Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 200, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 August 1912 — VON HOYDONCK – MAN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

VON HOYDONCK - MAN

Till TRUI STORY OF A TAMOUS MUTINY -, 1 ' ~ ’—~

FRANK MARSHALL WHITE

© BY RJOGMY CO* « fAPTAIN STANLEY HATFIELD of the bark Lennie looked over the crew that a Thames “crimp” or shipping agent had brought from London to the berth of his ship at the Antwerp wharves, October 24, 1875, and earnestly called upon his Maker to witness that he had never before beheld such a scurvylooking herd of swine within ten miles of a ship in the thirty years he had been at sea. “So ’elp me," he declared to the shipping agent, “I -bloomin’ well might ’ave sent to Lambeth work’us, an’ found a likelier lot! Bll’ me, If I ’aven’t ’arf a mind to ship the 'ole bleedin’ gang back w’erever you got ’em from, an’ let you an’ them go *ang for your crew!” Only two of the ten men to Whom he had thus feelingly referred understood his remarks literally, for the crew was a racial composite that included four Turks, three Greeks, an Englishman, an Austrian and a Dane. The master of the Lennie could scarcely be blamed, from a seaman’s point of view, for objecting to the nondescript ten as sailors. But the Lennie, which was of a thousand tons burden and owned in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, had been ready to sail for New Orleans from Antwerp, with a mixed cargo, and, as Captain Hatfield had been unable to obtain a crew in the port where his ship lay, he had been compelled at the last moment to telegraph to the shipping agent In London, who had picked up the ten men for him along Ratcliffe Highway—the riffraff- of their calling, small men for the most part, shabby and unkempt. The first and second mates of the Lennie were Englishmen, respectively Joseph Wortley and Robert McDonald. Captain Hatfield made Green boatswain. Green being, despite the name he gave as his own, a Greek, though able to speak and understand English, and therefore able to act as interpreter for the captain’s orders. There were yet two more nationalities represented on the vessel’s roster. The man whose splendid heroism and daring ingenuity in the face of death make the story of the Lennie worth telling was a giant from Belgium, six feet and three inches tall, who was at that time twenty-five years of age, and whose name was Constant Von Hoydonck. He had shipped as steward, although he held a master’s certificate in the merchant marine, and he spoke English, French and Dutch. The cabin boy was Dutch, his name being Henri Trousselot, and he had been brought on board by Von Hoydonck, to whose care the lad had been intrusted by his parents. The Lennie sailed from Antwerp with her polyglottous crew the day after their arrival from London, and her cruise is memorable in the annals of the sea. It is a story that has not been made public since it was related in an English criminal court by the participants in the occurrence thirty-five years ago. Five European governments decorated the hero of the exploit. That Captain Hatfield, First Mate Wortley and Second Mate McDonald deserved the fate that overtook them five days out from Antwerp there is little doubt, for all three were cruel and brutal taskmasters, whose method of getting the most work out of the men under them was by means of curses and blows. Whether the sailors had previously formed a conspiracy for the murder of the Lennie’s officers or whether they turned on them simultaneously on being driven to desperation is a question that was afterward considered by an English jury. The tragedy occurred early on the morning of October 31, the Lennie being then off the island of Oleron tn the Bay of Biscay. In First Mate Wortley's watch, from midnight until four o’clock, were Boatswain Green, Cargalis, Caludls, Kaida. Ranken and Petersen. At three-thirty, Wortley gave the order to put the ship about, and. as a fresh breeze was blowing, all hands were ordered to the work. Ranken, the Englishman, was at the wheel, and, while the others were at the main braces, Captain Hatfield came on deck and fell upon them with kicks and cuffs. • “Git to work, ye - —!” he roared. Cargalis suddenly drew a big clasp-knife from his pocket, opened it' and sprang upon the captain, driving the point of the weapon into his stomach. In the fraction of a second Caludis, the Turk known as “Big Harry.” had followed the example of the Greek, stabbing Hatfield in the forehead and side and then seizing him about the waist and bearing him to the deck, where he proceeded to pull off the prostrate man’s boots, preparatory to throwing him overboard, while two others of the crew hacked at their late taskmaster with knives. All these things had occurred in much less time than it takes to describe them, and it was not until the captain—who had had no weapon with him, even if he had been given the chance to use it—had been stretched on the deck that the first mate realized what was occurring. He, too, was unarmed, but be sprang to the side of Hatfield, who was still alive, and attempted to drag him toward the saloon. In a flash, Cascarls drove his knife into Wortley’s heart, twice repeating the thrust, and the second victim fell dead, across the body of the first. Roused by the noise of the struggle on the deck, Second Mate McDonald at this moment rushed from his cabin. Seeing the bleeding bodies of his two superior officers and the ferocious countenances and streaming knives .of the crew, he ran to Boatswain Green, the only one of them to whom he could speak English, and putting his arms around his neck begged him to save his life. The Greek responded with a thrust of his knife into the other’s bowels. The sounds of the struggle on the deck’ ever his bead had wakened Von Hoydonck,

who had been asleep in his bunk. He had heard the pistol-shots without realizing what they meant; then the cabin-boy, who had also been roused by the commotion and had ventured to peep over the top of the companionway to the deck, rushed in frenziedly to inform him that the ship’s officers were being murdered by the crew. The young giant bounded out of his bunk and, without waiting to put on clothes or boots, seized a heavy cane, the only weapon at hand, and made for the deck. As he reached the head of the companionway the mutineers saw him and swung the door to, half a dozen o? them putting their combined weight against it. Imprisoned with the cabin-boy in what had been the officers’ quarters, for the single companionway and the skylight were the Only means of egress, Von Hoydonck dressed himself and made a rapid search for weapons. He was fortunate enough to find two revolvers and a box of cartridges in the captain’s stateroom, and these he put into his pockets. Then he considered the situation. If, as was doubtless the case, the captain and the first and second mates had been killed, there was no one on board capable of navigating the ship save himself, for he had observed that the ten members of the crew scarcely knew one sail of the Lennie from the other. He knew the men s\’ere aware that he was a qualified navigator, for he had laid out the ship's course for Captain Hatfield the second day out. . While Von Hoydonck w’as speculating on these matters the skylight over the saloon was pried up a few inches, and Green, the boatswain, called to him. “JVe w’ant to have a talk with you,” he said. "We ain’t going to hurt you. We’ve got a proposition to make.” Considering that he might as well bring things to a crisis first as last, the Belgian responded, bidding Green come down to the saloon. Von Hoydonck ensconced himself behind the table, with one revolver in his hand, and posted Henri on a chair in the corner with'the other, which he bade him keep pointed at the door. When Gjeen. followed by the others, with Cargalis, Kaida and Cascaris close at his back, appeared at the poYtal, they were confronted by the two weapons, the one in the corner waving tremulously, and the other steady in the hand of the big Belgian; “ "Only one of you Inside the door!” said Von Hoydonck calmly. “Come in. Green, and let me know what you’ve got to say, quick! Tell the others to keep back!” Giving the order to his fellows, who were quite willing to get out of range of the two pistols—seeming, indeed, to fear the one that was wavering with the boy’s nerveless finger on the trigger rather than the other, the boatswain stepped up to the table. hls swarthy features twisted into what was intended to be an ingratiating grin, and said: “We don’t Intend to do you any harm. We’ve, finished with the others.” , . “What do you mean?” “We’ve finished with 'the captain and the first and second mates, and thrown their bodies overboard," Green explained. "What do you want of me?” "We want you to join us,” said the Greek. “There’s a fortune here for all of ys.” He proceeded to explain that Cargalls was his cousin and that they had an uncle In Greece who was a dealer in nautical goods, and Incidentally a “fence” for- stolen ships, who would buy the Lennie and her cargo for cash if they should deliver her ‘off Zacynthus, an island near the' cost In the lonian sea. If Von Hoydonck would navigate the ship to the point described, Green told him, he would be permitted to share and share alike with the ten members of the crew fn the proceeds of the sale of vessel and cargo. While the boatswain was speaking an Idea flashed across Von Hoydonck’s mind —to seem to agree to the proposition to sail the Lennie to Greece, but, relying on the Ignorance of the crew, actually Jo navigate her to England In the opposite jilrection, turn her

over to her owners and bring the mutineers to justice? Wherefore Von Hoydonck, professing immense relief that he was not included among the enemies of the crew and great joy at the prospect -of an immediate fortune, eagerly assented to the scheme outlined by the boatswain, that worthy translating him to the non-English-speaking rasca's, who crowded into the saloon to make protestations of friendship. The Belgian had meantime taken the second pistol from Henri, and ostentatiously put both weapons into his own coat pockets. A mom’ent later a scream frerrt the boy caused the i giant to turn hurriedly and see Henr* in the grasp of Kaida, who was dragging him toward the companionway. Springing after them, Von Hoydonck struck the Turk a blow in the jaw from behind that rendered him unconscious for ten minutes, threw the boy into - a corner of the room and stood at bay before him with the two revolvers drawn, one tn each hand. “Tell the men that I’ll kill the next one that lays a hand on this boy!” he roared to Green. “I’m master of this ship until we get to Greece!” he bellowed, for .the sake of the effect of his stentorian voice rather than from rage. —— When the sun was high enough for the taking of observations, Von Hoydonck went on deck with the sextant. The navigator found the Lennie to be about one. hundred and fifty miles south of Falmouth, in approximately forty-six degrees north latitude and eight west longitude. During the period of excitement over the murder of the ship’s officers and the conference with the steward the wheel had been lashed or left unattended, and the vessel had moved out of her course so that she pointed almost due west. Showing Green the correct position of the Lennie on. the captain’s chart, Von Hoydonck explained the necessity of changing the southwest course she had previously pursued for Orleans, to a southerly one for Gibraltar, en route for the Jonlan sea via the Mediterranean. In putting the ship about, however, he gave orders that reversed the direction,, without creating suspicion in the mind of the Ignorant Greek. For four days the Lennie sailed northward, and each day the Belgian took his observations. marking the chart to show the mutineers how far she had traveled south, while he carried the actual reckoning as nearly as possible in his head. Carrying his reckonings in his head, Von Hoydonck miscalculated their arrival off the English shore, coming within sight of land just as It was growing dark on the .evening of November 3. As the land appeared off the starboard bow, he had no difficulty in making the crew believe that it was the coast of Morocco they saw, explaining that, owing fir'fnaccuracies in his calculations, the ship had run past Gibraltar. The Lennie was at once put about, and, giving up the idea of obtaining succor from England, Von Hoydonck sailed the ship into the Bay of Brest on the north coast of France, which his dupes naturally took to be Spain. Arriving the following evening, he told them that they were off Cadiz; and, as the weather happened to be stormy, suggested that they anchor over night, particularly as it would be necessary to take new observations of the sun before laying out the ship’s course through the Mediterranean. . The mutineers assented to the dropping of the anchor, and before daybreak Von Hoydonck had not only contrived surreptitiously to throw over the Lennie’s side twenty-four bottles, each containing one of the messages, in French and English, revealing conditions on board the ship and asking for assistance, but had managed to run up a distress signal where It might be observed in the morning should another vessel come close enough before the crew discovered it It so happened that the first of bluebottles was not found for two days—on the Brittany coast ten miles from the point where ft was thrown overboard.

It was still stormy when day broke the next morning, and Von Hoydonck, peering from the porthole ofhls steward’s cabin, saw that there was considerable shipping about them. The crew had discovered the flag of distress almost immediately, however, and at once brought it down, but not until it had been descried by a passing tug-boat. The tug at once came alongside, but could not get close enough for any communication other than by signal. The mutineers were clever enough to explain, in response to the tug’s signals, that their distress was due to the fact that their chronometer had run down, whereupon the other boat signaled them the time and went its way. Had Von Hoydonck then been aware that the crew had nb ammunition for the pistols he knew to be in their possession, he would have given them battle while they were sig> nallng, in the hope that the men on the tug would have taken cognizance of it , While Von Hoydonck had been plotting against the mutineers, they, too, had been plotting. Believing themselves to be at Cadiz, it had occurred to them that it would be possible to navigate the Lennie through the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, keeping within sight of the shore and hence obviating the necessity of taking the sun and making calculations therefrom. Hence they had decided to murder their navigator (and incidentally the cabin-boy) in the morning and get along without him. Had Von Hoydohek, therefore, not anticipated trouble because of having run up the distress flag and been led to take precautions in leaving his cabin, he would doubtless have been killed then. The mutineers set sail and started for Gibraltar that morning, posting a continual lookout at the door of the steward’s cabin. Much to their surprise, however, after sailing for three days southward along the coast, no Rock of Gibraltar hove in sight. According to the admiralty chart on board it should have been only a day’s run from Cadiz. On the third night, moreover, a storm drove them out of sight of land, and the next day they were compelled to make overtures to Von Hoydonck. Being in a position to dictate to the mutineers, the Belgian demanded that their two pistols, which he knew to be the only ones on board with the exception of the two he '•arrled, be handed in to him before he left nis cabin. It was when thia. condition was complied with that he learned to his chagrin that x he ammunition for the weapons had given out with the shooting of McDonald eight days before, and that he might have thrown down the gauntlet to the desperadoes When they were in the Bay of Brest. By a remarkable coincidence the Lennie was found to be approximately in the same position when Von -Hoydonck made his observations that morning as she had been when he assumed the duties of navigator on the day her were murdered. He refused to answer any of Green’s questions as to their whereabouts, however. Von Hoydonck sailed' the Lennie for the Pointe de L’Aigullle in the province of Ven'dee, bringing her to anchor about five miles from shore on the evening of the ninth of the month, for he was sure that some of his messages would have been picked up by that time and that search would have been instituted for the mutiny ship. That night Cargalis, Cascaris, Kaida, Caludls, Angelos and Green took Captain Hatfield’s property and the ship’s papers and went ashore in one of the ship’s boats at Sables d’Olonne, where they claimed to be shipwrecked sailors, all unaware that the bottle found farther up the coast had made the news of the mutiny known all along the west of France. The six sailors were at once recognized as members of the murderous crew, and were arrested and put in irons. Meanwhile Von Hoydonck, with the Englishman, the Dane, the, Austrian and a Turk for his crew, had navigated the ship to the .vicinity of La Flotte, off the Isle de Re. Here on the following morning, the 10th of November, the French man-of-war Trnvailleur, that had got track of her through the landing of the six mutineers' at Sables d’Olonne, overtook the Lennie, and the brave Belgian’s long vigil was over. Newspaper reporting was not as highly developed a. vocation In Europe In the seventies of the last century as it is today, and it was not until the trial of the ten mutineers In England the following May that Von Hoydonck’s fame became international