The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-12-02
ANOTHER AMELIA
Nearly Fifty Years Ago the
Schooner Arrived.
WAS BLOOD ON THE DECK
Her Crew Had Mutinied-The Cap
tain and Mate We're


port a few days ago. This is
not the first time that a vessel bearing
that name has come to Honolulu AL
most 80 years ago the schooner Amelia
arrived but her passengers were in a
more fearful frame of mind when she
docked than were the captain and Off
GERS with the load of lumber The bark
entine Amelia is only % years Old She
is trim looking vessel for her years
of hard service.
On Tuesday, October IL, 1S4S, there
arrived in Honolulu the schooner
Amelia, after most tempestuous voy-
age. Nine days before she arrived in
port a fearful mutiny, instigated by
three Spanish American sailors, had
occurred in which the. captain of the
vessel, the mate and an English pas
senger had lost their lives The story
of the mutiny taken from the log book
and published in the Friend of Novem-
! ber 1S48, is as follows: At about 2
o'clock in the night the second mate,
who had gone forward to fix broken
swinging boom guy, was set upon by
| The captain heard the noise and ran
| on deck, followed by Mr.. Cook, a pas
| senger. Both men were mortally
wounded. The murderers went forward
and told the crew that they had killed
| everyone excepting Mr.. McNally an
English master who was a passenger
on board, Mrs. Cook and her maid:
that they were in command of the YES
al oP h0ir
acquiesced in everything the three MUIR
ders suggested. Overtures were made
to Mr.. McNally and it was agreed that
food and other provisions should be
put in one of the boats and that he and
Mrs. Cook and her servant should be
set adrift He trusted the mutineers
and provisions were put in the boat
and he went on board unarmed. When
he reached the deck, he saw that he
had been trapped and went to the
cabin skylight and told Mrs. Cook not
to come on deck He was stepping
from the skylight to the side of the
vessel, when he was seized and thrown
overheard The murderers then siezed
upon the vessel and ordered all sail to
be made. Then they went to the cabin
and brought all the gold they could
find on deck and made everyone take
his share.
They dressed themselves in the
clothes of the murdered men and de-
stroyed all the papers which they
found Objectionable. They changed
clothes four or five times during the
day and paraded the deck.
The members of the crew planned the
next day to kill the mutineers that
night. They had no firearms but
made collection of such tools as they
could find on board. All told their
weapons were an axe, a maui, pump
breaks and boarding pixies.
In the afternoon the murderers
brought up quantity of wine on deck
and offered it to the men. Then they
cut open bag of silver, threw the coin
about the deck and began playing for
the gold. Afterwards they collected
all the firearms and loaded them with
heavy charges. They fired a shot at
the man at the wheel, but the bullet
went wide of the mark Then they
put the firearms away but told Mrs.
Cook they would have use for them in
the morning.
At 10 o'clock in the evening the sea-
men collected their primitive arms and
Walted 1Of IaVOraDle opportunity to
use them. At II o'clock two of the
mutineers were asleep and the third,
who was staggering about from the
effects of the wine he had drunk,
struck eight bells instead of six and
called to heave the log
The ships carpenter rushed forward
with the axe and killed the two other
murderers and the third were over
powed. All three bodies were thrown
overheard and the ships carpenter
took command of the vessel An at
tempt was made to return to Mazatlan
but the ship ran into severe storms
and lost many of her sails. It was
then decided to run for Honolulu and
two boys in the crew, the only ones on
board who understood anything of nav
igation, brought the Amelia into port
The British Consul-General ordered
an inventory made of the articles on
board the schooner. Among the arti-
cles included in the inventory were
1876 bags Of silver and 1922 Spanish
doubloons.
Presidents of Honolulu in 1S4S. may
remember the excitement of the little