Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1861-06-01
grlctt Tale.
THE MUTINY OF THE SATURN
BY LIEUT.. j. wARNEFoRp, R. n.

In the eutumn OF the year l7T9, that is,
about three years before The conclusion Oftbe
furious war wpged by Great Brilun sgaInst
the revu!ted States Of America, aud their al.
y. France, the garbled report uf q desperate
mutIny on the high seas REACHED EugInnd, aud
was published III the newspapers. The real
facts, ultimately slited out OF the mass of dis.
tortrd exsggeratiou, were startling and sig.
nfcsnt.
The captain Of II b. NJ 8 sloop.of war Sa.
turn, cruising on the A American seabuard, was
not only b strict disc plinurun. but niah Of
cruel, !uHtXible temper, who, shelterng HIM
self under the plea OF duty had coutrve6,
IN q very short time, 10 reuder the the Saturn
II mere floating hell. peopled by devils, most.
y OF his own masking, bad as the composition
OF the crew may have been, the greatest por
ton having been supplied by the sweeping Of
jails 1t would have been, in fact, impossible
to obtain u crew Of volunteer seamen for u
ship commanded by Captain the Honorable
Charles r.
Excessive cruel aogging were consequent
ly, in those days OF al Hbitum naval punish
menl, The daily breud Ui the Saturn's crew |;
aud deadly hatred Of the commander conse
quenty grew ID be the dominant passion OF
every man aud boy III The sbip-the quarter.
deck officers themselves hardly excepted.
OPEN mulIuy would have broken out long
before it did bad IT not CHANGED that the Sa
turn was constantly cruising IN company with
| several consOrts. under which clrcumsi ances
u mutiuy would have been brought 10 II swift
aud bUudy eCd. 1t was not, THEREFORE,, at.
tempted. The crew aw"iled their upporlu
nifty aod that opportunity was not very far
! oi
| la al excess OF ungoyernsble rage, Copt,
! the Honorable Charles F. positively
/ logged the Saturu's senior midshlpmun =
| The cause Of the offence was supposed to be
| the monarch of the Saturn rarely coDdescend.
ed to explain precisely uhy hs punished his
subject victlms-that he had heard Mr.. Ed
| wards speak of him IN not quite such Halter
| Ing terms as be, QUE OF the highest OF the Up
per Ten Thousand, knew himself entitled tn,
especially from fellow who had cOme in al
the ha~se holes. ! may here remark, en- pas
SAINT that IN the good old days when good old
George the Thrd was king, the commander
OF ship was not obliged to record the mum
Der Of d"gglpgs he luhlcled. or the names oi
the FogSees, 10 the ships log.
FioggIog mldshlpman-an adult midsbip.
mau too-was 10 gross violation Of the
service for even an Honorable to indulge 10
with impunily. The Admiral on the strtiop
"as oihclaliy lhiofibeu oi tbe oulrage lbat
had been committed, and, after d some what
engthsned correspondence between him and
Bsptaln F., the Saturn, then cruising
III the Bay of Fundy, was ordered to Ports
mouth. where, 1t was alleged, a Court Of In
quiry could be more satisfactorily held thar
ou the American Station. The truth was
the Admiral had by some means ascertain.6
the latent luminous state OF the Saturni
crew, and thought il prudent 10 send be
hone at once. II may be also. that the Hon
orasble Charles E. being very higa!,
connected. the ADMIRAL thought it just q
we'll to afford the authorities at homo the op
tiou Of proceeding nth or husbiog op the up
pleasant ses,