Dairen, Dec. 7.
Little except bad weather is allowed to interfere with the punctual sailing Of a Japanese vessel and yet when the Koluryu Maru left Dairen for Japan on December 7 it was not until the ship had been held up for 25 minutes. And the weather had nothing te do with it. The delay was caused by 30 Australians who had formed a scratch crew on the British ship Silksworth, Sydney.to the Far East, who had refused definitely to travel back to their country in third-class accommodation which had no European facilities.
The trouble all started in Sydney when the cargo boat Silksworth, loaded for Far Eastern ports could obtain no Chinese crew. The Chinese, maintaining that there was cargo on board which was destined as materia. for these of the Japanese troops in China, refused point-blank to go on board. Nothing could convince them that the vessel was taking ordinary cargo to the Orient. Impassively they held out.
The steamships, though of British registry, is chartered to the Yamashita Steamship Ca. and when their ordinary crew could not be mustered the agents in Sydney had to set about finding some sort of a crew to take the vessel North, Eventually this was gathered up to the number of 30 with a regular and fully accredited chief steward as well, The scratch crew was garnered from all walks of life, According to one of the men themselves a major from the army, a station hand, a baker and a policeman were among this varied crew. Few had ever done any sailing. None had been on a vessel to work for many years. Most of of the chief steward who ranked as an officer of the ship. His contention was that if the crew could travel second-class he should naturally go first. Negotiations began and while the hullabaloo on the ship was going on he came ashore to take {He matter up at the local agent's office.
When he got back to the docks the Kokuryu Manu had already pulled out but some thoughtful person had put his baggage ashore. The boat was chased out beyond the breakwater but remained elusive and the chief steward then spent another night at the Yamato Hotel to leave the following day by train through Korea for Kobe where he would join tha boat arranged for the rest of the Australians, In Dairen the Silksworth took on a fresh crew of Japanese and sailed for Shimizu and Yokohama on the first part of her voyage.
As to the Australians they declared that they were, during such times as these, in luck. A trip to the Far East and the voyage back again with the pay moving ahead all the while, they said was bonzer' As one of them said, "I'l land back in Aussie with 50 or 60 quid—and that's not so bad nowadays!"
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.