The evening times., 1897-11-24
MUTINY OF THE "HOPEWELL.'

So mary false reports have been set
| afloat from time to tune regarding the
mutiny on the Hopewell, and the real facts
I'm the case have been So exaggerated and
perverted, that feel 1t alraost n duty To
| write q plain and truthful account OF the
| matter from beginning to end. The Hope
well WIS :. Liverpool bark. and i'll May.
| 1860, sne left that port with general
| cargo for New York. She was commanded
| by Captain john Gordon, and carried a
| crew Of fourteen men. y Mr.. Shields was
! chief officer, while l was second mate.
| Capt. Gordon was halfowner OF the craft.
| and il was entirely owing to his strange
| conduct that we met with the series 1t
| adventures 80 much Commented upon i'll
ma rine circles. Before we were clear Of the
land, he laid down line of conduct to be
| followed bY the officers.
Il am not a profaue man. myself he
, said, ''and | viii not permit my officers to
swear at tile men. Neither must there be
any physical force used. except sdon as |
may approve of. They will he well fed and
not overwurked, and later on should any
be pleased to act as tutor
Mr. Shields and were agreed that there
was d wheel loose i'll the captains head
and we wondered how lie had ever Kept the
sea and carried out such, policy We dis
covered later ON that he had been con
verted'' by the Salvation Army. and that
he lad made promises in writing as to
how ne would use his crew. 1t is not
For an nrfi ia,.r m mr. n mir
st sea, and only now and then is a sailo:
made better for being knocked down. aat
at the same time every crew must be
leId with "a taut hand. Put twelve o.
fourteen ;andsrnen at work without IA
boss eri they will go ahead and do fairly
we'll. Let the same number OF sailors
feel that their officers are inclined to 90
light On them, and the whole crowd Will
at once toke 3avantagc OF il i'll a dozen
directions Not one sailor in hun
dred obeys an order because he is
under Fay, and feels it "a duty, but rather
becanse he fears the consequences if he
rcTls-s. R.fore we were off Standings
our crew had got a line on the skipper
and shaped their own course ccordingly.
No craft was ever better found in stores.
The meat and bread for the forecsstIe
was Us pOON as tuat lOT tHc CdDi0i anu
there was no limit L. quantity
On the third day out, however the men
rebeled against the stores, and instead of
bringing them up with a round turu, Capt.
Gordon agreed to serve out grog three times
day as peacemaker. From that hour
the crew had possession of the Hopew
and never was voyage so queerly prose-
cuteG. The men did not actually refuse to
obey orders. hut they took their own time
about 1t. and generally stopped to argue the
matter. Asto the routine work To keep the
ship in good repair, they did as little is
possible, and any one of them had only To
claim that he had a headache to be sent to
his buEk for days rest. week after
cal ryinS their point a bout the grog, they
demanded catin stores, and Were given
canned fruits, and Capt. Gordon broke our
cargo in order to give the fellows pipes and
tobacco.
On tretcnth day out the capt ain opened
a school" i'll his cabin and invited the |
men to become pupils, Each enc of them |
took the affair as a lark, but he was very Sc |
rious. He had spelinr-books and readers. |
and he was really anxious that men who |
could barely read and had to sign cruss |
for their names should forge ahead in the |
matter of education. This was the end |
of all discipline. Two days later, in my |
afterncoL watch, the man at the wheel ]
blandly Informed me that he was tired |,
Of tie work, and that l could FIJI out |
the remairGer of his trick or bring the |
bark to the winds. l reported his words |
to the captain, who asked him to step !
down into the cabin TO argue the mat |
ter, ard at the end of quarter Of an I
hour sent him ON deck without even |
reproof. Three hours later there was
climax tuthe uhheard-Of nLnsense.
The whole crew came aft and announced
their intention to take possession Of the |
ship. What their plans were for the f,l-