The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-06-14
Peculiar Actions of Chief
Mate Anderson.
Forgot the Captain Was i'm Charge.
Chickering's Made Disturbance
Possible.

United States Consul General Mills
held an informal investigation on Sat
urday into the charges against Mate
Anderson of the American schooner
Robert Searles. The captain, mates and
crew of the vessel were present, and
took his discharge from the Consul. 1t
is rather difficult to get at the particu-
lars or details OF the investigation, as
Consul General Mills considers the
matter an official one, and not to be
disclosed. Captain Piltz says the trou-
BILE was of no particular consequence
and of no interest to the public.
Anderson shipped with me to New
CASTLE" the captain said yesterday,
and everything was satisfactory on the
voyage down. But we experienced a
great deal of trouble there in securing
a crew, and 1 could not imagine what
could be the cause. Men would ship
and at the end of two or three days
quit. After this had been repeat
ed several times 1 spoke to the
mate about it, but could get no
reasonable explanation. 1 found
through another source that the men
who shipped and unceremoniously left
were non-union sailors and that they
were Objectionable to the mate, who
was a union mah
when he secured the crew that
Then the trouble began. 1 would come
on deck at night during the mates
watch and find no one on deck but the
man at the wheel. Where's the mate?
/ would ask him. and get for an an
swer: Ford with the boys. This was
a bad thing to happen, for the man
at the wheel might fall asleep and no
one would be the wiser. This happened
several time, and when l spoke to the
mate he intimated that he knew his
business.
by and by we ran into rough wealth
er, and frequently during several days
when l would come on deck, l would
find no one about but the man at the
wheel. Where's the mate?' I'd say,
and the man would answer: In the
donkey-room with the men, sir This
was when the weather was bad and
the sails were blowing into shredS. /
sent for the mate and asked what he
was taking his men into the donkey
room for and leaving the decks empty
during rough weather. He said he was
working. | was not satisfied with the
reply so | questioned the men and
found they were loafing. | then noti
fled the crew that any man found in
that room during the rest of the voy-
age would be fined dollar. l told the
mate to nail up the door and not go
inside the room unless l told him to.
He said he would nail the door when
he had time. His remarks and demean-
or annoyed me, and my wife became
alarmed.
Il didn't know what might happen,
so I decided to watch him pretty close
Iy. Matters did not improve much, and
finally some of the sailors came to me
and expressed dissatisfaction with the
mates leadership and requested me to
give orders. They said it wouldn't do
TO have things go on so, and for their
own protection asked for a change.
Mind you, we were in rough weather,
and our sails were being blown into
ribbons; if we hadn't had a second set
we would not have reached port.
The crew, to a man, were against
him and | gave them the orders that
should have come from the mate. On
our arrival | reported the affair to the
Consul, and he held the investigation
on Saturday. Everybody from the yes
sci was there, and at the close the mate
accepted his discharge"
The second mate declined to talk
beyond admitting that the mate and
members of the crew in his watch alb
sented themselves from the deck during
several days heavy weather. He said
the entire crew was at the Consulate
during the investigation and he did not
suppose the mate would have left the
ship if he hadn't been in the wrong.
Nate Anderson was seen later at
the Sailors Home and pooh-poohed the
idea of trouble on the Robert Searles.
Said he to a reporter yesterday:
It was in Tacoma in October, last
year. and wanted to go to the city. l
shipped for my fare with Captain P1ltz
on the Robert Searles. On the voyage
down he talked to me about taking
the mates billet, and l refused, be-
cause / had worked with him before
and thought him a hard man. ] went
back to Tacoma on the vessel and final
" shipped as mate to Newcastle
Whatever trouble / had on the ship
was due to a dislike Captain PiltZ had |
for me. He spoke to me one time when
/ was in the rigging, and / muttsred |
something not intended for any one. |