Black Looks & Curses

In foggy darkness, 700 miles west of Land's End, two U.S. merchant ships collided. The American Farmer, with a 35-foot hole in her port side, soon had her forward holds full of water and her fore-decks awash. The William J. Riddle took aboard the Farmer's 57 passengers and crew, transferred them to another U.S. ship, and then made shore at Barry, Wales, with her own bow stove in at the waterline.

Meanwhile the derelict Farmer was legitimate quarry for salvagers. An 8,258-ton vessel owned by the United States Lines, she was loaded with buckwheat and other food for hungry Britain. Ship and cargo together were worth $4,500,000. A sister ship, the American Ranger, and a U.S. destroyer hastened to her side. But a dinky British steamer out of Cardiff, the Elizabete, got there first.

To the Elizabete's men, the wallowing wreck looked like a pot of gold. If they got her to port, approximately a third of the salvage award would be distributed among them according to rank (their owners taking the other two-thirds). The galley boy thought his share would be enough to buy an automobile and marry his Canadian sweetheart.

So the Elizabete (2,039 tons) put an eager working party and four towlines aboard the Farmer, ran up the British Merchant Navy ensign. When the Ranger came up, the Elizabete's skipper signaled: "Hands off--this prize is mine."

Boarding Party. Nevertheless the Ranger put aboard a crew that outnumbered the British party, got the engine started, cast off the British towlines, lowered the British flag, restored the Stars and Stripes, and ordered the British off the ship. They got off. According to an R.A.F. pilot who flew over the scene, "it looked like a hell of a battle going on down there." But the Elizabete's second officer said later that there were "only black looks and curses."

The rights of salvage date back to the Roman Empire, and the British are highly conscious of a tradition that has put thousands of pounds in sailors' pockets. Some British newspapers got excited: "Seize Prize Ship from Britons"--"Ministry Told Our Flag Hauled Down."

An admiralty court will have to decide whether the Americans had the right to board the Farmer, and how much the little Elizabete's efforts were worth. According to the existing salvage treaty (signed in 1910), "no remuneration is due if the services rendered have no beneficial result." The Elizabete's skipper thought he could have brought his tow into port. The Ranger's skipper thought not.

Last week the Farmer limped into Falmouth with 60% of her precious food cargo undamaged. The Americans had found a black and white kitten on board, had promptly named her Neversink.

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