Page:The Blight of Insubordination.djvu/38

30 that he is as good a man as he is. What cares capital for the worker? Nothing, unless forced to!"

In law, a common carrier, and in reality too, the shipmaster needs all his eyes open at once to steer clear of the many pitfalls that abound in handling cargoes or parcels of it that come under his charge, for not only has he to watch strictly that the law is not contravened in the matter, but he has also to satisfy his employers that the ship has received as much as possible, to say nothing of a little more at odd times. Always under surveillance in these matters, he 1s, if mindful of his reputation, -bound to be careful to satisfy the different. interests.

Soon after the Suez Canal was opened for traffic came the Plimsoll agitation against the wicked shipowner, who at that time (1873-74) was reputed to send his ships to sea, well knowing they were to be lost! It is not necessary that we should discuss the truth of the charges made against shipowners generally in the matter, but the period is very important in regard to what we have to write about; for some time during the course of the latter year the ship Locksley Hall, commanded by Captain Charles Barnes, arrived in the Thames with one of the crew in irons, that is, he had a pair of ordinary handcuffs on, the reason being, we are told, that the man was insubordinate and mutinous. When the ship was docked, the seaman was handed over to the police, and afterwards charged at the Thames police-court for the offences we have stated, all quite in the orthodox manner. A Mr. Paget was the stipendiary magistrate on the auspicious occasion, and in the end, playing up to the sentiment of the time, the man was discharged, and Captain Charles Barnes was sent instead to prison to linger in durance vile for a month! We are not certain whether hard labour was added to the sentence, but we believe we are right in stating the case and the name of the magistrate. Quite naturally an indignation meeting was held in the City by those who were interested in such flagrant injustice, and very promptly a deputation waited on Mr. B. Disraeli, who was then Prime Minister. After three days': imprisonment Captain Barnes was released, and Mr. Paget was removed from the Thames police-court. This incident was responsible for the Inception of the London Shipmasters' Society, which was formed soon afterwards. A few years later, in 1890, came the agitation, brought about at the instance of the then newly formed Seamen's and Firemen's Union, engineered by the notorious J. Havelock Wilson (afterwards some time M.P. for Middlesbro') which resulted in a great strike, in course of which the agitators openly proclaimed their intention of doing as they