The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-08 00:00:00

before that of the coppers. The armourer attempted to re-
move the coppers, but in vain. The captain gave permission to
the men to remove the coppers if they could, but they flied to
do so without effect. At this time they were on salt provhions,
the stock of fresh being exhausted. A day or two before
Griggs was shot, I asked M'Gregor whose look-out it was?
and he replied it was his. He was then going over the fore-
castle deck, and I said to him that was a poor way of keeping
a proper look-out. He said d- and b- the look-out ;
and I replied lie need not use such language as that, no more
than any other man. He said lie should never be satisfied in
that ship until he had kicked up ab- good row. I said
he should have no row with me. He said no, he would have
no row with me, but he would have with that long b- who
was aft. At this time the captain was aft. The captain is a
tall man. On the 30th of September it was M'Gregor's
watch below. He was then lying on the forecastle deck. I
reported this to the first mate. It was raining heavily at
the time, and the weather was very hot. The first mate
asked him what he was lying there for; and he answered to
please himself. The mate said he had better go below out of
the wet. He replied, he was hot enough there, without going
below. The mate said if it was too warm to go down there,
he might go down on the half-deck. M'Gregor said he had no
business going down the half-deck. The mate then bid him go
down the forehold, anywhere he liked, for if he laid
there, he would certainly get the fever. IVl‘Gregor
said that was the thing he wauted to catch, for another stroke
of work he would not do on board that ship. The mate told
the captain this, and he then came forward and said he
thought M'Gregor was a man of better conduct, but he ap-
peared to be turning out a regular vagabond. M'Gregor
said, " It's not me that's the vagabond, but yourself." At
noon of the same day it was M'Gregor's watch, and he ought
to have been at the wheel. He would not go to the wheel,

and when I asked him to do so, he replied he was going to do
no more work on board that ship. The captain, first mate,
and myself then held a consultation together as to what
was to be done. At six o'clock that evening it was 'We're-
goes turn again on deck. He was below, and I called him to
duty, but he refused to come. The Ist of October was a Sun-
day. lll‘Gregor's watch was from eight to twelve at noon.
He would not work. I asked him was he going to do his
duty, and he replied if they were a twelvemonth out he would
do no more work on board the b- ship. The first mate
then called all hands aft on the deck. M'Gregor was sitting
by the heel of the bowsprit. He said he had no occasion to
go aft, and the mate asked him why? He said he was
off duty and would work no more. The mate said he had
better go with the rest of the ship's company. He said he
would go and hear the news. Lambert was at the other
side and heard all that was said. Lambert also said he was
off duty and would not go aft. The mate asked who put him
off duty, and he said he put himself off duty, but he might as
well go aft, and hear what news there was on. board the b-
treadmill. He then went aft. All the rest of the crew were
aft but him. Grigg was aloft at the forewast-top on the
look-out for whales. All the crew were at the larboard side
aft but 111‘Gregor, who was on the starboard. The captain,
who was at the Companion door, asked what the
crew meant. 31‘Gregor, Lambert, and some others
said they wanted more beef. The captain said they
had what was put on board before they left port at London,
and what was always given out to South-Sea men. He also
told them they had no cause to fall out, for they had all
meat three times a clay and bread without limit. Each man
had a pound of meat per clay. The captain said he had no
wish to take any meat hone with him, and on their home-
ward voyage they might eat it all up. He then asked
31‘Gregor if he would go arid do his duty, and
APGregor replied, no, he would not. The captain then
went and fetched the articles and read them. 111‘Gregor
said those were not the articles he had signed. The captain
finished reading them. and then again asked M'Gregor to do
his duty, which he refused. The captain then called to the
crew, one and all, to do their duty, and put ArGregor in
irons. They were all there, except Griggs, who was at the
mast-head. The crew all went forward, and made no reply.
Lambert went forward with them. The captain then said
" M'Gregor, I must put you in irons." M'Gregor desired him
to take care, for he should not iron him, and he drew his
hand back, as if about to strike at the first mate, who had

advanced to seize him. I caught his hand. He tried to trip
up the first mate, but I tripped him up, and so brought
him down. He resisted very violently. The captain and
mate were trying to put the irons on him while I held him.
He struck me and bit me. The boat-steerer was helping me.
• M'Gregor called us a parcel of cowards and b—. The captain
was kneeling, trying with the mate to get the hand-cuffs on
M'Gregor. Lambert came aft, and told the captain to "release
that man," and the captain said he would not on any account.
At that' moment John Griggs came up, and said, " Williams,
do you intend to release that man ?" I did not see Griggs drop
down from the tops. 3PGregor was still struggling on the
deck. The captain said he would do his duty, and would not
release him. The mate said, " Hearken,men, hearken ; mind
what you're doing." Griggs said " There's no hearkening
here—we won't hearken." Lambert then, striking his fist on
the top of the companion, said, " By G— we'll make you let
him go." Griggs said, " Yes, by G—; give me a lance and
I'll soon clear him." The captain, on this, instantly let
M'Gregor go. The boats were swinging from the davits. In
one of these boats, on the larboard side, were three harpoons
and three lances. Griggs jumped on to the rail, from which
he could reach the lances. Brown, one of the crew, hauled
him back. The captain sang out to the steward to hand: him
his gun. Before he so sung out, he said, " If it's a lance you
want, it's time to look out." The steward handed up
the captain his gun. The captain had one foot down
the companion ladder, in order to take the gun when handed
to him. I saw it in his hands. Griggs was again trying to
get up to the place where the lances were. The crew cleared
away. The captain fired instantly at Griggs, and shot him
dead. He shot him right in the back. There was then no
one trying to pull him back—no one near him—for when the
captain got his gun the crew cleared off. The mate had also
called for and got his gun. On this Lambert sang out that
he would go to his duty, and 31`Gregor ran down
into the forehold, and stowed himself away. I

went down to look for him, and told him io go
on deck, for the captain wanted to speak to him. He
said he was not going on deck to be shot at by that b---
captain. He went up, however, and the captain asked him
what he was going to do, and he said be was not going to do
anything ; but give him a pistol and he was not afraid of him
or of any other man. The captain said he did not want his
life, and he added—" Do yon think I am a murderer ; I have
taken one man's life already, and I don't want another at
present. Will you do your duty ?" M'Gregor said be would,
if there was to be no more about it. The captain said there
would be no more about it at present, and ll‘Gregor then
went to his duty. So also did the crew. The captain, first
mate, and I then consented together, and we resolved to make
Rio, which was the nearest port. When we arrived there, an
inquiry was gone into before the Consul. There was an En-
glish man-of-war in port. I, George Field, and John Thomp-
son, as witnesses, together with the two prisoners at the bar,
were sent home, and the captain got more men and proceeded
on his voyage.
Cross-examined by APGregor—There,was no disturbance
on board when the whale was taken. The ship was not on
fire. The bowsprit was burnt from the funnel. We were
not 2,000 miles from Rio when Griggs was shot. I don't re-
collect the captain finding me asleep on deck, and then going
forward and abusing the hands. I recollect the boat of the
English man-of-war Frolic coming alongside at Rio. I
don't know if Captain Williams reported a man shot, or the
crew in a state of mutiny.
.1 myself signalled for a man-of-
war's boat to come alongside. Three men-of-war were lying
in the harbour. The captain took down the signal—he
would not allow it.

By Lambert—l was not in the boat when the whale was
killed. I never was in a whaler before, and never crossed
the line.

Lambert—l tell you you were the cause of all the dis-
turbance. You know you are no navigator—you know
nothing of whaling. You are no South-Sea man—not you,
indeed. You know you are not fit for the situation you held.
"Witness—l dare say I can steer a boat as well as you.
You are two gentlemen that both know too much for our-
selves, and managed to outlaw yourselves.—(A laugh.)
Cross-examination by Lambert resumed—l never heard
you refuse your duty until the Sunday morning. I never
heard you complain to the captain that the forecastle was so
hot there was no bearing it.
By Lord ABINGER—After the affair of the 30th September,
the coppers remained below.
A Juror desired Lord Abinger to inquire from the prisoners
why they were undefended?
Lord ABINGER—I do not think it a proper question, Sir.
The Juror—l don't see that. My opinion is, they have no
Counsel for want of funds to pay one.
Both prisoners—Yes, Sir; that is the reason.
The Juror—lf any gentleman at the ter will be gook
enough to undertake their defence, I will see him paid.
None of the Counsel at the bar replied, and the case pro-
ceeded. There Were tWo other witnesses, George Field, a
mariner, and John Thompson, cook, examined in support of
the charge. Their evidence went to a very great length, but
it was identical with that of the first witness, which we have
given pretty nearly in full.
In their defence, M'Gregor said the whole of the
crew had many grounds of complaint, and were, natu-
rally enough, always grumbling. There was nothing
but discontent on board, on account of the dread-
ful heat, caused by the way in which the boilers were
placed, which, added to the heat of the weather, was almost
unbearable. The provisions were unwholesome, and the
captain was always goading them by the most horrid and
abusive language. On one occasion the chief mate had
brutalry ill-used him, and the captain never protected him,
or any of his men, at all, but was a party to all the ill-usage
on board. He (M'Gregor) had demanded of his own accord
to be given up to the first English man-of-war they should
fall in with, or to be given up to the British Consul at
the first port they might touch at.
Lambert, the other prisoner, confirmed M'Gregor's state-
ment, and added, that when he interfered it was not to save
M'Gregor from being put into custody, but to have it done in
a more merciful way, as there three on him at once, and he
thought from the violence used by them that he must have
been killed.

Lord Abinger summed up the case to the jury, who,
having consulted in the box for some minutes without being
able to agree upon their verdict, were directed to retire for
consultation. They did so retire at about a quarter to four
o'clock, and were absent until past eight o'clock, when they
returned into Court, and the foreman pronounced a verdict
of Guilty against the prisoner M'Gregor, and acquitted the
other prisoner. The jury coupled with their verdict the fol-
lowing statement :—‘‘ That the jury are of a decided opinion,
and strongly recommend that the slightest punishment that
the Court can pass ought to be inflicted, considering there
was much real cause for discontent and complaint, which
complaint was not only manifested by the prisoners, but by
all the crew, excepting the officers. The jury consider the
captain and owners of the vessel highly reprehensible for not
having provided sufficiently for the wants and comfort of
the men."