Cattle Ship Perils
Morning Post, London, March 20, 1926
Crew’s Terrible Experiences
Refuge in the Stokehold
Food Shortage
The story of a cattleman’s experiences on board the Manchester Producer, published yesterday exclusively in the Morning Post, has caused widespread interest.
The cattleman in question was Mr. H. A. L. Berry, a younger brother of one of the heads of Berry Bros. and Co., wine merchants, of St James Street, has supplied further details of his experiences. His story is corroborated by a young Englishman, Mr S. F. Bruce, a student of agriculture in Canada, who was also on board the Manchester Producer.
Mr Berry states that he was in Montreal, with the intention of taking a trip home to England, in January last. He was thinking of booking a passage when one of his friends suggested that he should ship on a cattle boat. The life was not easy; but he had lived and worked hard in Canada, and was not afraid.
“I was given the address of an agent in Montreal,” he said, “who arranges for the provision of men for the cattle steamers. I went to see him and he told me he would arrange a passage for me for ten dollars. This would cover my passage across the Atlantic and my food; I would also be able to ship back to Canada on a boat of the same line. He then landed me a slip with my name and the date, although the amount which I had paid him was left blank. No questions were asked of my fitness or experience in handling cattle.
Men of All Trades
“I met my fellow cattlemen at St John’s. They were of all trades and professions — farmers, mechanics, businessmen, an actor and others. There was only one experienced cattleman in the party. The weather was [adverse] with deep snow on the ground, and the temperature was well below zero.
“When we got on board, we were herded into the saloon, and various papers were spread before us on the table. We were told to sign, and I asked what the papers were. I was informed that the signatures were for purposes of identification only; later in the voyage, however, we were informed that they were ship’s articles, which committed us to work, such as the cleaning out of the cattle pens and other work which we had not expected to do.
“I now understand that before a man signs his articles they are read to him and the nature of his duties explained. This was not done, however; and it was not until towards the end of the voyage to Fayal that we were expected to do this work of cleaning out the pens.
“All the time that I was on board I did not see a life belt, nor did we have any lifeboat drill, even during the days when it was calm enough.
The Night Watch
I was appointed night watchman, and I was expected to see that the animals on deck were fairly comfortable during the night. But I had no electric torch or light of any sort provided for me, and it was impossible to see what was happening to the animals during the night. I carried on as best I could.
“We carried a veterinary surgeon on board; but we had no humane killers of any sort, and when the storm broke out and some of the cattle were maimed it was necessary to put them out of their misery. One of the crew hit the animals repeatedly on the head with a small hammer; they went down under the blows, but stumbled up again. It was a hideous sight, and we all thought it was more merciful to fling them overboard.
Refuge in the Stokehold
“Our own sufferings were unbelievable. When the storm was at its height we could hardly venture across the top deck. If we did we were flung from side to side and drenched with icy water. One heavy sea broke down a portion of the top deck, extinguishing the lights in the quarters of some of the crew and swamping them with water. One of the men was rather badly hurt, and they all thought that the end had come. They managed to escape, however, to the lower decks.
“We had deserted our quarters in the forecastle after the first night. The cold there was too intense.; so we installed ourselves on the lower deck, amid the hay provided for the cattle. Our real home, however, was the stokehold. When we came down from the deck, half-frozen, sore from buffeting, and almost blind with misery, this dingy black hole was a haven of warmth and comfort to us. We could at least dry our clothes and our bodies by the fire, while the negro stokers were great chaps.
The Negroes’ Prayer
“Few of us had any hope of seeing land again. Our rudder was broken and our steering gear was out of order. Our wireless too was out of action for a time. But these niggers were extraordinarily cheerful, with a strange kind of fatalism. They kept their mandolins whining pleasantly all the time — better music than the howl of the waves and the wind. They were true philosophers; one old darkey said to me ‘Dar’s de ship, an’ de waves; de cattle, de humans an’ de God; an’ Ah thinks de God will win.’ That was their prayer; all of us I think said prayers of some description.
“The misery of the cattle too was weighing upon us. We could, at least, grumble and sing, swear and pray; but these poor dumb beasts cold only stand there, in the filthy pens which had not been cleaned for weeks, and watch us as we brought their daily-diminishing supply of fodder and water to them. They must have been almost frozen; and it was probably the kindest thing to those on the upper deck to fling them overboard.
Spirit of the Men
“But the spirit of the men on board, in general, was immense. The officers and engineers would come down and talk to us in the stokehold. They were not over-sanguine, I think, of our chances of getting through; but they kept telling us that we were on a good ship, and that we wouldn’t go down. The apprentices and the steward, who knew something of wireless too, stuck to their posts night after night, until eventually they got it in order, and we were able to send out messages.
“The cook and his assistant worked all day in a galley awash with water, and managed to keep us alive. After awhile, when supplies started to run short, we broke open one of the holds, and ate some of the apples and the patent foods stored there.
“I wanted to say a word, too, about the assistance of the ships that came to our rescue. There were five of them altogether, and each one of them stood by and helped as best as they could. It was nobody’s fault that they could not take us in tow. The Mongolian Prince was herself running short of food, and she had to pick up one of the animals which we had thrown overboard and kill it for food.”
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