Evening star., 1940-02-11
City Of Flint Captain
Denies Charges by
Two Crew Members
Declares Union Object
Is to Drive Him Out
Of His Job
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, Feb. 10.-Capt.
Joseph A. Gainard, skipper of the
City Of Flint on its adventurous
voyage through the European war
zone, was accused by two of his
men today of having disregarded
the safety Of his crew while the
ship was in the hands Of its Ger-
man captors.
The National Maritime Union (C.
I. o. announced it had filed charges
Of neglect Of duty against him, and
asked that his license be revoked.
At his Melrose, Mass, home, Capt.
Gainard denied the charges and, re-
calling that he was master of the
freighter Algic when its crew went
on sit-down strike in Montevideo,
Uruguay, in September, 1887, said:
Il am probably the most unpopu-
lar shipmaster so far as some ele-
ments are concerned. I expect I
will have this sort of thing as long
as I 60 to sea and doubt I will
60 very long, because I will be too
much trouble to shipowners. It is
the object Of these men to drive
me out of my job"
IA Convicted Of Mutiny.
Fourteen of the Algic's crew, all
members of the N. M. u, were con-
victed at Baltimore of mutiny. Three
others pleaded guilty in Federal
Court, Brooklyn, to charges Of
neglect of duty.
The union, In a statement, said
the charges against Capt. Gainard
were filed by its attorney, William
L. Standard, with Comdr. R. S.
Field, director of marine inspection
and navigation in Washington.
Accompanying the charges were
afidavits by Peter Walding, chief
cook, of Midland City, Ala, and
Henry Androvett, mess boy, of New
York.
Capt. Gainard, the complaint said,
had several opportunities to get his
crew out of the hands of the Ger
mans and to contact American au-
thorities, but had refused. It was
also charged that he threatened to
put the crew in irons when a spokes-
man for the men asked permission
for the crew to go ashore at from
soc, Norway, to get in touch with
Mrs. Richard Borden Hartman,
United States Minister to Norway.
Taken by Deutschland.
The City of Flint, which rescued
PIG survivors of the British liner
Athena, sunk on September 3, the
day Britain and France declared
war, sailed again from New York
October 3. Six days later the Ger
man pocket battleship Deutschland
stopped her and put aboard a prize
crew and SO British seamen from
the S. S. Stocegate, which the
Deutschland had sunk.
The Germans later put the City
of Flint In at Tromsoe, where the
British were landed.
"At no time during the stay at
Tromsoe did Gainard attempt to
assert his rights as neutral in a
neutral port and free the ship from
the German crew." the unions state
ment said. .ssa..
Z At Murmansk, Russia, where the
City Of Flint was taken after leaving
Tromsoe, the statement continued,
the German prize crew was jailed
ashore, and Capt. Gainard was told
he could sail.
But the skipper, the union charged,
told his crew he would stay until
he got a convoy.
HE refused to leave the port and
refused to give the crew an oppor.
tunity to make good its escape" said
the statement.
Prize Crew Returned.
FINALLY, in order to get the ship
out of port, Soviet authorities put
the German prize crew back on her
and ordered her to sai.. She sailed
for Norway again, arriving two davs