Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-11-04
THE MUTINY.

p n - left the Cape OF
AI1A . Good Hope for BOm
&AKIYTA bay consisted Of
- -. Captain, two mates,
steward, ships boy aud eight men be-
fore the mast-fourteen in all. Captain
Richards, who was part owner, was
man of thirty, and was married to very
handsome English girl at the Cape only
two weeks before we left port. She not
only accompanied him on the voyage, but
her sister Emma, a girl of twenty, was
on board, though she did not intend to
return with the brig.
Our cargo was a curious one. 1t had
come from two or three derelicts which
had been picked up at sea and brought
in, and their cargoes sold at auction.
Agents for parties at Bombay had bid
enough to load ship, aud the Penguin
had then been chartered. Captain and
mates and one seaman were English.
There were two Spaniards, a Lsscar, an
African, two Norwcgians and man who
claimed TO be an American. SteEard
and cook were Africans. had run away
from the Nantucket whaler Obadiah N.
Jones, and there was no question about
my being a Yankee. l then lacked three
months of being fifteen yelrs old. Tne
crew was up to the average, and had the
voyage been free from disas :cT no COM
plant could have been lodged against
them. can remember that some of the
men grOwled and grdmbled because Of
the two ladies aboard, and others de-
clared that the mates were no sailors be-
cause they did not knock the crew about.
Jack is sure to grumble, no matter how
you put it, and his grumbles are seldom
to be taken in earnest.
We had fair run UP the east coast
and the Mozambique channel, aud were
we'll clear of the northernmost point of
Madagascar, when we got sudden aud
violent squall one afternoon which
carried away the masts before an order
had been issued Had the squall passed
off as it came VIC might have pulled
through right enough, but it proved to
be the foreruuner OF bowling gale. 1t
was the chief mates watch on deck,
and he must have been swept overheard
as the brig lay on her beam ends for a
nome 1t. When she righted everybody
rushed to cut away the wreckage along
side, and while rushing abou. aud giving
orders Captain Richards was thrown to
the deck and had his right leg broken
lust above the ankle. He had TO be
carried below at once, aud the command
of the brig devolved upon Mr.. Brooks,
the second mate. We got the wreckage
clear after q while, but all saw that be
was not the man for the place. Indeed
he admitted it when he left the deck to
Chipps, the carpenter, and locked him
self up in his ststeroom with bottle Of
brandy. He was good sailor, but no
man for pinch.
1t was just at sunset that the squall
struck us, and as the gale followed so
fast and the sea became so ugly, we
could do nothing but let the brig drift
off before it.
Chips aud the steward got the Cap
tain's leg in splints and did whatever
else they could for him, and he sent us
word that we would probably drift
ashore on some OF the islands to the
westward of us before midnight. He
suggested that we make ready raft in
addition to the yawl, which had escaped
being swept away, but the men were
demoralized By the cowardice OF the
mate and refused to raise hand. About
midnight we heard the breakers on
Magadova Island. Chips and the
steward and weut to the cabin TO get
the Captain and the women on deck
while the rest Of the crew exhibited a
selfshncss truly surprising. They would
not even assist each other, and they
ouarrelled as to who should go in the
boat, though it was large enough to hold
all. The Captain was a truly brave man
and not at all unnerved, though suffer
ing great pain from his broken limb.
But for him we should have forgotten
the mate, who was lying in his bunk in
drunken stupor, aud who lay like a
log on deck as we dragged him out Of
the cabin. Seeing how the brig lay, the
Captain sent Chips 70 the wheel in
hopes to pay her off, and as good lsc<
would have it we got her stern to wind
and sea, and she drove straight ahead
for the shore. Half o mile from the
beach she struck coral reef with a