Show Victor ese R iese Test Mastery Of Ship at Sea It was Just another grimy freighter c churning h u urn r n i ins n g slowly through the Japanese seas three days out outI I 1st h I t. t of Kobe lobe in inthe r the warm harm war wai waters wa wa- 1 i c between Okinawa and anda andr f c r a I lava a v a pile e called a II e d Iwo Jima Suddenly Sudden Sudden- t ly three shots f s shook h 0 0 k the thed d e c c k b boards o ards I i and the thc lad lad- Mr I Riesel del der to t the h e cabin of Capt Fred Weaver master mastel of the Flying Trader owned by the swashbuckling n Isbrandtsen fleet which last YC year hove into Red China ports A slim kid just lbs Ibs of hysterical 11 youth w was a s killed below shot by his c captain after being beaten around the head 01 manacled a n a c 1 e d and whipped into maddening fright This would be a talc tale for some latter-day latter Joseph Conrad if those shots hadn't killed more than a young youn Negro crewman Powder bur burns s where the bullets bullets bul lets went in also seared right through the seemingly immutable immutable immutable table law of the sea that sea that every captain be he he Bly or benevolent is complete master of his ship out of port Those shots also unleashed an F FBI B I investigation now no noun under under under un un- un- un der way One Round Lost There is too unusually hurried hurried hurried hur hur- ried State Department activity for for it has learned that Oriental Orien Orien- tal workers arc being beins whipped into a frenzy by you know whose foreign agents because a Negro seaman handcuffed sick and bleeding from head wounds was shot by his white captain aboard an American vessel That's one round we lose in this cold war competition tion for the good will of the Far Easterners who can make or break our enemy's supply routes transportation systems and even en their armies Those shots rang across the easy sea early on the morning of Oct 25 1951 as the Flying Trader was a day and a half haIr out of Manila i Based on affidavits affidavits affidavits affi affi- davits and testimony by t the In e first mate the radio operator and other ship officers heres here's what happened Word came to t the h e captain that the nervous acal little crewman Bill Harve Harvey Harvey Har Har- ve vey member of the C CI I Os O's National Maritime Union was being noisy down below For weeks the captain had insisted that the fellow work though he had body pains The feud was about to end Shoot IMe Me Again Capt Weaver took a blackjack blackjack blackjack black black- jack and handcuffs and down he went Soon the crew heard screaming Suddenly according according according accord accord- ing to affidavits the captain calmly went up for his gun and other manacles Down the ladder ladder ladder lad lad- der again and some of the crew saw the shackled lightweight Negro head bleeding handcuffed handcuffed handcuffed hand hand- cuffed h hands a and n d s outstretched walking towards the ships ship's master master master mas mas- ter after the first shot at his legs weeping Shoot me again Captain Capt Weaver obliged In uIn self-defense self he shot twice more At no time did the captain turn the fire hose on the hysterical hysterical hysterical hys hys- seaman That would have quieted him The captain could have taken the kid alive The chief mate was there So was the crew F FBI B I Interested Now there are hearings in inthe inthe inthe the states The F FBI B I is in But the unions union's attorney Herman Herman Herman Her Her- man E. E Cooper is out to smash the greatest of all sagas of the seas the seas the tradition of the Captains Bly illy Moving loving into the high courts in behalf of the N M 1 U Mr 11 Cooper evenS even eventually tu lly will ask the Supreme Court to rule that a ship at sea is part of the territory of- of the U U. S. S For centuries the tradition tradition tradition tra tra- tra- tra has been that a captain is complete master at sea because because because be- be cause the vessel essel is not territory territory territory terri terri- tory of the land it leaves Cooper and the N M l U by bringing civil action against the line cant can't lose this one If the high court decides that tradition is inviolable and the captain is supreme master then it must be taken for granted a ship on the high seas is not American territory I If it Is not then seamen do donot donot donot not come under the jurisdiction tion of the Wage Vage Stabilization Board which governs only U. U S. S territory territory and and therefore therefore therefore there there- fore t the h e National Maritime Union can bargain barga n for any wages any working conditions any agreements on authority which it wishes And this it plans to do Those shots from a gun which the captain preferred to toa a fire hose in Hin self self defense certainly will be heard round 1 the world for quite a while |