Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-05-18
Z A MUTINY.

& A MUllNI.
.szsnsv TT, TT,
On two occasions the story of the mutiny
on the French merchant ship Albatross has
been related in my presence by the sole sur
vivor, and the particulars are SO full of in
terest that I am going to give the affair in
full. The Albatross was stanch, new ship
of 400 tons burden, built and fitted out by
French syndicate, which had purchased,
pre-emptied or stolen-no one ever knew
which-a large tract of land on the coast Of
Brazil, near the mouth of the Amazon. The
idea was to send out colony, and the syndi-
cate published maps and pictures and vari-
GUS advertisements of an alluring nature,
and about $50 persons finally made ready to
sail for this new found paradise. Each one
had been promised fifty acres Of land, seed
for two years crops, free native labor to
build their houses and fence their farms, and
the syndicate even dared claim that the
government sanctioned the enterprise.
The ship carried a crew of twenty-four,
and was differed after curious fashion.
Her captain was Spaniard, her first mate
Frenchman and her second an Englishman.
Her crew was made up of Portuguese,
Dutch, French, English, Americans and
Swedes. Each officer and man was to re-
ceive so much per month for the voyage,
with from SO to 200 acres of land in the
colony as sort of prize chrome.
sit was," said William Carew, the sur
vivor, ''the worst crew ever saw on ships
deck. Twas young fellow of %, and shipped
from spirit of adventure, having no care
which way we headed nor what port we
made. suppose the same sentiment actu-
ated most of the others. We were not shipped
in the regular way, but picked up one by
one by the syndicate or its agents. This fact,
together with the promise of land in the new
colony, made each sailor sort of partner in
the enterprise, and that feeling was prejudi-
cial to good discipline. We all saw before
the Albatross was ready to sail that none of
our officers were competent men, and as
watched the crew go about their work I was
satisfied that we had not more than seven or
eight able seamen aboard. Each sailor was
permitted to bring on board whatever arti-
cles he desired, and great many bottles of
whisky, therefore, found their way into the
forecastle.
''But if the crew was open to criticism,
what can say of the mob of colonists be-
tween decks? There might have been a dozen
respectable, honest men and women-people
who had been basely deceived by the fowery
circulars of the syndicate All the others
were the riff-raff and rabble, and not few
belonged to the criminal classes. I think the
exact number of the colonists was 252 Of
this number about sixty were women and
twenty were children. I for one should have
been better satisfied with a passenger list Of
252 lunatics We sailed from Havre at 8
o'clock in the morning, April 81, 1s47, and
were roundly jeered and loudly cheered as
we moved off. The captain was in his cabin,
drunk and asleep, the first mate had imbibed
enough to render him silly, and the second
mate hardly knew enough to get sail on the
ship after the tug left us in the offing. Three
of the foremost hands actually had more to
do with getting the ship on her course than
any officer in the ship.
at was late in the afternoon before the
captain and mate sobered up and the ship
was put in order. Meanwhile the few real
sailors aboard had opportunity to size up the
crew and realize what slouchy set we had.
The passengers were an impudent, wicked
lot, as we soon had reason to know. They
knew the condition Of the captain and his
mate, and would therefore pay no attention
to the orders of the third officer. We
were not two hours off the land when
thew began quarreling and fighting, and in
an hour more two Of the people complained
that they had been robbed. On the third
day out twenty Of the best people among the
emigrants demanded of the captain that he
should put them aboard the first vessel
spoken, no matter to what part of the world
she was bound. Luckily for them on that
very day we ran head on to a French ship
bound to Havre, and the emigrants made
terms and were taken aboard. These twenty
were probably the only honest people in the
whole lot. After they had gone, the conduct
of the others was simply outrageous. Had
we had the right sort of captain, every.
thing would have gone smoothly, but he was
constantly under the influence of drink, and
when reasonably sober was in close commune
cation with three or four of the emigrants-
the most yillainous Of the lot. AS we finally
came to know, they were conspiring against
the syndicate and perfecttng plans for thei1
own ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. Our captain was
it appeared, not only an egotiSt, but
a political demagogue. His dream was
to found colony or republic and become its
ruler, and this idea was fostered and encour'
aged by coterie who also had personal axes
to grind Never was ship taken so com
p]etely into the hands OF Providence. During
the first two weeks out we were twice on fire
by the carelessness of the emigrants, but the
flames were subdued without serious damage
Day after day we had favoring winds, and
made good progress, aud the ship seemed tt
take care of herself, independent of the
officers In due time we reached the Cape
Verde Islands That locality was compare
lively unknown then, and the captain anG
his schemers had mind to take possession
of one of the islands. We were at anchor 6
week while they were looking around, but
they had to abandon their idea. Some Of
the emigrants became suspicious, called {
meeting of all, and for a couple of day.
terror reigned aboard. Those who hat
started for the Amazon in good faith wantee
to continue the voyage at once, and threat
were made to take possession of the ship il
case the anchor was not weighed. On tn,
day before we left forty of the emigrants
being again the most respectable portion
became alarmed at the outlook, and took al
their belongings and went on shore. TIL,
captain attempted to prevent this move, bu
the men were armed and determined, ane
carried their point They landed on one O.
the small outlying islands, plentifully sup
piled with fruits and water, and three months
later every one was overwhelmed by thu
tidal wave, which rolled across the Atlantic
from the coast of Africa
"We had no sooner left the islands thar
our troubles aboard increased. A portion O.
the emigrants were for returning to France
while the remainder were determined to pro
coed to the Amazon. These two factions
were constantly Qparreling and fighting. apt