The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1899-03-10
BRITISH JACK TARS.
FAMOUS MUTINIES IN WHICH THEY
HAVE FIGURED.

hNiHHu-t pTlS-
inEs That Brought Death to the
RinGlendcrs-A Fearful FIogging.
For reasons which will at once suggest
themselves to CTcry Intelligent reader ma
TIMES in the navy have almost invariably
been more serious and determined affairs
than similar outbreaks happening in the
sister service.
Almost everybody has heard of tho mu
tiny ut the More, which blocked up the
trade of the Thames from May 81 until
Juno -, 1877, and left practically the
whole of OR southern scaboar;l to thu
mercy of an alien foe. This was undoubt.
cdly the most scriu;:s outbreak that has
ever taken place i'll our own, or, for that
matter in any other navy. The mutincrr
seized their officers, trained the forward
guns aft, hoistcd the red flag on the ad.
miral's ship, double shottcd the broatlsidc
cannons ard told off men with lighted
matches Mt every portfolio. At the same
time however, discipline was strictly en-
forced
Eventually, of course, the Iautiny was
suppressed, and the ringlcadcr, Parker
suffered death by hanging with - of his
companions. No one caa, Of course, offc:
any excuse for the violent conduct of thos;
misguided men. Nevertheless it is impos,
siblc to deny that they had genuine
grievance; that repeated petitions for re-
dress hid been contcmptuously ignored,
AMI that from the date of their execution
the status and treatment of jack Tar IN
dcrwcnt IL marked change for the better.
In 1901 the Eutiny of the Bantry bay
squadron gave rise to the widest apprc
henSion. Tho TcECrairc led the C.Itbrcak
the men threatening unless their demands
We're complied with to fire the ship and
murder their officers. Other vessels joined
in, notably the Formidable Majestic ant
Vengeance. Luckily the marines remain
cd loyal, and by them chiefly the muffin!
was suppressed. Eleven men only wer,
executed for this affair, but the floggings
inflicted OH tho remainder were in mos
cases of such shocking severity that ont
would have thought death itself wou.(
have been far preferable.
Perhaps the best known and most GCa
matte OF single ship mu1inics We're th0st
which broke out OH the Bounty in lis!
and i'll the Danac friSatc in 1909. Tho
facts connected with the first named Incl
dcTt are almost too well known to bean
repetition. Suffice 1t to sag that the I::cn,
driven to nlad:.Css by Il harsh and tyran
meal commander, mutinicd near Tahiti ir
the southern Pacific ocean, set the officers
atlrift in an oEcn boat and carried thu
ship to Pitcairn island, lonely, urin.
habitcd sp3t lying about midway lie.
tween Australia and South America
Here their descendants roElain until thi
very day.
The mutirT CT the DAMAGES crew took
place early IL March, the men rising il
response to IL previously concerted signal
and numbering their officers. after which
the crew sailcl the frigatc into Br2st lG:
Dor and banded her over to the FTcncl
authorities. 1t is some satisfaction t.
know that five of the mutiEecrS We're tax
en- prisoners while lighting against Es
soon aftcrw,:rd ard promptly hanged
A precisely similar attempt was m:it.t
in the sane year to seize the ErrImi0nc,
with the aVowed Intention OF hanGi" = her
also over to France. Happily the A"mc
was frustrated, but the commander u. The
ship, one Pigot, was brutally murdered
He descended into the TO castle to reason
with the malcontrnts and was set upon
and literally hacked to pieces, the frag-
ments of the carcass being aftc"wart!
thrust through one of the portholc5. Fol
participation i'll this diabolical crimc two
mcn, named respectively James Allen and
John Watson, were aftcrward hanged al
Portsmouth.
The rising on board the London in
May, 1877, was really u sequel to the
bloodless mutiny which broke out ut Spit
head earlier in the same year The Lon
don was Admiral Colpoys' flagship ant?
was being approached by u boat i'll which
were some unarmed men from the other
ships Of the fleet bearing petition. Tho
admiral forbade them to approach, and
OH their persisting he ordered u guard OF
marines to fire upon them. The vollcying
of the muskets was signal for an irmc
date uprising on the part of the London 5
crew. The marines were ovcrpowcrcd and
disarmcd, Colpoys was seized and roughly
handled, and the other officers were sent
on shore.
In this case rs il most others, the rcd
coats remained loyal. IL was therefore all
tho moro alarming when u serious mutiny
was discovered, u little later on, to have
been Matched among the marines Of Tie
Plymouth squadron. Luckily on tie
morning Of the very day the plot was to
have been put into execution one of the
mutinccrS turned traitor, with the result
that the authorities We're on their guard
and the rising was suppressed almost ere
it had begun.
The following morning ut daybrcak
three Of the ringlcadCrs-Lcc Cotfy and
Branning-wcrc shot. Another. Il youth
Of Is named Mctiirnis received the afro
cious sentence of LOCO las!lcs with cat o
nine tails, the punia!Irc2t to be inflicted
in two instalmcntS of 800 lashcs each, cats
to be "picklcd,' and four to be counted
slowly" after each stroke
1t is seldom that one hears of naval
lautiny i'll which the sigral for revolt has
come not from the men, but from the
officers. Yet something very like this hap
pcncd il August, 1902, when staEch Ole
Admiral B~nbow put out from JamIica
10 fight the French fleet under Du Case
The British squadron consisted of seven
ships If from 10 to 20 guns, and Bcnbow
felt sure OF victory until he observed with
dismay that five Of his captains were de
libcratcly disobcying his orders They, in
fact, declined To clap On sail, ard were
soon hull down on tho horizon. Never
theless Bcnhow attacked with his own
ship and the little Ruby, bat he had tC
retire in the end, with more than half his
men hors dc combat and he himself NOR
tally wounded by IL chain shot which had
shattered his right leg.
The last scene of this strange and tragic
episode-so crrditablc to Bcnbow, SO dis
graceful to most Of the others concerned
took place on the quarter deck of his maj
esty's ship Bristol, in plymouth sound,
i'll the G.r!j; morning Of April Is, 1903
when Captain Kirby of the Defiance arr
Captain Wade of the Greenwich, the two
officers who were proved to have bcel the
ringlCadcrs of THO mutiny, were shot ate!
trial j court martial. TitBIts.