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White Wings Vol I. Fifty Years Of Sail In The New Zealand Trade, 1850 TO 1900

Under Arrest

Under Arrest.

What the real trouble was the account does not indicate, but evidently the ship was nothing more or less than a mild sort of pandemonium from then until July 13, when she reached Auckland. There was nothing openly mutinous until June 10, when the starboard watch was ordered to help in getting up stores and passengers' luggage. Eight of the men refused, and said it was their watch below, during which they should not have to work. The men were given time for reconsideration of their refusal, but evidently the after guard expected trouble, for some of the second-class passengers were shifted and their cabins made ready as a temporary prison. The men were given another chance to turn-to, but still refused, and then were locked up, "in the hope that reflection would prompt them to better behaviour."

Later on five men of the port watch refused duty until their mates "were let out of irons." It was explained that the men were not in irons, but this did not appease their comrades, who threatened to go aft and let them out. These obstreperous ones "were ordered into temporary confinement in the forecastle," and as they walked forward some of them "sharpened their knives on the grindstone."

Eventually the men were either confined or placed in irons in the cabins that had been prepared for the purpose, but they soon started wrecking the woodwork and making night hideous with their language. Some of the passengers were armed and acted as guards. Apparently all the sailors were concerned in the mutiny, though the account is not quite clear to anyone not familiar with the circumstances, and watches of tea men each were made up from the second-class passengers. Naturally they could not have been very expert, and the captain reckoned that the mutiny had caused him a fortnight's delay on the trip.