The New York herald., 1921-12-26
POCAHONTAS ENDS
WILD SEA CAREER
Former Princess Irene Is Con.
demned at Gibraltar and
Crew Returns Here.

The erratic and dramatic career OF
the steamship Pocahontas, originally
the North German Lloyd liner Princess
Irene and later operated By the United
States Mail Line, has come to an end
at Gibraltar. where she has been con-
demned. Her skipper. Capt. Fl. R.
Patterson. who arrived here yesterday
by the Cunari-Anchor liner Cameronia.
from the Mediterranean. with ninety Of
the crew that stuck BY her, including
Purser Lloyd and the stewardess. Mrs.
Katherine Curley. brought additional
Information about her fearsome vicissi-
tudes in the voyaging she began at this
port on May %.
After leaving this port when a sea-
mems strike was on she took more than
p week 10 make Boston because OF
boiler. engine and pump trouble. II
was said that there were rumors that
some of the men VINO had taken the
place of strikers were employed by them
to wreck the machinery of the ship. but
there was never any proof of tina, OBJ
tainable.
Forty OF those who got in yesterday
are American citizens and were per-
only first papers will be detained
aboard until to-day. A large part Of
the crew elected to leave the ship sew
eral months ago. receiving pay for the
time they had served. Those arriving
yesterday will get from the Shipping
Board pay for the whole period they
have been with the liner.
1t was a polyglot crew that took the
Pocahontas out of Boston, and according
TO some of the men who got here yes
terday several of the assistant engineers
did not know their business and had no
licenses. Trouble developed between the
Spanish speaking. English speaking and
dialect speaking talent In all parts Of
the ship. but more SO in the stokehold
and engineering force than elsewhere.
Master-at-Arms A. Gnemmi said that in
Boston number of the engine room men
were fired and new lot taken on that
was just about as competent as the old
Some of them seemed to be boilermakers
rather than engineers. Most of the fire
men were Spaniards and there were
fights all the way to the Azores, where
the ship was forced to put in for re-
pairs. There were rumors- of a plot in
the engineers department to sink the
Pocahontas and four men were put In
irons. while officers went around with
drawn revolvers to enforce discipline.
The mutinous conduct in the crew af-
fected the 270 cabin and $50 steerage
passengers. some OF whom subsequently
described the ship in Italian newspapers
as a floating hell" All the machinery
of the liner seemed to go to pieces. in
Guiding the refrigerating plant. and the
fresh food was spoiled so passengers
had to eat canned stuff. Assistant En-
orfn
wrought up over the accidents" to the
and quarreling of his subordinates that
he tied an iron bar to his wrists and
jumped into the sea, disappearing.
After leaving the Azores fire broke
cut aboard, but was subdued after fresh
water, intended for the passengers
ci iefly. had been pumped into the burn
ms hold. Most of the 5000 tons of sugar
in one OF the holds was ruined At
Naples, where the Pochontas arrived at
,er a trip OF forty-five days from Bos-
ton. an italian steward, Alfredo Cara
mitto, who had been accused OF stealing
sllverware and was beaten. died from
the effects. 1t was said by one of the
crew in yesterday that the Italian had
died of heart disease. brought on by
fright over his arrest. Much Italian
talent was used in efforts to repair the
machinery of the snip at Naples. and a
big bill was run up against the Shipping
Board. At last. in September, Capt.
Patterson and his crew, much reduced
10y desertions. headed for home but got
only TO Gibraltar. The ship seemed to be
in hopeless condition. and she was
condemned. All hands left her and
boarded the Cameronia. The Pocahontas
was built in Stettin twenty-one years