A LONG NIGHT--AN ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE--THREATS OF MY SHIPMATES--THREE
ADMIRALS VISIT THE SHIP--INTERVIEW WITH THE MUTINEERS--REFUSAL TO GIVE
IN--HOLDING OUT--CAPTAIN PAKENHAM ADDRESSES THE MEN--RETURNING TO DUTY--
I AM TAKEN AS A MUTINEER--AWAITING TRIAL--CONDUCT OF THE RINGLEADERS--
THE COURT-MARTIAL--MY SIGNATURE PRODUCED IN EVIDENCE AGAINST ME--A PLOT
TO DESTROY ME FRUSTRATED--CAPTAIN PAKENHAM PROVES MY FRIEND--EXAMINATION
OF DICK HAGGER ON MY BEHALF--I AM ACQUITTED--EXECUTION OF THE MUTINEERS.
I have spent many a trying night, waiting anxiously for day, but this
was as trying as any. It was, if I recollect rightly, the 3rd or 4th of
December. When at length the morning broke, the mutineers seemed as
determined as ever. At last it was proposed to let the warrant and
petty officers go on deck. On hearing this, Hagger and I with a few
others crept along to the after-hatchway, pretending that our object was
merely to ship the ladder to allow the officers to reach the upper deck.
The officers hurried up as fast as they could, glad to get away out of
the power of the mutineers. Several of the men followed them, and
Hagger and I had got our feet on the ladder, when we were seized hold of
and dragged back, and the ladder was again unshipped.
Ten or twelve of the men had made themselves most active, and were
looked upon as the ringleaders of the conspiracy, Berkeley and Pratt
being among the number; but Iffley, if he had really been at the bottom
of the affair, pretended to be led by the others. Whenever he spoke, he
counselled mild measures, though he managed, some way or other, that
they should not be adopted.
Having command of the store-rooms, the mutineers served out among those
below as many provisions as were required. Dividing themselves into two
watches, one stood guard with fifty or sixty muskets, and the guns
pointed aft, while the rest either slept or sat on deck and smoked.
There were hot discussions as to what should be done, and occasionally
there were quarrels, for enough grog was served out to excite the men's
spirits; but the ringleaders took care that they should get no more, for
if once drunkenness began, they were aware that they would very speedily
be overpowered. In the course of the afternoon, the first lieutenant
hailed down the after-hatchway, saying that three admirals whom we all
knew had come on board to hear what grievances we had to complain of,
and to endeavour to redress them.
On hearing this, the ringleaders went aft, each man armed with a musket,
a tomahawk or cutlass by his side, looking as brazen-faced and impudent
as could be, trusting to the numbers at their backs.
Among the officers who addressed us were Lord Bridport and Admiral
Cornwallis. Lord Bridport inquired, in a kind way, what the mutineers
had to complain of, and pointed out the folly and wickedness of their
proceedings, "What would become of our country if other ships were to
follow your bad example, my lads?" he asked. "The honour and glory of
England, of which you are so justly proud, would be humbled in the dust,
and we should have the Frenchmen coming over to England with their
guillotine and their Republican notions, and the ruin of all we hold
dear would be the consequence. But I am not afraid of that. I know
English seamen too well to suppose for a moment that others would
imitate you. They may have grievances to complain of, but would disdain
to adopt the mode you have of showing your dissatisfaction."
Admiral Cornwallis spoke in a more indignant strain. "I am ashamed of
you, lads," he exclaimed; "you call yourselves British seamen, and yet
upset all discipline, and act the part of rascally buccaneers who turn
against their officers the moment they have anything to complain of."
He said a good deal more in the same strain, but the men would scarcely
listen to him. Some of them shouted out together what they wanted, but
even on those points they were not all agreed.
"Are you going to return to your duty, lads!" asked Admiral Bridport at
last.
"No, we are not," shouted several of the men. "We don't return to our
duty until we get our rights."
On this the admirals walked away, and we saw them shortly afterwards,
through the ports, leaving the ship for Portsmouth.
The second night went by much as the first had done. The mutineers,
numbering about two hundred and fifty men, retained possession of the
lower deck, and would allow no one to come down, and none of the
better-disposed men whom they doubted to go up. Hagger and I, with
others, were thus kept prisoners. They had opposed to them the
commissioned, warrant, and petty officers, all the marines except six,
who, silly fellows, had been persuaded to join them, and about thirty
seamen who had managed to escape on deck. They might thus quickly have
been subdued by force, but then the lives of many on both sides must
have been sacrificed; and if once blood had been shed, the mutineers,
knowing that they fought with ropes round their necks, would have
struggled desperately to the last, and would very likely have blown the
ship up when they found all hope had gone. At length the watch off duty
lay down on deck to sleep, for they had used all the hammocks to form a
barricade. Hagger and I followed their example, hoping that next
morning they would come to a better state of mind; but we were mistaken,
and all day they held out, just as they had done before, and so they did
the next and the next.
At last two or three of the petty officers, who were the least
obnoxious, came and asked them to allow water and provisions to be got
up, saying "that if those below were badly off in one way, they
themselves were worse off in another, as neither had come off from the
shore, and they were pretty well starving."
Though some of the ringleaders would have prevented this if they could,
the greater part of the men were ready enough to let those on deck have
the provisions, and accordingly they set to work and sent up whatever
was wanted.
Though they did this, they seemed as resolved as ever to resist. The
heavy guns and small arms were kept loaded, and some of the ringleaders
talked as big as ever, but I saw that the greater number were getting
heartily weary of their confinement and their state of uncertainty. The
authorities must have well-known that this would be the case. At last,
on the morning of the 11th, word was received that Captain Pakenham
(with whom a good many of the men had served) wanted to speak to them.
Coming to the hatchway, he addressed the men in firm but gentle terms.
I forget exactly what he said, but I know it at once had a good effect
with many of them, notwithstanding that the ringleaders tried to
persuade them to hold out longer.
I was trying to persuade some of my shipmates to listen to what Captain
Pakenham was saying, and to return to their duty, when Berkeley and
Pratt, seizing hold of me, swore that they would shoot me through the
head if I uttered another word, and dragged me forward.
At the same moment Hagger, who had been nearer the hatchway, with some
of the better-disposed men, getting hold of the ladders, suddenly
shipped them, and sprang up on deck, followed by nearly the whole of the
rest of the crew, who were glad of the opportunity of escaping, as they
hoped, born the consequences they had brought upon themselves. Only
nine besides myself remained below, including Trickett and the two men I
have spoken of.
Captain Pakenham at once asked the men who had escaped, if they were
prepared to return to their duty, and in one voice they declared that
they were. He had before taken his measures, and the marines, who were
drawn up ready to act, coming down the ladder, made a rush forward.
Three or four of the more desperate of the ringleaders sprang to the
guns, with the intention of firing them; but before they had time to do
so, the marines, forcing their way over the barricade, seized every man
they could find, I being among the number.
As two of them got hold of me, I assured them that I had been prevented
from the first by force from going on deck, and that I had not joined
the mutineers. They laughed at my assertion, and I was dragged along
the deck and brought before Captain Pakenham.
Though he had spoken mildly enough to the other men, he was stern when
addressing us, and being speedily handcuffed, we were committed to the
charge of the lieutenant-at-arms, and placed under a guard of marines.
I begged Captain Pakenham to listen to me, asserting as before that I
had never joined the mutineers, and called upon Hagger and the others to
bear witness to the truth of what I said, Hagger, stepping out from
among the men drawn up on either side of the deck, declared that what I
said was the truth; that we had both tried to escape from the first, but
had been prevented; and that, as the officers knew, I was among the
best-conducted men in the ship.
"All you have to say will be heard at the trial, which will, depend upon
it, be held in a few days," answered Captain Pakenham. "You were found
among the ringleaders, who refused, when summoned at the last, to come
up and return to their duty; you must therefore, meantime, abide by the
consequences."
No words can describe the grief and dismay I felt, not on my own
account, but lest my wife and uncle and aunt should hear what, had
happened. They would be confident that I was innocent, but at the same
time they would know the risk I ran of being inculpated with the guilty.
How could I prove that I had taken no part in the mutiny? I had been
below all the time, and except on the evidence of Hagger, I could not
prove that I had made any attempt to escape. His evidence, indeed,
might not be of any value, as he had been with me, and had himself
remained below. I had been found with the ringleaders, and very
probably two such utter scoundrels as were Berkeley and Pratt would not,
unless it could benefit themselves, be induced to confess that they had
kept me back by force.
I entreated to be supplied with paper and pen and ink, that I might
write to Uncle Kelson to tell him what had happened, and beg him to
break the news to Margaret, as also to ask him if he could procure legal
advice; but the boon was refused me, and I was told that before the
trial I should not be allowed to hold communication with anybody.
The prisoners in vain tried to keep up their spirits. Most of them soon
broke down altogether, and sat with their heads bent, resting on their
manacled hands, except two desperate fellows who had long faced death in
every form, and were not afraid of him now, though they well knew what
the punishment of their crime must be. Men were hung for lesser crimes
than theirs, and the maintenance of discipline being the great object of
the authorities, they were not likely to be let off.
So great was the agony of my mind that I thought I should go mad. At
last I dropped into a dreamy state, my great wish being that the day of
the trial should come on. Had I been called to suffer alone I should
not have complained, but it was the thought of the trouble, the distress
and sorrow it would be to Margaret and my uncle and aunt, to hear that I
had died an ignominious death at the yard-arm, assured though they might
be of my innocence, which caused me the greatest grief.
At last, on the 15th of December, several admirals and captains
assembled to hold a court-martial on board the _Culloden_, and we ten
men, accused of mutiny, were brought up for trial. It was quickly
proved that four of our number had been captured while attempting to
fire the guns behind the barricade, and that the whole of us had been
found below when the rest of the ship's company had returned to their
duty. We were asked singly what we could say for ourselves.
Trickett was the first who spoke. He pleaded that he had been led away
by others, that he did not know their object, and had no idea that
matters would have proceeded to extremities. "I wished to see my
shipmates righted, but I should have advised them, had they allowed me,
to employ only legal means. As a proof that I was not one of the
ringleaders, permit me to present this paper which came into my
possession, and which, as you will see, does not contain my name."
As he spoke, he produced a paper, and presented it to the President,
who, after glancing over it, read it aloud. It began, I remember, "We,
the undersigned, bind ourselves to hold fast to each other, and to take
all the means in our power to obtain our rights, and have our grievances
redressed; we resolve that no consideration shall hinder us, and that if
our petition is not listened to, we will take possession of the ship,
and carry her over to the French." The paper wound up with terrible
oaths, calling God to witness that nothing should make them give up
their object.
"I see by the names attached to this precious document," said the
President, "that they are all those of the prisoners on trial, with the
exception of that of the man who handed it in, which doesn't appear,"
and he slowly read out the names. Among the last was that of Pratt,
then came that of Reginald Berkeley, and lastly, to my horror and
dismay, was my own.
"I never signed that paper!" I exclaimed; "nothing should have induced
me to put my hand to it."
"Can you swear that your name is not Willand Wetherholm, and that this
is not your signature?" asked the President, and the paper was shown me,
"That is my name, and that is my signature, but I didn't put it to any
document of that sort. I was writing a letter to my wife, just before
the mutiny broke out, when the man whose name appears above mine, came
and asked me to put my name as a witness to his signature, stating that
it was required for legal purposes, in order to enable him to obtain a
property to which he was entitled."
"A likely story," observed one of the members of the court. "Reginald
Berkeley, as you call yourself, is this man's story correct? Did you
ask him to witness your signature for such a purpose as he states?"