Trouble At

Awin

(As told by the Kooskoos.)

rHE Ninigo Islands, and others of the former Wahlen Empire, are le scene of many an interesting ;ory, some of which can be told nly in the bar-room. But here’s ne for general release, Early in 1937, a typical Islands lip, doing the rounds of those is nds, half laden with copra and ores, came up off Awin atoll at iybreak one morning.

The Captain—a large man, noted >r his hobby of horoscope writing, is strict sobriety, and his violent mper before breakfast—was padd g the bridge like a leopard, one eye i the nearby reef and the other on e foredeck.

Down there, the ever-recurring per •rmance of getting the launch and irf-boats overside, with the aid of single winch and derrick, was under ay.

Theoretically, this was the Mate’s igeon, but invariably, at that ideal stage where the boat in its ings left the deck and began its metimes damaging journey over- Je, the Old Man “blew his top,” aversing the entire vocabulary of ofanity, interspersed with thunder is bellows, during which a ghastly ence descended on all hands from c’s’le to engine room, and Moiam, e boss-boy at the winch, turned om pitch black to Polynesian.

Immediately after this act of oming terrorism, the Master, per ips temporarily exhausted, retired ajestically for a few minutes to his bin. Swathed in a faded purple mono, his departure was invariably ore ajmusjng than his arrival, the gnity of the exit being somewhat arred by a large triangular rip in e region of his otherwise naked mp.

On the morning in question, with e performance over, all hands were “stand easy” again. The Old Man d resumed the bridge—a com ratively normal human being— d commenced manouevring the ip in circles, as near the loading int as possible (there being no chorage at Awin).

The kooskoos, already ashore with > bills-of-lading and his copra iles, was discussing the loading th the Malayan overseer inside the Im-leaf copra shed, when suddenly e of the boys at the door called t “Ship ’e like walkabout ’long litesan.’ ”

At about the same moment a

terrific non-slop jangling of the en gine-room telegraph became audible.

The kooskoos arrived at the door in time to see as pretty a job of stranding as was ever performed.

The little ship was coming straight for the copra shed, her engines full open. The Master, still resplendent in that purple kimono decorated with ornate dragons, was putting on a special matinee performance of un bridled fury as his charge drove hell bent for the beach.

Just as she struck the edge of the reef, bow on, the engines were stopped; but the ship, at the top of high tide, rode half her length up onto the reef, and came to a very

sudden and determined standstill, within biscuit-throw of the kooskoos.

The subsequent post-mortem re vealed that, in one of his circles, the Master found he had slightly mis judged and had rung for full-astern.

The Chief Engineer—an excitable Euronesian with little English at his command—had mistaken it at first

>r full-ahead; then, flustered by the Id Man’s violent repetition of sig ds from the bridge, had replied on e telegraph with full-astern, but ill had the engines on full-ahead.

The ship was refloated several days ter, after all cargo had been shifted t and sundry fangs of coral had ;en broken away with crow-bars by gang of shell-divers who . happened be aboard as passengers.

The Captain’s personal boy, later >mmenting on the incident said ‘Long time before Captain e immon tasall; now ‘long this-fella ne ship ’e like walkabout ’long win Captain ’e altogether long-long lish.” ( Long-long in pidginese is tark, raving mad ”).