ Such is the punishment for their dreadful and wicked crimes, and it has been given by the even justice of the whole of the civilised world. Lot ‘Tvultur’ take heed of this and tremble for it« sons, for in the days to come they will cry out for mercy. But there will he no mercy—seamen never forget and seamen never forgive, and they have looked upon their dead not once, but a hundred times.”