Evening star., 1899-03-18

for this affair. but the t1oggings inflicted
on the remainder were. 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 were those
which broke out on the Bounty in 17S9 and
in the Danae frigate in 1900. The facts con-
nected with the frst-named incident are
almost too well known to bear repetition
Suffice it to say that the men, driven to
madness by a harsh and tyrannical COM
mander, mutined near Tahiti. in the south
ern Pacific ocean, set the officers adrift in
an open boat, and carried the ship to Pit
cairn Island, a lonely, uninhabited spot, ly
Ing about midway between Australia and
South America. Here their descendants re-
main until this very day.
The mutiny of the Danae's crew took
place early in March, the men rising in re-
sponse 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 au-
thorities. 1t is some satisfaction to know
that five of the mutineers were taken pris-
oners while fighting against soon after
ward. 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 de-
scended into the focastle to reason with
tne mdicOntentS, ana was set upon ana
literally hacked to pieces. the fragments of
the carcass being afterWard thrust through
one of the portfolios. For participation in
this diabolcal crime two men. named re-
spectively James Allen and John Watson
were afterward hanged at Portsmouth
The rising on board the London in May.
1877, was really sequel to the bloodless
mutiny which broke out at Spithead earlier
in the same year The London was Ad
miral Colpoys flagship, and was being ap-
preached by a boat in which were some
uEarmed men from the other ships of the
fleet bearing petition. The admiral for
hade them to approach, and on their per-
sisting he ordered a guard of marines to
fire upon them. The volleying of the mus
kets was a signal for an immediate upris-
ing on the part of the London's crew. The
marines We're 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, little later on, to have
been hatched among the marines of the
Plymouth squadron. Luckily, on the morn
ing of the very day the plot was to have
BEEN put into execution. one of the mutt
neers turned traitor, with the result that
the authorities were on their guard and the
rising was suppressed almost ere it had be-
gun
The following morning al daybreak three
of the ringieaders-Lee, Coffy and Bran
ning-were shot. Another. a youth of eigh-
tteu HdHleu NcIlH1llS, received the alrO-
cious sentence of 1000 lashes with the cat
o'-nine-tails. the punishment to be inflicted
in two installments of 800 lashes each, cats
to be picked" and four to be counted
slowly after each stroke
1t is seldom that one hears of naval
mutiny in which the signal for revolt has
come, not from the men, but from the Off
GERS. Yet something very like this happen
ed in August, 1702 when stanch old Ad-
miral Benbow put out from Jamaisa 20
fight the French fleet under Du Casse. The
British squadron consisted of seven ships
of from fifty to seventy guns. and Benbow
felt sure of victory until he observed with
dismay that five of his captains were de-
liberately disobeyng his orders. They, in
fact, declined to clap on sail, and were
soon hull down on the horizon. Neverthe-
less Benbow attacked with his own ship
and the little Ruby; but he had to retire
in the end, with more than half his men
hors de combat, and he himself mortally
wounded by a chain shot which had Shat-
tered his right leg.
The last scene of this strange and tragic
episode-so creditable Renbow, so dis
graceful to most of the others concerned
took place on the quarterback of his ma
jesty's ship Bristol in Plymouth sound, in
the early morning of April 16, 1903: when
Captain Kirby of the Defiance, and Captain
Wade of the Greenwich, the two officers
who were proved to have been the ring
leaders of the mutiny, were shot after trial
hN, con artia