The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1902-12-16
MAY CATCH
MUT|NEERS
ShearWater Now
on Way to
Pitcairn.

When the British slOop-of-Waf
Shearwater, which was recently in Ho-
nolulu. arrives at Pitcairn Island a por-
ton Of her crew will probably take In
charge three of the yilest murder"rs
that have courted nangman's rope,
for three mutineers who escaped from
the British ship Leicester Castle, after
mutinying and killing the second Of
ficer of the vessel. are supposed to
have reached the lonely colony OF the
families of the mutineers of the famous
British ship Bounty on a hastily con-
structed raft. The British snip arriv-
ed in Queenstown with ths story on
December and. If the British author
tiles acted promptly they had time TO
cable a message to the Shearwater,
which is probably at Tanning Island
now. and the sloops officers can do the
rest as they are bound for Pitcairn
anyway.
Dispatches from Queenstown, Ire
land, give the following particulars:
Three American sailors are alleged
TO have killed the mate and shot the
captain of the British ship Leicester
Castle. after which they fled from the
vessel by taking a frail raft in the
middle of the South Pacific. Such is
tie report of Captain Peattie OF the
Leicester Castle, which left San Fran
cisco July &c and arrived here today.
The alleged mutineers are w. A. Hobbs
Of Illinois, James Turner of Portland,
Ore, and Ernest Sears of Idaho.
Nothing has been heard Of them since
and it is presumed they persisted,
either from hunger and thirst or by
storm The murdered mate was named
Nixon.
The mutiEy occurred September 2,
when the vessel was about 300 miles
north of Pitcairn Island. The Ameri-
cans Joined the ship at San Francisco
in place of English sailors who had left
for reasons not yet explained.
81 was going to sleep on the night OF
the trouble" says Captain Peattie in
his report to the authorities when
Ernest Sears, an able seaman of San
Francisco. called me and said a man
had broken his leg. ] went out into
the cabin When / entered it Hobbs,
another seaman, stepped up to me
and said: Now then, Captain and at
the same time he fired point blank at
my heart. The bullet entered my
breast n little over the heart. / closed
with him and we had rough and tum-
BILE fight Of it in the cabin, during
which | was wounded in the arm, and
battered about the head with club.
"The mate came to my assistance.
Hobbs killed him with a shot through
the heart. Then help arrived and
Hobbs made off. He left me terribly
wounded with five bullet holes. and
otherwise injured by clubs.
The first mate took charge of the
vessel. He called the ere" aft and
made an endeavor to secure the cap
tain's assaiants, but they kept for
ward and nobody dared face their re-
volvers. When morning broke, how
ever. they were discovered floating past
on raft which they had constructed
during the darkness. We let them go.
The first mate thought it made good
radiance to bad rubbish. He did not
have the facilities on board to take
care Of three idle murderers.
"The mutineers made their frail raft
out of loose planks and coops during
the night. They put some provisions
aboard and are supposed 10 have had
enough food to last them a week"
The captain is unable to account Tor
the mutiny. He supposes it was the
intention of the mutneers to murder
the officers and the men who refused TO
ioin them and take the ship to Pitcairn
Island.
Pitcairn Island Is a solitary Island in
the Pacific ocean, situated in about lat
itude 25 south and about 100 west. II
Is two and a quarter miles in length
and has but one landing place, at
Bounty Bay. The island is famous rs
the scene of the foundation in 1890 OF a
remarkable colony composed OF mu-
tineers from the British ship Bounty
-e<~