exactly as I understands it all. As for being _dustmen_, we arn’t got
no such great matter of dust at sea, because of the soakings we get;
and sailors are apt to moisten their _clay_ a bit when they can lay
hold of the stuff. But with regard to the cruelty! there unfortunately
was too much of it. But to return to my story. The poor lads were
carried below, and many a half stifled curse was muttered as their
shipmates touched the shattered limbs, and stained their hands in the
blood of innocence. A silent, but deep feeling of revenge passed from
heart to heart; the face was calm and smooth, but there was a storm
in the breast that raged with fury. Well, your honour, the surgeon
reported to Mr. Spriggs, the first-lieutenant, that the lads were
both dead; and he--that’s the first-lieutenant,--told the captain,
who immediately said, ‘Throw the lubbers overboard.’ And this was
done,--for to have read any sarvice over them would have been insult
and mockery; and thus were two human beings sent out of the world worse
than dogs. Not that I think a cast of the parson’s office is of any
great consequence to a dead man; but nevertheless, the living like to
see things o’that kind done somewhat ship-shape, and besides there’s
many a warm glow of friendship lighted up among messmates, when natur
stirs within ’em over an ocean grave. The words ‘We commit his body to
the deep,’ that deep whose surface is as familiar to a seaman, as the
face of the mother is to the infant, and under ‘the sure and certain
hope of a joyful resurrection,’--oh, your honour, I can’t explain what
I mean, but take an old tar’s word that there’s none so sensible of
the power of the Almighty as them who are constantly hearing his voice
upon the waters, and who so often witness the opening of his hands to
loose the tempest.” The veteran paused for a moment or two, gazing
intently upon the picture, as if the scene he had described was present
to his view; he then continued, “The hands were called on deck and very
threatening language used to them, and some were particularly pointed
out as the next to be seized up at the gangway. That night, when the
watch below was turned in, there was a secret meeting of the petty
officers, and a plan was arranged for taking possession of the ship; no
one mentioned murder, but each one knew by the wolfish strugglings of
vengeance in his breast, that blood must be shed before their purpose
could be achieved. The ringleaders were French _refugers_, who were
fighting against their own country and had no love for ours,--fellows
that it was dangerous to trust; and yet what is very remarkable, the
captain does not appear to have suspected evil designs, so confident
was he of his own supposed superiority in preserving discipline. But
there was one whose eyes looked on with anxious apprehensions,--for
like the soundings to the pilot, those eyes had studied the various
changes in the features of man to fathom out the depths of the
heart,--it was woman, your honour. Fanny Martin was the boatswain’s
wife, and though without larning and that sort of eddyfication, she
loved her husband and trembled for his safety; for he had had some
words with one of the master’s-mates of the name of Farmer, and she
strongly suspected Farmer was bent upon mischief, particularly as she
saw him during the next day holding mysterious communications with the
people, and having the keys of the spirit-room to get up the grog, he
had distributed extra allowance amongst the disaffected.
“Well, your honour, during the day she kept her secret, and watchfully
observed what was going on. In the evening she sat upon the fokstle
with her husband, who was a hasty, passionate man, and as they watched
the declining sun bathing his golden beams in the blue waters, she gave
such intimations as partially aroused the boatswain to something like a
sense of the truth. She talked to him of the village which had been the
home of their childhood, she recalled to his recollection their early
love,--for women enter all these things in the log-book of memory,
with a sort of natural instinct,--and when she had awakened a feeling
of tenderness, she pointed out to him the horrible suspicions which
tortured her. But though distrust was stirred up, yet the haughty and
rough seaman disdained to acknowledge its effects, or take any steps
to prevent the mischief that was brewing, like a white squall in a
clear sky. And who that looked upon the beautiful creatur,--for she was
a sweet ship, your honour,--I say, who could look upon the beautiful
creatur as she lay gently rolling on the glassy surface of the light
swell, like a handsome woman viewing her shapes in a clear mirror,--who
would have thought, in that still, calm evening hour, that the red eyes
of murderous vengeance were glaring on the scene? But the sun set upon
those who were never to see it rise again, and the mountain islands
faded away in the gloom, never more to be gazed at by the doomed ones.
“Night came; the officer of the watch was walking the deck, and
the look-outs were alone seen as they stood at their several
posts. Suddenly there was a simultaneous shout came rolling up the
fore-hatchway, arousing the sleepers and alarming those who were
awake. The lieutenant of the watch, Mr. Douglass, ran forward on the
main-deck, but was immediately driven back by the shot which the seamen
were throwing about. The first-lieutenant hurried to the spot; but
whilst descending the fore-ladder, he received a severe wound in the
arm from the blow of a tomahawk, and seeing there was no use in going
down in the dark amongst ’em, he made a grab at the man next him, and
dragged the fellow on to the main-deck. But Farmer, the master’s-mate,
rushed upon the lieutenant and rescued the prisoner, who joined his
shipmates down below. Both lieutenants returned to the quarter-deck
for arms, but the mutineers had taken care to remove the cutlasses and
boarding pikes out of the way; the officers could find nothing but a
handspike or two, and the first-lieutenant, with no other means of
defence than his dirk, again went forward among the men.
“By this time, the marines had mustered aft on the quarter-deck,
and the captain, hearing the noise, ran up the companion and found
the utmost confusion prevailing; the marines’ muskets and side-arms
had been seized, and the sodgers crowded together without knowing
what to do, for their officer was hove down sick in his cot. Captain
P---- called for the first-lieutenant, and being told that he had
gone forward, he immediately followed; the shot, however, drove him
back for the moment, but he again advanced along the main-deck with a
pistol in each hand, and three or four marines with lights. But I must
tell your honour the rest in Hughes’s own words, for he witnessed the
whole, and I’m thinking the horrors of that night never left his mind.
Whether he took part or not in the transactions was never known, but he
afterwards gave evidence agin many of the mutineers, and was the chief
cause of their being hung at the fore yard-arm of the old Gladiator,
at Portsmouth. I sailed with him three years, and never saw him smile;
sometimes he would rave when darkness shut out every object from the
sight, and the mind had nothing to rest on but the gloomy imaginings
of a tortured spirit. They said he had been well edecated, and I know
he was always reading at every moment he was off deck and could spare
time from duty,--sometimes for hours together with the Bible in his
hands, and at other times with a book he called Wolltear. He used
to swear a good round stick, too, but he always spliced a bit of a
prayer to the fag-end of his oaths; though occasionally he would turn
’em end-for-end, and begin with the prayer first, knotting it with a
double-wall damme, which he afterwards crowned with an Amen.” He paused
for a minute, and then he commenced with the following statement of
The Mutiny.
“I was standing ’tween the bits, (says Hughes,) when the
first-lieutenant came forward the second time, and his bare dirk was in
his hand. ‘Return to your duty, men, and don’t disgrace your country,’
said Mr. Spriggs; but they again shouted, and Bill Oates threw a billet
of wood at the officer, which knocked his legs from under him. At that
instant the captain’s coxswain rushed at the lieutenant, one of the
fokstle men seized the dirk, and together they held him down.
“‘Villains!’ said the lieutenant, ‘mutinous dogs! will you murder me?’
and he made a desperate struggle to rise, whilst his voice seemed to be
getting more husky and thick, as if they were strangling him. All at
once he gave a shriek, and I thought the running bowline had slipped;
then there was a low, moaning, gurgling sound, a convulsive throe of
the body,--and he lay quite still. The coxswain and his companion came
away just as the captain ran from aft with the lights. The marines
raised the poor lieutenant up by the arms, but, oh God! the lights
gleamed upon a stream of blood, and a deep gash in the throat opened
its yawning mouth,--the head of the lieutenant fell backward between
his shoulder blades, for it was nearly severed from the body. The
captain gazed at the corpse for a moment, then raising his pistols, he
snapped the triggers at Farmer, who laughed,--no, it warn’t a laugh, it
was a yell of defiance,--the charges had been drawn.
“The men led by Farmer on the starboard side, and the coxswain on the
larboard side, moved in two compact bodies aft, driving the captain,
the two lieutenants, the boatswain, and the midshipmen of the watch
afore ’em. By the main ladder the latter party faced about, and the
captain, seeing the coxswain acting as a ringleader, upbraided him for
his ingratitude, for he had always been a great favourite with Captain
P----, and had followed him from ship to ship, receiving many marks
of kindness for upwards of five years. The coxswain cheered on the
men, and darting at the captain, stabbed him severely with a bay’net:
this was the signal for massacre. The captain retreated to his cabin,
which was soon filled with the mutineers, and every one seemed anxious
to have a cut at him. He staggered to his chair and sat down, whilst
those who had been the victims of his cruelty and oppression, mangled
him in the fleshy parts of his body, and every wound was accompanied
by a bitter taunt, or a hellish imprecation. He implored for no mercy,
for he saw it would be useless;--he did not deprecate their vengeance,
for the hand he had prized most was the first to stab, and therefore
it was in vain to hope for life. He continued sternly silent, till he
fell from his chair through weakness, caused by the out-flowing of
the tide of existence. A horrible shout shook the cabin when they saw
him prostrate, and raising him in their arms, they sallied aft and
launched the body out of the stern windows. I heard it splash as it
fell upon the dark waters,--I heard his shout of ‘murder’ and ‘revenge’
repeatedly as he went astern, but the waves closed over him, and he was
seen no more.
“A short but ineffectual struggle took place upon the quarter-deck,
where the marines still adhered to the officers; but they were soon
subdued, and after being horribly mutilated, were thrown overboard. As
soon as the mutineers had obtained possession, Farmer took command, and
it was intended to haul in for St. Domingo; but fearing that daylight
would bring ’em in with some of the British cruisers, it was agreed
upon to up-helm and run down to the Spanish main.
“The work of destruction was not, however, yet complete;--the boatswain
had been discovered in his store-room, (where he had concealed himself
at the earnest entreaties of his wife,) and dragged upon deck. Poor
Fanny Martin implored Farmer to spare his life; but the boatswain set
the mutineers at defiance, and swore they would one day or other be
frying in hell for their wickedness.
“‘Fore yard-arm, there!’ cried out Farmer, ‘have you got a good seizing
for that block?’
“The boatswain turned pale, for he well knew the hint this was meant
to convey, though his wife did not; and grasping Farmer by the arm, he
exclaimed ‘No, you never can mean that!--Bill, we’ve sailed together
and fought together;--did you ever know me shrink from the gale, or
tremble at my gun? Here am I,--ready to live or die, just as your
breath may turn the vane,--indeed I ax no mercy for myself,--’
“‘Is the yard-rope rove?’ inquired Farmer, trying to free himself from
the other’s hold.
“‘Ay, ay,’ was the response from the fokstle.
“‘Then,’ continued Farmer, ‘Martin, say any prayers you know, for by
every fiend in ----, you swing up there in ten minutes from this time.’
“‘Consider, Farmer,’ expostulated the boatswain, ‘we’ve been messmates
and have shared each other’s dangers; you may take my life, but do not,
do not disgrace me in my death;--nay, you cannot hang me like a dog!’
“Poor Fanny had remained silently clinging to her husband during
this conversation, insensible to its true meaning; but when the last
expression escaped the boatswain’s lips, the truth flashed upon her,
and wildly shrieking, she fell at Farmer’s feet, embraced his knees,
and in the most frantic and abject terms implored for her husband’s
life.
“‘Force her away,’ commanded Farmer, in a voice of thunder to some of
the seamen who had gathered round, ‘and, Martin, to your prayers; the
sand is fast running through the glass,--to your prayers, man--to your
prayers, I say,’ and the wretch laughed like a demon.
“‘Avast, avast, Bill,’ said the boatswain, ‘I am yet an officer, and
don’t disgrace the cloth! Stand back, you lubberly son of a ----’ he
exclaimed, throwing from him with herculean strength one of his own
mates, who was attempting to put the noose over his head, and then
addressing the people, he uttered in a clear voice, ‘Shipmates, I only
ask to die like a man. If my death-warrant is sealed, what matters
it to you whether I go out of the world by a musket-ball or in a
sling.--Nay, shipmates, you cannot do it,--and in the presence of her,
too,’--his voice faltered for a moment,--‘it would be a disgrace to a
blue jacket for ever.--But,’ observing their unchanged countenances, ‘I
see my appeal is vain, and I must bear it as a brave man ought. Farmer
this will be a leak to sink your soul in that day when we come to pass
our accounts. I know but little of prayers; I’ve served my country with
faithfulness, and every action of my life is known to the Almighty.
If I’ve done my duty to my king,--to my fellow creatures, and to she
who now witnesses my murder, God already knows it, so it’s of no use
overhauling them consarns now; and if I have not done it, then I take
it five minutes will hardly mend the matter. Fanny,’ he continued,
softening his voice, ‘you have been my friend, my companion, in fair
weather and in foul; they will not, cannot injure you, girl; and when
you go back to where I need not name, tell the old folks,’--here his
voice again faltered and his lips quivered, which gave rise to an
obscene jest from a bystander,--‘Be decent, fellow,’ he continued,
‘a brave man never insults his prisoner. My conscience is clear from
having ever wilfully done wrong;--will yours be so when the last
death-grapple comes?’
“‘Cease this d---- folly!’ exclaimed Farmer; ‘your time is nearly up,
and by heaven--’
“‘Swear not by heaven, Bill,’ said the boatswain solemnly, ‘you have
done with it, and it has done with you. Come, Fanny, one clasp to my
heart before we are separated,’ and he threw his arms round his sinking
wife, who seemed scarce conscious of her existence.
“‘Waist there! is the yard-rope manned?’ exclaimed Farmer.
“‘Ay, ay, all ready,’ was the response.
“‘Will you not take her below?’ said the boatswain beseechingly.
“‘No, no,’ vociferated some of the topmen; ‘she has often seen us dance
aloft, and now she shall see you.’
“‘Farmer, will you suffer this?’ said the boatswain.
“‘They will have it so,’ returned the master’s-mate, doggedly.
“‘Then, by that Heaven which you have abjured, they shall be
disappointed. I will not perish like a dog.’
“He sprang forward, and with his heavy blows felled several to the
deck. At first, old remembrances of his prowess made the mutineers give
way before his impetuous attack, but it was only momentary; a dozen
cutlasses gleamed in the air; there was a whizzing noise of flourishing
tomahawks, and the boatswain fell dead beneath the blows, covered with
wounds. Happily his wife had fainted; she had seen her husband struck,
but she was spared the pang of witnessing his bloody corpse being
thrown overboard, which was done immediately. ‘Oh, God! where is thine
eye of retribution!--(Hughes would cry out)--lay bare thine arm! But
thou hast poured out the phials of thy wrath, and justice has received
her due!’
“Well, messmate, whilst this was passing at the starboard gangway, the
coxswain and his gang were making quick work of the other officers.
They had secured the two lieutenants, the purser, the doctor, the
captain’s clerk, and a little lad--a midshipman, who with the gallantry
of riper years stood undauntedly among the rest, and there were also
four or five seamen who had made themselves obnoxious to the mutineers;
they were all butchered, mangled, cut to pieces, and committed to the
deep. The little midshipman was stabbed through the heart,--I saw it
myself; the boy fell shouting, and with that shout expired. But there
was yet another victim. I told you the marine officer was sick in his
hammock, and being weak from long illness could offer no resistance;
indeed, he scarcely knew what was doing. Now, messmate, may perdition
alight upon their bloody heads for that horrid cruelty! They brought
the young officer on deck; his ghastly features, pale and wasted from
disease, excited no pity, and with the balance trembling between life
and death he was thrown over the taffrail, and left to struggle for a
few useless moments, when he sunk beneath the waves, and his murder was
added to the black catalogue of hellish guilt.
“Day dawned, and dawned in splendour. The sun upon the horizon shed
his red light, rendering the gory deck more bloody in its aspect; and
there stood the mutineers, contemplating the horrible deeds they had
so lately perpetrated, and scanning each other with looks of silent
mistrust, as if every man suspected that his shipmate would betray
him. Farmer stood upon the after-gun on the starboard side, one elbow
resting on the hammock-rail and his head reclined upon his hand; the
flush of intemperance was on his cheeks, and his restless eye wandered
hither and thither, as if tracking the crimson stains of carnage
that his villany had caused. The horizon was now one flood of clear
transparent light, the blue waters marking the line between the dark
ocean and crystal sky. The gallant frigate danced merrily before the
breeze, but excepting the squaring of the yards, no additional canvass
had been spread to accelerate her way.
“Suddenly a man on the fokstle exclaimed ‘Sail, O!’ Farmer started
from his reverie, and every limb of his body was for an instant
palsied; whilst the seamen, as if struck by an enchanter’s wand, stood
motionless and still. ‘Sail, O!’ repeated the man. It aroused them
from their stupor; a thousand sickly apprehensions rushed upon their
minds, and all was instantly bustle and alarm. Farmer walked forward,
and then hailed one of the quarter-masters to bring him the glass out
of the cabin. The glass was brought,--it was the captain’s; and as he
took it in his hand, it was plainly seen by the quick changes of his
countenance, that there was a tempest in his soul.
“The sail was now distinctly visible about two points on the larboard
beam, her hull rising from the water, and her masts showing she was a
ship, whilst their position indicated she was crossing the frigate’s
track. Farmer raised the glass to his eye; there was a breathless
silence fore-and-aft. His look was long and earnest; not a muscle of
his features moved, his very pulsation seemed to be suspended: at
last, he gave a shivering gasp, and drew his breath convulsively. The
coxswain approached, and took his spell at the glass, but his glance
was only momentary; he returned it to Farmer. They looked in each
other’s face, but neither spoke his thoughts.
“‘Bring Mr. Southcott on deck,’ exclaimed Farmer, ‘and see that he is
well guarded.’
“In a few minutes Mr. Southcott, the master, was brought on to the
fokstle, between two seamen with naked cutlasses and loaded pistols.
The undaunted officer, expecting that the hour of his death had
arrived, stood firm and erect in front of the mutineer, and his steady
gaze fixed so intently upon him, that Farmer shrunk from before it. At
length the latter said, ‘No harm is meant you, Mr. Southcott; but have
the goodness to take the glass, and tell me what you make out yon ship
to be,’ pointing towards it.
“‘Is there a sail?’ exclaimed the master. ‘Ay, I see it;--thank
Heaven!’ and he took the glass.
“‘Her yards show square,’ said Farmer.
“‘They do,’ replied the master; ‘but the merchantmen now spread a broad
cloth in these seas.’
“‘She has a middle and a royal stay-sail set,’ continued Farmer. The
master assented.
“‘She is carrying every thing that can draw a cap-full of wind,’ said
Farmer.
“‘She is so,’ replied the master; ‘but West-Indiamen have many flying
kites nowadays.’
“‘Mr. Southcott,’ exclaimed Farmer in his harsh hoarse voice, ‘you know
that yon hooker is no West-Indiaman. You would deceive me, sir--That
new cloth in the main-top-sail, that milk-white flying jib, and the
cloud of canvass that flutters from the main-yard tell me that it is
the----’
“‘What?’ exclaimed the master, suddenly starting from the recumbent
posture in which he had been looking at the ship, and again fixing his
eyes upon his traitorous mate.
“‘Sail, O!’ shouted a man from the starboard cat-head; ‘a brig under
the land, and a ship in-shore of her.’
“‘Yes, yes,’ said Farmer, ‘’tis the Favourite and the Drake; but their
legs were never made to catch us. Come, Mr. Southcott, the name of the
stranger yonder,’ pointing to the vessel first seen. ‘I wish the men
to hear it from your lips, that they may think of running gantlines
and hangman’s knots, and know their doom if they surrender.’ He again
applied the glass to his eye; ‘she has bore up a couple of points, and
is setting her studding-sails. Speak, sir! is it not the Mermaid?--You
are silent, but it matters not. Take him below.’
“‘Yes, Farmer,’ said the master, ‘thank God, it is the Mermaid, and
therefore you cannot hope to escape. Your captain and officers are
murdered by your orders--’
“‘Nay, nay, not by my orders, Mr. Southcott,’ said Farmer. ‘We have all
been tarred with the same brush; but what would you propose?’
“‘Resign the command you have assumed to me,’ replied the master; ‘and
men!’ he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘mistaken men, return to
your--’
“‘Silence, sir!’ thundered Farmer, clapping his hand to the master’s
mouth; and then turning to the men who had crowded up from below and
filled the fokstle and gangways, he said, ‘Shipmates, yon sail is our
old consort, the Mermaid. Mr. Southcott proposes you should surrender,
and of course all of us know our doom. But though, mayhap, some may be
spared by royal mercy--such mercy as you have already had, which of you
can point out the men? No, no, my lads, we’ve gone too far to retract;
and for my part, I would rather flash a pistol in the magazine than
again serve under British bunting, even if my life were sure. What do
you say, men?’
“The seamen crowded together, irresolute; the petty officers gathered
round Farmer, whilst those who had been least active in the mutiny
seemed half inclined to follow the counsel of the master. ‘Shipmates!’
said Farmer, ‘I wish to try your mettle. Think of a public execution!
The yard-rope rove, the signal gun, and a death of infamy! Most of you
have had your noble bravery and gallant daring already rewarded with
the cat; but what is a dozen or two at the gang-way, compared with
flogging through the fleet! and with left-handed boatswains’ mates to
cross the lashes! But our case is far from desperate; we have handled
the gun-tackles before to-day, even if it should come to the worst.’
“‘You will not dare to fight,’ said the master; ‘or if you do, where
are those intrepid men who directed all your movements? Farmer, I am
told it was your hand that struck-down my poor messmate, Douglas; it
was a damnable deed, for you must have remembered that he saved your
life last April, when cutting out at Jean Rabel--’
“‘Take him below!’ roared Farmer. ‘This is no time to think or talk
of the past; and d’ye mind me, Mr. Southcott, clap a stopper on your
tongue, or else--; you understand me, sir.’
“‘I do,’ replied the master, ‘and defy you. What! have I been playing
at ducks and drakes with death so many years, and fear to meet him now?
My king, my country demand my services, and when I disgrace my colours,
then brand me traitor, and--’