Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-06-09
A MUTINY.

On two occasions the story Of the mutiny
been related in my presence by the sole sur
vivor, and the particulars are 50 full of in
terest that l am going to give the affair il
full. The Albatross was a stanch, new shiI
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 yari
Gus advertisements of an alluring nature
and about 80 persons finally made ready &c
sail for this new found paradise. Each one
had been promised fifty acres of land, seed
for two years crops, free native labor 70
build their houses and fence their farms, and
the syndicate even dared claim that the
government sanctioned the enterprise.
The ship carried n crew Of twenty four,
and was Differed after curious fashion.
Her captain was a Spaniard, her first mate a
Frenchman and her second an Englishman.
Her crew was made up OF Portuguese,
Dutch, French, English, Americans and
Bwedes. Each officer and man was TO re-
ceive so much per month for the voyage,
with from 30 to 200 acres of land in the
colony as a sort of prize chrome.
at was" said William Carew, tho sur
vivor, ''the worst crew | ever saw on a ships
deck. Twas young fellow Of %, and shipped
from a 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 a 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 L was
satisfied that we had not more than seven or
eight able seamen aboard Each sailor was
permitted to bring on board whatever arti-
Giles 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 decksi There might have been a dozen
respectable, honest men and women-people
who had been basely deceived by the flowery
circulars of the syndicate. All the Others
were the ritf-raff and rabble, and not a few
belonged to the criminal classes. | think the
exact number of the colonistS was 252. Of
this number about sixty were women and
twenty were children. / for one should have
been better satisfied with n passenger list Of
252 lunatics We sailed from Havre at
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
Oh, tl,, l.,
of the foremost hands actually had more to
do with getting the ship on her course than
any officer in the ship.
sit 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 |
they 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 |
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
under the influence of drink and
when reasonably sober was in close commune
cation with three or four of the emigrants-
the most villainous of the lot. AS we finally |
came to know, they were conspiring against
the syndicate and perfecting plans for their
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 "A cOterie who also had personal axes
to grind. Never was ship taken so COM
pletely 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, and the ship seemed to
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 and
lis schemers had "A mind to take possession
If one of the islands. We were at anchor a
week while they were looking around, but
hey had to abandon their idea Some of
he emigrants became suspicious, called a
Meeting of ALL and for couple of DAYS
error reigned aboard. Those who had
tarted for the Amazon in good faith wanted
o continue the voyage at once, and threats
we're made to take possession of the ship in
ase the anchor was not weighed. On the
lay before we left forty of the emigrants,
eing again the most respectable portion,
ecame alarmed at the outlook, and took all Z
heir belongings and went ON shore. The
aptain attempted to prevent this move, but
10 men were armed and determined, and
arried their point. They landed ON one of q
lie small outlying islands, plentifuly sup /
lied with fruits and water, and three months a
ter every one was overwhelmed by the
dial wave, which rolled across the Atlantic \
ON the coast of Africa.
1--WE had no sooner left the islands than :.
If troubles aboard increased A portion of II
lie emigrants were for returning to France,
lille the remainder were determined to pro- 8
'ed to the Amazon. These two factions Z
ere constantly quarreling and fighting, and a
/ their fracases three or four were severely n
ounded The crew was also divided The a
kitty of discipline had made the men impu
snt and lazy, and we had not left the
lands three days behind us when l was
ade aware of plot to capture the ship ana
I'm her into pirate. The conspiracy was Ct
saded by Frenchman named La Fount, h
tho was not only the oldest man in years c.
mong the crew, but probably the best sailor. V
lie could take an observation, work ont dead a
and was an ambitious, energetic N
ian, although thoroughly bad one A q,
lilor becomes plotter if his hands are idle. 9,
4 these days every foremost hand knows a
lat pirate craft could not sail any sea for ~
week without being overhauled, but in II