Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1844-10-24

deck, nj the time, to see -
"Brig Pocnhontas, at sea,
August, le, 1914.
To Captain Barker,
Sir:-We, the undersigned, have
came TO the conclusion, Of not whaling
it any more; so you had best 60 home,
unless you wish to put the vessel to fur
ther expense. We write this to avoid
all alteration, and let you know the
state Of our minds
Nicholas Day, John +. Clarke,
r. w. Cameron, Henry Parsons.
Shadrach G Hatch, Michael Pendergast,
VIM. G. Hobbs, Alfred Hamilton,
WIN. Runnels, Henry Williams"
This letter is what sailors call a
Ground robin" and il is such an instru-
ment as is drawn by them, when they
intend to do any unlawful act; the
names are always signed in ring at
the bottom, so that it is impossible to tell
who 81 gned first, or who signed last, as
the ringleader never cares 10 be known
rs such, in The commencement.
After reading the letter, Capt Bar
kcr handed it to his officers, and order
cd the mate to call all the men aft; this
was done, and he questioned each one
separately, as to the cause of his sign
ing the lettcr-they all said they had
not made much of a voyage, did not
sec much prospect Of one, and there
fore proposed to return home. The
Capt. talked with them two hours, en-
planned the nature of the offence, the
punishment that must ensue, and did all
n his power to persuade the men to re-
turn to duty. Two Of them, Nicholas
Day, at whose request, according to his
own statement, the letter was written
and Alfred Hamilton, retracted and re-
turned to duty; but the other eight oh
stinatcly refused to perform amy more
7rhaiing duty, but were willing to work
the Brig home. After laying to, "a
hours, and still pcrsuading the men to
return to duty, but to no effect, the
Capt. consulted with his officers as to
the best course to be pursued, and they
determined to come home, as this was
all they could do. The Briggs company,
all told, was l6, and 10 of them were
in a state of mutiny, and Of course the
voyage could not be prosecuted. They
all admitted that they had been well
treated by the officers, had lived well
and that the vessel was well equipped
and manned for such a voyage; she was
fitted for six months voyage, and had
been out about three months, at the time
of the revolt, but that they had expc-
rienccd rough and stormy weather
nearly all the time, and seen but few
whales. At this time the weather was
beccm ming settled and pleasant, whales
were plenty, and there was good pros
pcct Of voyage, rs on previous voy-
age, the last before this, the same Brig
on the same ground, from the 10Th OF
August to the 2jth Of September, took
Oil barrels of oil
On the evening Of the l9lh Of Aug.
the Briggs course was changed for home
and she arrived at this port, on the 28tl
Of the same month, and the prisoner.
were taken into custody.
The case was argued by R. W
Greene, District Attorney, for the Uni
ted States, ard by d. j. Pearce, for the
Prisoners.
The Jury, after an absence Of an
hour, returned into Court, with YER.
dict Of GUILTY, against all the Prison
ers, recommending them to tho mcr,
cy Of the Court.
Previous TO sentence, the prisoners
counsel addressed some remarks, it
their behalf to the Court, asking a:
light punishment as the nature Of the
case would admit Of, inasmuch as tho
prisoners, in his opinion, did not intent
TO do wrong, but being discouraged al
to making voyage, the vessel at th'
time of the revolt, having but 10 bar
rels Of oil, simply wrote this letter &
the Captain, to express their minds
and request of him to go home; three
Of the prisoners being minors, he urge
their case, for mercy, more strongly +
the Court.
The Court took all the Circumstance c
into consideration, and after yer
feeling and appropriate address TO ih
prisoners passed sentence as iollows:-
Cameron, the ringleader, to 90 days
Hobbs, Runncls aud Parsons, TO 6
days; Williams, colored man, 10 9
days; and Clarke, Hatch and PendeI
gas,, (minors) TO 10 days impriso'
mcnt in the County Jail
4 E