Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1912-08-15

llk0I1oT lOL! BIZ me, II 1 dV9uC aTI a mIuu
to ship the ole bleedin' gang back w'erever
you got 'em from, an let you an them go
'ang for your crew."
Only two of the ten men to whom he had
thus feelingly referred understood his re-
marks literally, for the crew was a racial
composite that included four Turks, three
Greeks, an Englishman, an Austrian and a
Dane.
The master of the Lennie could scarcely
be blamed, from a seamans point OF view,
for Directing to the nondescript ten as sail
ors. But the Lennie, which was of a thou
sand tons burden and owned in Yarmouth,
Nova Scotia, had been ready to sail for New
Orleans from Antwerp, with a mixed cargo,
and, as Captain Hatfield had been unable to
obtain a crew In the port where his ship lay,
he had been compelled at the last moment to
telegraph to the shipping agent in London,
who had picked up the ten men for him along
Radcliffe Highway-the riffraf Of their call
ing, small men for the most part, shabby and
unkempt.
The first and second mates of the Lennie
were Englishmen, respectively Joseph Wort
ley and Robert Mcdonald. Captain Hatfield
made Green boatswain, Green being. despite
the name he gave as his own, a Greek, though
able to speak and understand English, and
therefore able to act as interpreter for the
captains orders.
4ACAO "C4O . w ~
represented on the vessels roster. The man
whose splendid heroism and daring ingenuity
in the face of death make the story Of the
Lennie worth telling was a giant from Bel
GUM, six feet and three inches tall, who was
at that time twenty-five years Of age, and
whose name was Constant Won Hoydonck.
He had shipped as steward, although he held
q masters certificate in the merchant ma
rine, and he spoke English, French and Dutch.
The cabin boy was Dutch, his name being
Henri Trousselot, and. he hsd been brought
on board by Won Hoydonck, t0 whose care the
lad had been intrusted by his parents.
The Lennie sailed from Antwerp with her
polyglottous crew the day after their arrival
from London, and her cruise is memorable in
the annals of the sea. 1t is a story that has
not been made public since 1t was related in
an English criminal court by the participants
In the occurrence thirty-fve years ago. Five
European governments decorated the hero
of the exploit.
That Captain Hatfield, First Mate Wort
ley and Second Mate Mcdonald deserved the
fate that overlook them five days out from
Antwerp there is little doubt, for all three
were cruel and brutal taskmasters, whose
method of getting the most work out of the
men under them was by means of curses and
blows.
Whether the sailors had previously formed
q conspiracy for the murder of the Lenn1e's
officers or whether they turned on them 81
multaneously on being driven to desperation
is a question that was afterward considered
by an English jury. The tragedy occurred
early on the morning of October 81, the Len
ME being then off the island Of Oleron in the
Bay of Biscay. In First Mate Wortley's
watch, from midnight until four o'clock, were
Boatswain Green, Cargalis, Caludis, Kaida,
Ranken and Petersen. At three-thirty, Wort
ley gave the order to put the ship about, and,
as a fresh breeze was blowing, all hands were
ordered to the work. Ranken, the English
man, was at the wheel, and, while the others
were at the main braces. Captain Hatfield
came on deck and fell upon them with kicks
and cuffs.
Cargalis suddenly drew a big claspknife
from his pocket, opened it and sprang upon
the captain, driving the point of the weapon
into his stomach. In the fraction of a Sec
ond Caludis, the Turk known as big Harry"
had followed the example Of the Greek, stab
bing Hatfield in the forehead and side and
then Selling him about the waist and bear
ing him to the deck, where he proceeded to
pull off the PROSTATE mans boots, preparatory
to throwing him overheard, while two others
of the crew hacked at their late taskmaster
with knives.
All these things had occurred in much less
time than it takes to describe them, and 1t
was not until the ~captain-who had had no
weapon with him, even If he had been given
the chance to use it-had been stretched on
the deck that the first mate realized what
was occurring. He, too, was unarmed, but
he sprang to the side Of Hatfield, who was
still alive, and attempted to drag him toward
the saloon. In a fash, Cascaris drove his
knife into Wortley's heart, twice repeating
the thrust, and the second victim fell dead
across the body Of the first.
Reused by the noise of the struggle on the
deck, Second Mate Mcdonald at this moment
rushed from his cabin. Seeing the bleeding
bodies of his two superior officers and the
ferocious countenances and streaming knives
Of the crew, he ran to Boetswain Green, the
only one Of them to whom he could SPEAK
English, and putting his arms around his necl
begged him to save his life. The Greek re
sponded with a thrust of his knife into the
others bowels.
The sounds of the struggle on the deck
over his head had Weakened Won Hoydorck