Salt Lake Telegram | 1923-08-21 | Page 3 | Sailors Fight to Take Ship from Natives

SAILORS FIGHT TO TAKE SHIR FROMNATIVES Crew of American Vessel Assert South Sea Islander Island-er Were Headed by Englishman En-glishman in Attack j SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. Th chooner LottU Bennett ealltd In through the Golden Gate yesterday i flying the Stars and Stripes as I mute evidence of an American I crew's victory In a desperate hand-! hand-! to-hand battle fought off an Island I In the Pacific with South sea Islanders led by an Englishman, according ac-cording to members of the vessel's X The Lottie Bennett, belonging to y Burns. Philip A Co, was en route from Nluatebutabu to this port with a cargo of copra, the sailors satd, when she dropped anchor off the Island of Nleufua In the Tonga group, jut as a terrific equatorial norm blew up. Captain Neils Jen-n Jen-n and his crew of ten went ashore " r? PrHiaiw (Tig gslv. " 1 ' 1 After the gnle Mew Itself out, . Captain Jensen and his crew prepared pre-pared to return to their vessel. They wild they were greeted by wild yells and a shower of missiles mis-siles from the ship. Then, accord -infr to their story, and an English plantation manager named Ramsey, one of the two white men living on . Nleufua. informed them he had found the vessel In an abandoned condition and had taken possession posses-sion of It. Clambering up hawsers and anchor an-chor chains, the Americans boarded the vessel and battled the British leader and his crew, although the natives outnumbered the Americans Ameri-cans nearly to 1. The 'Americans 'Ameri-cans finally threw the natives overboard, over-board, put handcuffs on Ramsey and set him ashore. The sailors said they learned there was a long-standing feud between be-tween Ramsey and the only other white man living on the island, who is plantation manager for the company com-pany that owns the Lottls Bennett.