A Middy in Command: A Tale of the Slave Squadron

by Harry Collingwood

Chapter Seven.

What befell the mutineers.

This was rather serious news, and none the less vexatious because it did not take me altogether by surprise. The general opinion had been that all hands were bent upon going ashore, and that the ship would be left at our mercy; but this had certainly not been my own view, for I could not believe that a man of Tonkin’s intelligence—realising, as he must, the enormity of his offence in not only himself breaking into open rebellion against lawful authority but in inciting others to do the same—would be so rashly imprudent as to leave us free, for a period of several hours, to release my men and to take such other steps as might occur to us for the suppression of the mutiny. I had felt quite certain that somebody would be left on board to keep us under supervision and restraint, but I had calculated upon the mutineers considering two men sufficient—and also a little, perhaps, upon the difficulty that would be experienced in inducing more than two, at the utmost, to forego the anticipated enjoyment of a run ashore. But here were four recklessly unscrupulous men, powerful, determined fellows, fully armed, left behind to be dealt with by us; and the only weapons that we could muster among us were my sword and pistols. True, we might be able to lay our hands upon a few belaying-pins; but to attack with such weapons four men armed with pistols meant that somebody would almost certainly get hurt, and that I was most anxious to avoid, if possible. Besides, if it came to a fight, there was always the possibility that the reports of the pistols might be heard by some of the party who had gone ashore, and cause them to hurry back before we were ready to receive them fittingly. Upon enquiry I learned that the four men had arranged themselves, two in the waist—one of them on each side of the ship—and two forward near the fore-rigging, where they could command the entrance of the steerage quarters.

The general, who was brimful of courage, was fuming with indignation at what he termed “the confounded impudence” of the men in presuming to mutiny, strongly advocated an immediate attack with such weapons as came to hand, but I deprecated that step for the reasons already mentioned, and suggested that quite possibly a little consideration and discussion might enable us to hit upon some plan involving rather less risk.

Carter at once suggested that we should try the experiment of plying the men with drink, in the hope of making them intoxicated; and as I considered that this was a case wherein the end justified the means, the plan was at once adopted, Briggs undertaking to carry out to the guard a bottle of especially strong brandy for their delectation. But although they looked at the liquor with very longing eyes, their suspicions at once became aroused, and they roughly ordered him to take it away. And when, instead of doing this, Briggs put down the bottle and left it within their reach, one of them immediately took it up and flung it overboard, where, it may be incidentally mentioned, it was instantly dashed at and swallowed by a shark, to the no small astonishment of those who witnessed the occurrence.

This scheme having failed, another was suggested, this time by the ship’s surgeon. Briggs, the chief steward, had thus far not had his freedom in the least degree interfered with. It was understood that in the discharge of his duty he must necessarily pass to and fro at frequent intervals between the cabin and the cook’s galley—the occupant of which, it may be mentioned, though a surly sort of fellow, and as discontented with everything as ships’ cooks generally are, had declared himself absolutely neutral,—and up to the present he had been allowed to do so without let or hindrance. The doctor’s plan, therefore, was that he was to go forward to the steerage, as though on a professional visit to the wounded men, and Briggs was at the same time to go forward to the galley to discuss with the cook the arrangements for the cuddy dinner that evening. Then, as soon as they were fairly forward, Carter and I were to sally forth together and grapple with the two men in the waist, at the same time whistling to apprise the doctor and Briggs, who, upon hearing the signal, would rush upon and grapple with the two men on the forecastle. The idea was, not to provoke a fight, but to overpower and secure these four men without giving them an opportunity to create an alarm by firing their pistols. We four, therefore, were simultaneously to pinion and hold them until others, coming to our assistance, could help us, if necessary, to secure and disarm them. This plan, we at once decided, was quite promising enough to be worth a trial; and accordingly we forthwith proceeded to put it into execution.

First of all, as arranged, the doctor sallied forth, with a number of bandages and other materials in his hands, and demanded admission to the steerage, which, after some slight demur, was accorded him. Then Briggs, who had been watching the progress of events from the pantry window, sauntered casually forward and stood by the door of the galley, where he proceeded to discuss with the cook the advisability of killing a pig. And finally Carter and I, having allowed a minute or two to elapse, walked calmly out on the main-deck together, smoking a cigar apiece, and laughing and talking as though we were acting in pure absent-mindedness. Our perfect coolness, and apparent want of the slightest appearance of concern, so completely staggered the two guards in the waist that they allowed us to get within a couple of fathoms of the one on the port side before it dawned upon them to interfere; and then Cruickshank, the man on the starboard side, dashed across the deck to the support of his companion, at the same time shouting to us in very bellicose accents:

“Here, you two, get back, d’ye hear? What d’ye mean by settin’ foot on this part of the deck against Mr Tonkin’s express orders? Now hook it, sharp, or—”

The moment that the fellow was fairly clear of the hatchway, and on the port side of the deck, I raised my hand to my lips, spat out my cigar, and sent a single shrill, but not loud, whistle along the deck, and then sprang straight at my immensely powerful antagonist, while Carter manfully tackled his own man. And at the same instant the doctor and Briggs sprang upon the pair who were keeping guard on the forecastle. As arranged, none of us attempted to do more than just pinion each his own particular antagonist and prevent him from drawing his weapons, trusting to the others to help us to master and secure them. And gallantly those others backed us up, for at the sound of my whistle, young Acutt—a fine, athletic young giant—dashed out of the cabin and, without paying any attention to the writhing and struggling quartette in his way, dodged us and rushed forward to the galley to prevent cookie from interfering, while Fielder, Boyne, Pearson, and Taylor—the other four young griffins—rushed with equal celerity to the support of the doctor, Briggs, Carter, and myself. My own particular man struggled savagely in his endeavour to free himself from my grasp, and, being a much heavier and more powerful man than I was, pinned me up against the rail and threw his whole strength into a determined effort to break my back, in which effort he would have very speedily succeeded had not Boyne quickly felled him to the deck and stunned him by a well-directed blow from an iron belaying-pin. To disarm and securely bind the fellow was the work of but a minute or two, and then, breathless with our exertions, and, so far as I was concerned, in considerable pain, Boyne and I stood up and looked about us to see how the others were faring. Looking, first of all, near home, we saw Hales pinned up against the rail, with young Pearson taking his weapons away from him, while Carter was busily engaged in seizing him up, the general meanwhile standing by and pointing my drawn sword at his throat to discourage him from any ill-advised attempt at resistance; while the doctor and Briggs, with the assistance of Fielder and Taylor, were also busily engaged in securing their respective men. The ship was ours! and now it only remained for us to take promptly such steps as were necessary to retain possession of her when the other mutineers should see fit to return.