The power of one against so many who had committed themselves to a penal act and assault, however, not being likely to continue to avail him, my Father, with a decision of purpose scarcely less surprising than his power of action, ordered a boy to take the helm, and whilst himself and others, whom his example might influence, “squared the yards,” directed the ship’s course (the wind being fair) homeward. Their demand to be released from the ice being thus yielded, and, with circumstances so very different from what they had expected, reduced, for a while, both the mutinous and insubordinate of the crew, to a sort of dogged quiescence. But when the ship, having cleared the ice, was still kept on the same course, and when ice and haunts of whales began to be left far astern, anxiety and alarm took place in the breasts of the authors of the mischief, who now, in their turn, felt just cause for dreading the issue of a proceeding which they had thus unexpectedly provoked. Words of unwonted calmness were now dropped by one or other of the officers, in hopes of eliciting some indication that the homeward direction was but a threat. Hints of the loss to the owners and himself were thrown out, if he followed out his apparent purpose; but all to no purpose—the Henrietta still wended her way before the home-blowing breeze with steady and unrestrained progress. At length, so great was the alarm excited, that the bold and blustering mutineers became subdued, and they came forward, backed by their subordinates in the crew, humbly soliciting that the ship might be hauled on a wind again for Greenland, and promising that themselves, and every man aboard, would submit to orders, and do their utmost to further the object on which they had embarked.
To have persisted in a purpose undertaken from necessity, the result of which could only be of unmixed injury to his employers as well as himself, when yet there was a chance, however faint, of doing something in respect to the intention of the adventure, might have been deemed an act of obstinacy, rather than wisdom. Not, therefore, to lose any chance of success, which this demonstration of better feeling might seem to promise, the ship was forthwith hauled to the wind, and, as circumstances of wind and weather allowed, every effort of seamanship was employed for hastening their return to the fishing-ground northward. The sunshine, however, which had rendered the gathering in of a limited harvest possible, was now departed, and all subsequent endeavours to make up for lost time and opportunities proved fruitless, so that the talented and efficient commander of the Henrietta had the mortification of reporting the result of his first and trial adventure as “a clean ship!”
On their arrival in port, the designs of the disaffected became gradually developed. It was hoped, and evidently expected, that my Father, failing of success, would be superseded; and it ultimately came out, though not until the whole scheme of this nefarious conspiracy had been enacted, and the failure of the experiment determined, that it had been matter of promise or arrangement, in the event of the chief officer obtaining the command, that the other officers in succeeding ranks should have a step in the way of promotion; and that the men, generally, should have better, and more equal treatment, and, as they were vainly flattered, be rewarded with higher wages!
Indications of this dastardly attempt to arrest the advancement of a young and enterprising commander appeared in two or three circumstances, which occurred soon after the Henrietta’s return to Whitby. One of these was the discovery of a letter, fastened conspicuously on one of the sails, addressed to Mr. Bean, the former captain, “requesting him to procure another master, Captain Scoresby having left the vessel, or gone ashore.”
Another circumstance, of a bolder character, I remember being related, which, however, operated in a manner directly the reverse of what was designed by the originators of the ungenerous device. A party of the officers, three or four in number, proceeded to the owner’s residence—I believe over the Moors to Pickering—for the express purpose of complaining of my Father’s unfitness for the command. One of their reasons, more curious than manly, was founded on observation of their commander’s fearless and adventurous practice, as a navigator,—entirely different from the habit of the times. The complaint was to the effect, “that, instead of keeping the ship clear of danger in the fishery, he was continually running them into the ice; and his daringness was such that, if he should be continued in the command, he would lose the ship and drown them all!”
On a sensible man like Mr. Piper, the information, as to enterprising character, conveyed by objections of this kind, was by no means lost. His reflection thereon, as I understood it to have been, was, “Why this is the very sort of man we need!”
My Father was not, of course, without his anxieties as to what the issue might be. He had embarked in a post of great responsibility, where, beyond the ordinary qualifications of the navigator, success as a fisherman was looked for, and so prominently regarded, too, that successfulness, above all other qualities, stood absorbingly pre-eminent. Having failed on his first, and most critical, trial, he anxiously expressed his regrets at his failure, when he first met his disappointed and suffering owner. But he, having meanwhile, I believe, spoken on the subject to his former captain (Mr. Bean), replied encouragingly, “It can’t be helped: you must try again.” The confiding owner, however, could not but be a little surprised when, on the first fitting occasion after the intimation of his re-appointment, my Father, meekly, but firmly, informed him, “that if he again took the command he must have the appointment of all the hands—both officers and general crew.” Mr. Piper’s usual “Pooh! pooh!” at a demand so unexpected, produced no change in the reasonable requirements of his anxious, but decided dependent. He consulted Mr. Bean thereon, and he, it is reported, recommended acquiescence on the part of the owner. At all events the owner did acquiesce. The happy effect and result will appear in our next section.
Section II.—His Second Adventure, and commencing Prosperity.
Under the fitting authority yielded to my Father, in respect to the absolute selection and engagement of his officers and crew, he acted with equal wisdom and decision. His first act was to discharge the whole of his old and self-assumed accomplished or experienced officers, and to replace them with younger and more tractable men; some of those who had served with him in his first command, whose characters he had appreciated, being advanced from inferior stations to places of responsibility.
The principle that had been conceded by the owner to his captain, as to the absolute selection of his crew, was, however, in a very minor appointment, attempted to be interfered with; but it only served to bring out in greater distinctiveness the character with whom he had to deal. The circumstance was this:—On the fitting out of the ship in the spring of 1792, my Father, on going on board one morning for his usual superintendence of the work, observed a stranger,—one whom he had not himself engaged,—busily employed, as if quite installed in office, about the cooking department. In surprise he asked the would-be cook “who had sent him there?” “The owner,” he replied, “had shipped him as the cook.”