The Sun.
London, England, 1812-11-05 00:00:00

PIRACY AND MURDER.

UNION-HALL. - Mutiny and Murder.— Our
readers will reccillect the deposition which Was
recently made before the Magistrates" at Shadwell
Office, by a boY named Mattis, who formerly le-
longed to the Adventurer, South Sea Whaler,
Capt. Keith, Commander, which it had hitherto
been supposed was lost in the South' Seas, hitt
Which, it now appears from l'iladis's deposition,
was taken possession of by the crew,- who mur-
dered the Captain and chief-mate, and afterwards
scuttled the vessel. In consequence of that depo-
sition, which vas • ori,r,inally taken before Mr.
EVANCE at.this office,*Glennon, Goff, and Wert-
Jey, were dispatched to, Liverpool, in search
of Samuel Telling, who was cooper on board,
the Adventurer, and Charles Prederick Palm,
the Second mate; who, according to .Madis's
Statement, were principally concerned in -the
the, murder of Captain Keith and William Smith,
the thief-mate. The Officer's arri\•ed in town on
Tuesday evening, having, by th,..‘ir activity, se7
cured Yalta and Tellin, notwithstanding the,
precautions they bad taken to conceal then:—
selves, ;in consequence of. the intelligence convey-
ed to them by the public prints, of the depoSition
made by Madis before the Magistrates of Shad-
well. Both the prisoners were examined before-
Mr. BIRNIE, on Tuesday evening, when Telling
stated the following particulars of this diabolical
transaction, which` fully corroborate the ;-t.ate-
ment previously made by the 'boy Madis, before
Mr. Evance

The Adventnyer, a South Sea,whaler, of 'which
the deceased, Captain Keith, was _commander,
and Win. Smith chief mate, sailed from London,
in the month of Sept. 1811 ; the deponent was
cooper on. bhard ; they bad been out between six
and seven months when the 'captain and chief
mate were murdered ; the date when this took
place he could not remember, bat 'it was about 4
, o'clock in the morning ; a boy named George
was_at the helm, the deponent and the rest of the
'crew werefor.ward on deck; I:altr, the second Mate,
was amongst them, trying to strike a light; the depo.-
pent saw Capt. K. dome on deck, he was in his shirt.;
the Captain said to the second-mate, ," Charles,
What are you abOnt ?" Palm made no answer, but
struck him with the cooper's hammer, which he
had ready in hiS hand. The Captain said, " Oh,
Charles, you have done me !" in the mean time
another man, since dead, attacked the chief-mate,
who had come on deck immediately after the
Captain, and -.struck him repeatedly on the head,
or any part. he' could, with the cook's axe, mid
Palm, and two. other Swedes (both since dead)
took the. active part in thrOwitig the Captain
and chief-mate onboard ; the chief-mate called
-out " boat, boat !" after he was in the water,
but they beard no more either from him or
the Captain. 'After this, all hands ‘vent below,
except the boy at the helm. Palm produc-
ed a bible, and 'they all took an oath upon it,
wishing they might never see the light of Heaven
if they divulged what had passed.---The boy. left
at the helm was afterwards sworn ; previous to
this time, the Captain, while at St: ThoraaS's,
had engaged :two black men, :and after the
bodies of the Captain and chief-mate had been
thrown o'verboard, •the two Swedes provided
themselves each with a pistol and a glass of rum ;
the rum they ofired ,to the blacks, and whilst
-in 'the act of drinking it, each shot his man ;
one of the -unfortnnate blacks was shot dead,
the other was only wounded, but both were im-
mediately thrown overboard by Palma and -the
'two Swedes ; the wounded than s‘vaia and caught
hOld of the rudder, but Palm took a spade, and
threatened to cut his hands off, upon which he
letgb, and they saw no more of him. After this
they plundered the Captain's property, and Palm'
had a five pound note out Of it. Palm then. took
charge of the ,vessel, but it was afterwards deter:`
mined ,to scuttle the ship, and take to the boats,
and steer for the coast of Guinea. Two boats
were prepared, and ;provisions put into' them ;
the crew, aniouhting to eleven in number, got
six into one boat, and .five into the otifer ;
Palen ..and the deponent. 'were in separate boats
they were three ..days and three:nights be-
fore they made laud, and 'then one of. the
boats was swamped, andu boy was drowned ;
they then walked along the heach till night, when
they lay crowil on the sand to sleep, and next day'
went into the country, till they saw some sinOke
rising amongft the trees ; they •Neint up to it, and
the black people rusted out and attacked them,
and .drove them up the conntrya where they were
kept for some. weeks, and thoii taken tO•Port
'Lopez,. frOm whence 'Maths; Palm, ;and the
deponent, made, their .way in different vessels
to . Liverpool. •- Aa, few days after the Atli-un-'
tnrer left England, the crew were pia on-short
allowance, which was continued through the
voyage • the crew frequently said they might
as well be kille& as starved-and a few days
before the Captain and Mate were' murdered,
deponent heard Palm say he would kill the Cap
tain ; at the time Palm was striking a light,-he
said he would kill the Captain:; the Swedes'agreed
to do so, and `said any one who did not agree
should be served the Sallie ; the deponent assisted
in throwing the blacks over-board, but did not
touch the Captain or Mate,
The account of Palm was as follows :—He was
shipped-as Second-:mite on board the Adventurer;
he .had no qUarrel witl.the Captain; till he came
to the coast, athkthen they disagreed abouawages ;
he remembered the Captain fringing two black
men on hoard from St. Thomas, and that he was
afterWarcls pulled overboard by the accident of his
leg beiug 'caught in the bite of a whale line, after
lie had struck a /fish.. The Chief-mate, William
Smith, who was an old man, died by sickness
whilst on board; ',one -of the black men, went
overboard after the Captain, and he did not see
him after ; lte did not know what becaine pf the
, other black man, but. was told he went overboard
also.—Both the Prisoners were committed for re-
examination.