Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-03-09
BRITISH JACK TARS.
FAMOUS MUTINiES IN WHICH THEY
HAVE FIGURED.

The Outbreaks That Led to the Set.
Element of Pitcairn Island-Upris.
ines That Brought Death to the
RtmRIeaders-A Fearful Floggiug.
For reasons which will ut once suggest
themselves to every intelligent reader mu-
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 the mu-
tiny at the Nore which blocked up the
trade of the Thames from May "a until
June ID, 1897, and left practically the
whole of our southern seaboard to the
mercy of an alien foe. This WAS undoubt-
eddy the most serious outbreak that has
ever taken place in our own, or, for that
matter, in any other navy. The mutineers
seized their officers, trained the forward
guns aft, hoisted the red flag on the adj
miPal' S ship, double shottcd the broadside
cannons and told off men with lighted
matches at every portfolio. At the same
time, however, discipline was strictly en-
forced
Eventually, of course, the 1nutiny was
suppressed, and the ringleader, Parker,
suffered death by hanging " IA 22 Of his
companions. No one can, oF course, offer
any excuse for the violent coh, act Of those
misguided men. Nevertheless it is impOs
sible to deny that they had "a genuine
grievance; that repeated petitions for re
dress had been conte,nptuously ignored,
and that from the date of their execution
the status and treatment of Jack Tar UNI
derwent IL marked change for the better.
In 1901 the mutiny Of the Bantry bay
squadron gave rise to the widest appre
hension. The Temeraire led the outbreak,
the men threatening unless their demands
We're complied with to fire the ship and
murder their officers Other vessels joined
ill., notably the Formidable, Majestic and
Vengeance. Luckily the marines remain
Ell loyal, and by them chiefly the nutiny
was suppressed Eleven men only were
executed for this affair, but the fioggings
inflicted Oh the remainder We're in most
cases Of such shocking severity that one
would have thought death itself would
have been far preferable.
Perhaps the best known and most dra-
matte of single ship mutinies We're those
which broke out ON the Bounty in 1859
and in the Danae frigate in 1900. The
facts connected with the first named Incl
dent are almost too well known to bear
repetition. Suffice it to say that the men,
driven to madness by harsh and tyran-
meal commander, lmutinied near Tahiti in
the southern Pacific ocean, set the officers
adrift in an open boat and carried the
ship to Pitcairn, island, lonely, unin-
habited spot lying about midway be-
tween Australia and South America.
Here their descendants remain until this
very day. IS
The mutiny Of the Danae's crew took
place early in March, the men rising in
response to previously concerted signal
and numbering their officers, after which
the crew sailed the frigate into Brest har-
Dor and handed her over to the French
authorities 1t is some satisfaction to
know that five Of the mutineers were tax
en- prisoners while fighting against us
soon afterward and promptly hanged.
A precisely similar attempt was made
in the same year to seize the Hermione,
with the avowed intention Of handing her
also over to France. Happily the scheme
was frustrated, but the commander Of the
ship, one Pigot, was brutally murdered.
He descended into the 70 castle to reason
with the malcontents and was set upon
and literally hacked to pieces, the frag-
ments of the carcass being afterward
thrust through one of the portfolios. For
participation in this diabolical crime two
men, named respectively James Allen and
John Watson, were afterward hanged at
Portsmouth.
The rising on board the London in
May, 1897, was really a sequel to the
bloodless mutiny which broke out at Spit
head earlier in the same year. The Lon
don was Admiral Colpoys' flagship and
was being approached by boat in which
were some unarmed men from the other
ships of the fleet bearing petition. The
admiral forbade them to approach, and
on their persisting he ordered guard of
marines to fire upon them. The volleying
of the muskets was q signal for an imme
date uprising on the part of the London's
crew. The marines were overpowered and
disarmed, Colpoys was seized and roughly
handled, and the other officers were sent
| on shore.
In this case, as in most others, the red
coats remained loyal. 1t was therefore all
the more alarming when a serious mutiny
was discovered a little later on, to have
been Matched among the marines Of the
Plymouth squadron. Luckily on the
IHOTulHS VI tHc NCA Ony 0Ao pAOo was W
have been put into execution one of the
mutineers turned traitor, with the result
that the authorities were on their guard
and the rising was suppressed almost ere
it had begun.
The following morning at daybreak
three of the ringleaders-Lee, Coffy and
Branning-were shot Another, youth
| of Is named McGinnis, received the afro
cious sentence of 1000 lashes with cat O.
nine tails, the punishment to be inflicted
in two installments Of 500 lashes each, cats
to be "pickled, and four to be counted
slowly" after each stroke.
1t is seldom that one hears of a naval
mutiny in which the signal for revolt has
| come not from the men, but from the
officers. Yet something very like this hap
pened in August, 1902, when stanch old
Admiral Benbow put out from Jamaica
to fight the French fleet under Du Casse
The British squadron consisted Of seven
ships of from so to 20 guns, and Benbow
felt sure of victory until he observed with
dismay that five of his captains were de-
liberately disobeying his orders. They, in
fact, declined to clap on sail, and were
soon hull down on the horizon. Never
theless Benhow attacked with his own