Mr. Harold Dillner, formerly Chief Officer of the s.s. “Hesketh' of the Blackball Coal Company, was born in Sweden in 1845. At the age of fourteen he went to sea and sailed in the Mediterranean and West Indies trade for five years. He joined Messrs Wigram and Co.'s vessel “True Briton,” which was in Australian waters in 1867. Shortly afterwards he joined the brigantine “Magnet,” trading between Grey mouth and other colonial ports Mr. Dillner sailed out of Hobart in charge of the barque “Glencoe,” and subsequently he was captain of the brig “Prairie.” In 1878 he entered Mr C. W. Turner's service, and then that of Messrs Waterson, of Invercargill. He joined the service of the Blackball Coal Company, in 1895, as second officer on the “Hesketh,” and was promoted to be chief in December of the following year.