Peter Simple; and, The Three Cutters, Vol. 1-2

by Frederick Marryat

  Chapter LVI

  Consequences of the action--A ship without a fighting captain is like athing without a head--So do the sailors think--A mutiny, and the lossof our famous ship's company.

  During our stay at Yarmouth, we were not allowed to put our foot onshore, upon the plea that we must repair damages, and proceedimmediately to our station; but the real fact was, that Captain Hawkinswas very anxious that we should not be able to talk about the action.Finding no charges preferred against him, he re-commenced his system ofannoyance. His apartments had windows which looked out upon where thebrig lay at anchor, and he constantly watched all our motions with hisspy-glass, noting down if I did not hoist up boats, &c., exactly at thehour prescribed in his book of orders, so as to gather a list of chargesagainst me if he could. This we did not find out until afterwards.

  I mentioned before, that when Swinburne joined us at Plymouth, he hadrecommended a figure-head being put on the brig. This had been done atO'Brien's expense--not in the cheap way recommended by Swinburne, but ina very handsome manner. It was a large snake coiled up in folds, withits head darting out in a menacing attitude, and the tail, with itsrattle appeared below. The whole was gilded, and had a very good effect;but after the dock-yard men had completed the repairs, and the brig waspainted, one night the head of the rattlesnake disappeared. It had beensawed off by some malicious and evil disposed persons, and no traces ofit were to be found. I was obliged to report this to the captain, whowas very indignant, and offered twenty pounds for the discovery of theoffender; but had he offered twenty thousand he never would have foundout the delinquent. It was, however, never forgotten; for he understoodwhat was implied by these manoeuvres. A new head was carved, butdisappeared the night after it was fixed on.

  The rage of the captain was without bounds: he turned the hands up, anddeclared that if the offender was not given up, he would flog every handon board. He gave the ship's company ten minutes, and then prepared toexecute his threat. "Mr Paul, turn the hands up for punishment," saidthe captain, in a rage, and descended to his cabin for the articles ofwar. When he was down below, the officers talked over the matter. Toflog every man for the crime of one was the height of injustice, but itwas not for us to oppose him; still the ship's company must have seen,in our countenances, that we shared their feelings. The men were talkingwith each other in groups, until they all appeared to have communicatedtheir ideas on the subject. The carpenters, who had been slowly bringingaft the gratings, left off the job; the boatswain's mates, who had cameaft, rolled the tails of their cats round the red handles; and every manwalked down below. No one was left on the quarter-deck but the marinesunder arms, and the officers. Perceiving this, I desired Mr Paul, theboatswain, to send the men up to rig the gratings, and thequarter-masters with their seizings. He came up, and said that he hadcalled them, but that they did not answer. Perceiving that the ship'scompany would break out into open mutiny, if the captain persisted inhis intention, I went down into the cabin, and told the captain thestate of things, and wished for his orders or presence on deck.

  The captain, whose wrath appeared incapable of reflection, immediatelyproceeded on deck, and ordered the marines to load with ball-cartridge.This was done; but, as I was afterwards told by Thompson, who wasstanding aft, the marines loaded with powder, and put the balls intotheir pockets. They wished to keep up the character of their corps forfidelity, and at the same time not fire upon men whom they loved asbrothers, and with whom they coincided in opinion. Indeed, we afterwardsdiscovered that it was a _marine_ who had taken off the _head_ of thesnake a second time.

  The captain then ordered the boatswain to turn the hands up. Theboatswain made his appearance with his right arm in a sling.--"What'sthe matter with your arm, Mr Paul?" said I, as he passed me.

  "Tumbled down the hatchway just now--can't move my arm; I must go to thesurgeon as soon as this is over."

  The hands were piped up again, but no one obeyed the order. Thus was thebrig in a state of mutiny. "Mr Simple, go forward to the main hatchwaywith the marines, and fire on the lower deck," cried the captain.

  "Sir," said I, "there are two frigates within a cable's length of us;and would it not be better to send for assistance, without sheddingblood? Besides, sir, you have not yet tried the effect of calling up thecarpenter's and boatswain's mates by name. Will you allow me to go downfirst, and bring them to a sense of their duty?"

  "Yes, I presume you know your power; but of this hereafter."

  I went down below and called the men by name.

  "Sir," said one of the boatswain's mates, "the ship's company say thatthey will not submit to be flogged."

  "I do not speak to the ship's company generally, Collins," replied I;"but you are now ordered to rig the gratings, and come on deck. It is anorder that you cannot refuse. Go up directly, and obey it.Quarter-masters, go on deck with your seizings. When all is ready, youcan then expostulate." The men obeyed my orders; they crawled on deck,rigged the gratings, and stood by. "All is ready, sir," said I, touchingmy hat to the captain.

  "Send the ship's company aft, Mr Paul."

  "Aft, then, all of you, for punishment," cried the boatswain.

  "Yes, it is _all of us for punishment_," cried one voice. "We're all toflog one another, and then pay off the _jollies_."[1]

  This time the men obeyed the order; they all appeared on thequarter-deck. "The men are all aft, sir," reported the boatswain.

  "And now, my lads," said the captain, "I'll teach you what mutiny is.You see the two frigates alongside of us. You had forgotten them, Isuppose, but I hadn't. Here, you scoundrel, Mr Jones"--(this was the JoeMiller)--"strip, sir. If ever there was mischief in a ship, you are atthe head."

  "Head, sir," said the man, assuming a vacant look; "what head, sir? Doyou mean the snake's head? I don't know anything about it, sir."--"Strip, sir!" cried the captain in a rage; "I'll soon bring you to yoursenses."

  "If you please, your honour, what have I done to be tied up?" said theman.

  "Strip, you scoundrel!"--"Well, sir, if you please, it's hard to beflogged for nothing." The man pulled off his clothes, and walked up tothe grating. The quarter-masters seized him up.

  "Seized up, sir," reported the scoundrel of a sergeant of marines whoacted as the captain's spy.

  The captain looked for the articles of war to read, as is necessaryprevious to punishing a man, and was a little puzzled to find one, whereno positive offence had been committed. At last, he pitched upon the onewhich refers to combination and conspiracy, and creating discontent. Weall took off our hats as he read it, and he then called Mr Paul, theboatswain, and ordered him to give the man a dozen. "Please, sir," saidthe boatswain, pointing to his arm in a sling, "I can't flog--I can'tlift up my arm."--"Your arm was well enough when I came on board, sir,"cried the captain.

  "Yes, sir; but in hurrying the men up, I slipped down the ladder, andI'm afraid I've put my shoulder out."

  The captain bit his lips; he fully believed it was a sham on the part ofthe boatswain (which indeed it was) to get off flogging the men. "Well,then, where is the chief boatswain's mate, Miller?"

  "Here, sir," said Miller, coming forward: a stout, muscular man, nearlysix feet high, with a pig-tail nearly four feet long, and his openbreast covered with black, shaggy hair.

  "Give that man a dozen, sir," said the captain.

  The man looked at the captain, then at the ship's company, and then atthe man seized up, but did not commence the punishment.

  "Do you hear me, sir?" roared the captain.

  "If you please, your honour, I'd rather take my disrating--I--don't wishto be chief boatswain's mate in this here business."

  "Obey your orders, immediately, sir," cried the captain; "or, by God,I'll try you for mutiny."

  "Well, sir, I beg your pardon; but what must be, must be. I mean nodisrespect, Captain Hawkins, but I cannot flog that man--my consciencewon't let me."

  "Your _conscience_, sir!"

  "Beg your pardon, Captain Hawkins, I've alw
ays done my duty, foulweather or fair; and I've been eighteen years in His Majesty's service,without ever being brought to punishment; but if I am to be hung now,saving your pleasure, and with all respect, I can't help it."

  "I give you but one moment more, sir," cried the captain; "do yourduty." The man looked at the captain, and then eyed the yard-arm."Captain Hawkins, I will _do my duty_, although I must swing for it." Sosaying he threw his cat down on the quarter-deck, and fell back amongthe ship's company.

  The captain was now confounded, and hardly knew how to act: to persevereappeared useless--to fall back was almost as impossible. A dead silenceof a minute ensued. Every one was breathless with impatience, to knowwhat would be done next. The silence was, however, first broken byJones, the Joe Miller, who was seized up. "Beg your honour's pardon,sir," said he, turning his head round; "but if I am to be flogged, willyou be pleased to let me have it over? I shall catch my death a-cold,naked here all day." This was decided mockery, on the part of the man,and roused the captain.

  "Sergeant of marines, put Miller and that man Collins, both legs inirons, for mutiny. My men, I perceive that there is a conspiracy in theship, but I shall very soon put an end to it: I know the men, and, byGod, they shall repent it. Mr Paul, pipe down. Mr Simple, man my gig;and recollect, it's my positive orders that no boat goes on shore." Thecaptain left the brig, looking daggers at me as he went over the side;but I had done my duty, and cared little for that; indeed, I was nowwatching his conduct as carefully as he did mine.

  "The captain wishes to tell his own story first," said Thompson, comingup to me. "Now, if I were you, Simple, I would take care that the realfacts should be known."

  "How's that to be done," replied I; "he has ordered no communicationwith the shore."

  "Simply by sending an officer on board of each of the frigates to statethat the brig is in a state of mutiny, and request that they will keep alook-out upon her. This is no more than your duty as commanding officer;you only send the message, leave me to state the facts of my own accord.Recollect that the captains of these frigates will be summoned, if thereis a court of inquiry, which I expect will take place."

  I considered a little, and thought the advice good. I despatchedThompson first to one frigate, and then to the other. The next day thecaptain came on board. As soon as he stepped on the quarter-deck heinquired how I dare disobey his orders in sending the boats away. Myreply was that his orders were, not to communicate with the shore, butthat, as commanding officer, I considered it my duty to make known tothe other ships that the men were in a state of insubordination, thatthey might keep their eyes upon us. He _kept his eyes_ upon me for sometime, and then turned away without reply. As we expected, a court ofinquiry was called, upon his representations to the admiral. Abouttwenty of the men were examined, but so much came out as to the _reasonwhy_ the head of the snake had been removed--for the sailors spokeboldly--that the admiral and officers who were appointed stronglyrecommended Captain Hawkins not to proceed further than to state thatthere were some disaffected characters in the ship, and move the admiralto have them exchanged into others. This was done, and the captains ofthe frigates, who immediately gave their advice, divided all our bestmen between them. They spoke very freely to me, and asked me who werethe best men, which I told them honestly, for I was glad to be able toget them out of the power of Captain Hawkins; these they marked asdisaffected, and exchanged them for all the worst they had on board. Thefew that were left ran away, and thus, from having one of the finest andbest organised ship's companies in the service, we were now one of thevery worst. Miller was sent on board of the frigate, and undersurveillance: he soon proved that his character was as good as I statedit to be, and two years afterwards was promoted to the rank ofboatswain. Webster, the second lieutenant, would not rejoin us, andanother was appointed. I must here remark, that there is hardly anydegree of severity which a captain may not exert towards his seamen,provided they are confident of, or he has proved to them, his courage;but if there be a doubt, or a confirmation to the contrary, alldiscipline is destroyed by contempt, and the ship's company mutiny,either directly or indirectly. There is an old saying, that all tyrantsare cowards; that tyranny is in itself a species of meanness, Iacknowledge: but still the saying ought to be modified. If it isasserted that all mean tyrants are cowards, I agree; but I have known inthe service most special tyrants, who were not cowards: their tyrannywas excessive, but there was no meanness in their dispositions. On thecontrary, they were generous, open-hearted, and, occasionally, when notinfluenced by anger, proved that their hearts, if not quite right, werenot very much out of their places. Yet they were tyrants; but, althoughtyrants, the men forgave them, and one kind act, when they were not ledaway by the impetuosity of their feelings, obliterated a hundred acts oftyranny. But such is not the case in our service with men who, in theirtyranny, are mean; the seamen show no quarter to them, and will undergoall the risk which the severity of the articles of war renders themliable to, rather than not express their opinion of a man whom theydespise. I do not like to mention names, but I could point out specimensof brave tyrants, and of cowardly tyrants who have existed, and do evennow exist in our service. The present regulations have limited tyrannyto a certain degree, but it cannot check the _mean_ tyrant; for it isnot in points of consequence, likely to be brought before the notice ofhis superiors, that he effects his purpose. He resorts to paltrymeasures--he smiles that he may betray--he confines himself within thelimit that may protect him; and he is never exposed, unless by hiscourage being called in question, which but rarely occurs; and when itdoes occur it is most difficult, as well as most dangerous, to attemptto prove it. It may be asked why I did not quit the ship, after havingbeen aware of the character of the captain, and the enmity which he boreto me. In reply, I can only say that I did often think of it, talkedover the subject with my messmates, but they persuaded me to remain,and, as I was a first lieutenant, and knew that any successful actionwould, in all probability, insure my promotion, I determined, to use anautical expression, to rough it out, and not throw away the only chancewhich I now had of obtaining my rank as commander.

  [Footnote 1: Marines.]