Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1898-01-16
THE MUTINY OF v a THE "HOPEWELL.~
BY CHARLES B. LEWIS.
Copyright, 1s9S.1
~ o~o@ o~@o~0 0~e@o@

facts Tn the case nave Deeu SO e8ciS gerated and perverted, that I feel it al- most duty to write plain and truth ful account of the matter from begin hing to end. The "Hopewell" was a Liverpool bark, and in May, 1860, she left that port with a general cargo for New York She was commanded by Capt. John Gordon, and carried crew of IA men. A MT. Shields was chief officer, while was second mate. Capt. Gordon was half owner of the craft, and it was entirely owing to his strange conduct that we met with the series of adventures so much com mented upon in marine circles.
 q am not a profane man myself, he said, "and I will not permit my of fcers to swear at the men. Neither must there be any physical force used, except such as may approve of. They will be we'll fed and not overworked. and later on should any of them desire knowledge of books, I shall be pleased to act as tutor"
 Mr. Shields and I were agreed that there was a wheel loose in the cap tain's head, and we wondered how he had ever kept the sea and carried out such a policy. We discovered later on that he had been "conyerted" by the Salvation Army. and that he had made promises in writing as to how he would use his crew. It is not necessary for an officer to use profanity at sea, and only now and then is sailor made bet ter for being knocked down, but at the same time every crew must be held with a taut hand. Put 12 or II lands men at work without a boss and they will go ahead and do fairly well. Let the same number of sailors feel that their officers are inclined to go light on them and the whole crowd will at once take advantage of it in a dozen direc- tions. Not one sailor in 100 obeys an order because he is under pay, and feels it duty. but rather because he fears the consequences if he refuse. Before we were off soundings our crew had got q line on the skipper and shaped their own course accordingly. No craft was ever better found in stores. The meat and bread for the forecastle was as good as that for the cabin, and there was no limit to quantity. On the third day out, however, the men rebelled against the stores. and instead of bringing them up with q round turn, Capt Gordon agreed to serve out grog three times a day as q peacemaker. From that hour the crew had possession of the 'HopewelI," and never was . voyage so queerly prosecuted. The men did not actually refuse to obey orders, but they took their own time about it, and generally stopped to argue the mat ter. As to the routine work to keep the ship in good repair, they did as little as possible, and any one of them had only to claim that he had q headache to be seat to his bunk for days rest.
 On the tenth day out the captain opened a "sehool' in his cabin, and in- yited the men to become pupils. Each one of them took the affair as a lark, but he was very serious. He had spell ing books and readers, and he was really anxious that men who could barely read and had to sign a cross for their names should forge ahead in the matter of education. This was the end of all discipline. Two days later, in my afternoon watch, the man at the wheel b.andly informed me that he was tired of the work, and that l could fill out the remainder of his trick or bring the bark to the wind. I reported his words to the captain, who asked him 10 step down into the cabin 10 argue the mat ter, and at the end of quarter of an !, reproof. Three hours later there was climax to the unheard-of nonsense. The whole crew came aft and an nouneed their intention to take posses sion of the ship. What their plans were for the future they did not say, but it was afterwards learned that they expected to sail the "HopewelI' to some South American port and sell ship and cargo and divide the proceeds pro rata. There was q man among them who claimed to be a navigator, and who put the idea into their heads, and pushed them along. When the mutineers had made their object known Capt. Gordon began to argue with them, but without any show of temper. He doubted that any one of them could navigate the bark to a port or act as her captain at sea, and he point ed out that it would be impossible for them to dispose of craft or cargo. He looked upon the affair as a motion" on their part, and offered to double their allowance of grog in case they would abandon it. When they refused, he offered an increase of wages, but they persisted, and he folded his hands and turned away.
 Mir. Shields was dumb with indigna- tion and surprise, and I was ready to back him in . vigorous effort to put the crew down and restore discipline. We besought Capt. Gordon to take firm stand, but he refused to raise a hand. The heart had gone out of him, and he had no more courage than baby, We two. being well armed, could have driven the crew back to duty, but to attempt such q course against the wishes of the captain would have laid us liable to heavy punishment and wrecked any future before us. We had to stand idle while he coaxed and ar ,~,,0J .,-o ,-....,