This was so kind, and so completely what I desired, that I could have asked nothing more; and I accepted his visit in his barge, which I thought would be enough, but was afraid that, if more came, our men might be alarmed, and take arms before I was ready; so we agreed upon that, and, if I desired more help, I should hang out a signal, viz., a red ancient, on the mizen top.

All things being thus consulted, I returned on board, pretending to our men that I had spent so much time on board the Dutch ship, that I could not go on sh.o.r.e; and indeed some of my men were so drunk, that they could scarce sit to their oars; and the c.o.xswain was so very far gone, that I took occasion to ask publicly, to leave him on board till the next day, giving the Dutch captain also a hint that he was in the conspiracy, and I should be glad to leave him on that account.

The next day, about nine o'clock, the second mate came to me, and told me they wanted more water, and, if I pleased to order the boat on sh.o.r.e, he would go if I thought fit, and see if he could get any fresh provisions, the purser being indisposed.

I told him, yes, with all my heart; that the Dutch captain last night had given me a letter to the governor, to desire we might be furnished with whatever we had occasion for, and that I had thoughts of calling for him to go on sh.o.r.e and deliver it, and that, perhaps, the governor might make him some present in compliment to the English nation.

He seemed extremely pleased at this, and even elevated, and going out to give orders about the boat, ordered the long-boat and the shallop, and came in again, and asked me whom I pleased to have go along with him. I answered, smilingly to him. Pick and choose then yourself, only leave the pinnace's crew that went with me yesterday, because they must go on board again to carry the Dutch captain a little present of English beer that I am going to send him, and fetch aboard their drunken c.o.xswain, who was so intoxicated that we were fain to leave him behind us.

This was just what he wanted; and we found he chose all the chief rogues of the conspiracy; such as the boatswain, the gunner, the midshipmen we spoke of, and such of the foremast men as he had secured in his design; and of the rest, we judged they were in the plot, because he took them with him; and thus having the long-boat and the shallop, with about six-and-thirty men with them, away they went to fill water.

When they came on sh.o.r.e, they had presently three Dutchmen, set by the Dutch captain, unperceived by them, to be spies upon them, and to mark exactly what they did; and at the same time found three boats of Dutchmen at the watering-place, (for the captain had procured two boats to go on sh.o.r.e from two other ships,) full of men also, having acquainted them with the design. As soon as our boats came on sh.o.r.e, the men appeared to be all very much engaged in something more than ordinary, and, instead of separating, as it was expected they should, they went all into one boat, and there they were mighty busily engaged in discourse one with another.

The Dutch captain had given the charge of these things to a brisk bold fellow, his mate, and he took the hints the captain gave him so well, that nothing could have been better; for, finding the men thus in a kind of a cabal, he takes four of his men with muskets on their shoulders, like the governor's men, and goes with them to the Englishmen's boat, and asks for their officer, the second mate, who, upon this, appears. He tells them he comes from the governor, to know if they were Englishmen, and what their business was on sh.o.r.e there: the mate answered, they came from on board the English ship, that they were driven there by stress of weather, and hoped they might have leave to fill water and buy necessaries for their money.

He told them he supposed the governor would not refuse them when he knew who they were, but that it was but good manners to ask leave: the Englishman told him, that he had not yet filled any water or bought any provisions, and that he had a letter to the governor from the captain, which he supposed was to pay the usual civilities to him, and to give him the civility of taking leave, as was expected.

The Dutchman answered, that was hael weel; that he might go and carry it, if he pleased, then, and, if the governor gave them leave, all was right and as it should be; but that the men could not be admitted to come on sh.o.r.e till his return.

Upon this, away goes the second mate of our ship and three of the men with him, whereof the gunner was one; for he had asked the Dutchman how many he might carry with him, and he told him three or four: and those he took you may be sure, were of the particular men whom he had a confidence in, because of their conversing together by the way.

When they came to the governor, the mate sent in a message first, viz., that he was come from on board the English ship in the road, and that he had a letter from the captain to his excellence.

The governor, who had notice given him of the business, sends out word, that the gentlemen should send in the letter, and the governor would give them an answer: in the mean time, there appeared a guard of soldiers at the governor's house, and the four Englishmen were let into the outer room, where the door was shut after them, and the soldiers stood without the door, and more soldiers in another room between them and the parlour which the governor sat in.

After some time, the mate was called in, and the governor told him that he had read the letter which he brought, and asked him if he knew the contents of it; he answered, No: the governor replied, he supposed not, for, if he had, he would scarce have brought it; at the same time told him, he was obliged to make him and all his men prisoners, at the request of their own captain, for a conspiracy to raise a mutiny and run away with the ship. Upon which, two great fat Dutchmen came up to him, and bid him deliver his sword, which he did with some reluctance; for he was a stout strong fellow; but he saw it all to no purpose to dispute or resist.

At the same time, the three men without were made prisoners also by the soldiers. When the governor had thus secured these men, he called them in, and inquired the particulars of the case, and expostulated with them very pathetically upon such a horrid, villanous design, and inquired of them what the occasion could be; and, hearing all they had to say in their defence, told them he could do nothing more in it till their captain came on sh.o.r.e, which would be in a day or two, and that, in the mean time, they must be content to remain in custody, which they did, separated from one another. They were very civilly treated, but strictly kept from speaking or sending any messages to one another, or to the boats.

When this was accomplished, the governor sent six files of musketeers down to the watering-place, with an order to secure all the Englishmen in the two boats, which was done. They seemed inclined to make some resistance at first, being all very well armed; but the seamen of the three Dutch long-boats, joining themselves to the soldiers, and notice being given the English seamen, that if they fired one gun, they should have no quarter; and especially their two princ.i.p.al men, the chief mate and the gunner, being absent, they submitted, and were all made prisoners also.

When this was done, of which the Dutch captain had notice by a signal from the sh.o.r.e, he came off in his shallop, with about sixteen seamen, and five or six gentlemen and officers, to pay his visit to me. I received him with all the appearance of ceremony imaginable, ordered an elegant dinner to be prepared for him, and caused his men to be all treated upon the deck, and made mighty preparations for the feast.

But in the middle of all this, Captain Merlotte, with all his Frenchmen, being thirty-two, appeared in arms on the quarter-deck; the Dutch captain's attendants stood to their arms on the main-deck, and I, with the supercargo, the doctor, and the other captain, leaving the Dutch captain and some men in the great cabin as a reserve, came to the steerage door, cleared the steerage behind me, and stood there with a cutla.s.s in my hand, but said nothing; neither was there a word spoke anywhere all the while.

In this juncture, the chief mate, the faithful midshipmen, the carpenter, and the gunner's mate, with about twenty men whom they could trust, went fore and aft between decks, and secured all the particular men that we had the least suspicion of, being no less than thirty-five more. These they secured, bringing them up into the steerage, where their hands were tied behind them, and they were commanded not to speak a word to one another upon pain of present death.

When this was done, the chief mate came to me to the steerage door, and pa.s.sing by, went forward with his men, entered the cook-room, and posted himself at the cook-room door. There might be still about eighty men upon the forecastle and midships upon the open decks; and there they stood staring, and surprised at what was doing, but not being able to guess in the least what was meant, what was the cause of it, or what was intended to be done farther.

When I found all things ready, I moved forward a step or two, and beckoning to the mate to command silence, I told the men that I was not disposed to hurt any man, nor had I done what I now did, but by necessity, and that I expected they should all submit; that, if any one of them made the least resistance, he was a dead man; but that, if they would be easy and quiet, I should give a very good account to them all, of every part of the voyage, or scheme of a voyage, which I had laid, and which had been so ill represented to them.

Then I caused my commissioner letter of mart to be read to them all, by which it appeared that I was really chief commander of the ship, and had a right to direct the voyage as I thought best; with a paper of written instructions, signed by the owners and adventurers, and directed to me, with another paper of instructions to all the officers, to be directed by me in all things; which, indeed, was all news to them, for they did not think I was the chief captain or commander of the ship and voyage.

When I had done this, I gave them a long and full account of the reasons why I thought it best, as our present circ.u.mstances were stated, not to go to the South Seas first, but to go away to the Philippine Islands, and what great prospect of advantage to the owners there was, as well as to the men; and that I wondered much that such measures were taken in the ship as I heard there were; and that I was not, they might see, unprovided of means to reduce every one of them to their duty by force, and to punish those that were guilty, as they deserved, but that I rather desired to win them with kindness; and that, therefore, I had resolved, that if any of them had any reason to dislike the voyage, they should be safely set on sh.o.r.e, and suffered to go to the second mate and his comrades: and farther, I told them what circ.u.mstances they were in and how effectually they were secured.

This astonished them, and surprised them exceedingly, and some of them inquired more particularly into the circ.u.mstances of the said second mate and his fellows: I told them they were safe enough, and should remain so; for, as I could prove they had all a villanous design to run away with the ship, and set me on sh.o.r.e, either here, or in a worse place, I thought that only upon account of my own safety, such men were not fit to go in the ship, being once capable to entertain such horrid mischievous thoughts, or that could be guilty of such a villany; and that, if any of them were of their minds, they were very welcome, if they thought fit, to go to them.

At this offer, some bold rogues upon the forecastle, which I did not discern, by reason of the number that stood there, cried out, _One and all_, which was a cry, at the same time, of mutiny and rebellion, that was certain, and in its kind very dangerous.

However, to let them see I was not to be daunted with it, I called out to one of the men among them, whom I saw upon the forecastle; You Jones, said I, tell me who they are, and come away from them, for I will make an example of them, whoever they are. Will Jones slunk in among the rest, and made me no answer, and immediately _One and all_ was cried again, and a little huzza with it, and some of the men appeared to have fire-arms with them. There was a great many of them, and I presently foresaw, that, if I went to the extremity, I should spoil the voyage, though I conquered them; so I bridled my pa.s.sion with all my power, and said calmly, Very well, gentlemen, let me know what you mean by _one and all_? I offered any of you that did not like to go the voyage to quit the ship; is that what you intend by _one and all_? If so, you are welcome, and pray take care to do it immediately; as for what chests or clothes you have in the ship, you shall have them all with you. Upon this I made the chief mate, who was now come to me again, advance a little with some more men, and get between the men upon the forecastle and those who were upon the main deck; and, as if he had wanted room, when he had gotten between them, he said to them, Stand aft a little, gentlemen, and so crowded them towards me.

As they came nearer and nearer to where I stood, I had an opportunity to speak to them singly, which I did calmly and smilingly.

Why, how now, Tom, says I, to one of them; what are you among the mutineers?

Lord, sir, says Tom, not I, they are mad, I think; I have nothing to say to them; I care not where I go, not I; I will go round the globe with you, it's all one to me.

Well, Tom, says I, but what do you do among them then? come away into the steerage, and show yourself an honest man.

So Tom comes in, and after him another, and then two more. Upon my saying to Tom, What do you do among them? one of the fellows says to one of the officers that stood at a little distance from me, What does the captain mean by saying, among them? What, does he reckon us to be in the plot? He is quite wrong, we are all ignorant, and surprised at it. He immediately tells me this, and I was glad, you may be sure, to hear it, and said aloud to the man that he spoke to, If they are honest men, and would not appear in this villany, let them go down between decks, and get out of the way, that they may have no share in the punishment, if they have none in the crime. With all my heart, says one; G.o.d bless you, captain, says another, and away they dropt one by one in at the steerage door, and down between decks, every one in his hammock or cabin, till there were not above five or six of them left.

By this time, our two boats appeared from the sh.o.r.e, being both manned with Dutchmen, viz. the Dutch captain's mate and about twenty of his men, all the water casks full, but not a man of mine with them, for they were left on sh.o.r.e in safe custody.

I waited till they came on board, and then turning to the men on the forecastle, I told them they should go on board the boats immediately, as soon as the b.u.t.ts of water were hoisted in. They still said, _One and all_, they were ready, desired they might go and fetch their clothes.

No, no, says I, not a man of you shall set your foot any more into the ship; but go get you into the boat, and what is your own shall be given you into the boat.

As I spoke this in an angry tone, and with a kind of pa.s.sion, that bespoke resentment to a high degree, they began to see they had no opportunity to choose; and some of them slipt down the scuttle into the cook-room. I had ordered the officer who was there, who was one of the midshipmen, to wink at it, and let as many come down as offered it; and the honest man did more than that, for he went to the scuttle himself, and, as if he had whispered, so that I should not hear him, called them one by one by their names, and argued with them; Prithee, Jack, says he to one of them, do not you be distracted, and ruin yourself to gratify a rash drunken humour; if you go into the boat you are undone; you will be seized as soon as you come on sh.o.r.e, as the rest are, and will be sent to England in irons, and there you will be infallibly hanged; why you are certainly all mad.

Jack replies, he had no design to mutiny, but the second mate drew him in, and he did not know what to do, he wished he had not meddled; he knew he was undone; but now what could he do?

Do, says the midshipman, leave them for shame, and slip down here, and I will see and get you off if I can.

Accordingly he pulled him down, and after him so many got out of sight the same way, that there was not above seventeen or eighteen left upon the forecastle.

I seemed to take no notice of that, till at last one of the men that was left there, with his hat or cap in his hand, stepping just to the edge of the forecastle, which was next to me, said, in a very respectful manner, that I saw how many had slunk away and made their peace, or at least obtained pardon, and that I might, perhaps, know that they who were left were only such as had their duty there, being placed there of course before the mutiny began, and that they had no hand in it, but abhorred it with all their hearts, which he hoped I would consider, and not join them with those that had offended, merely because they came upon the forecastle, and mixed there with the men who had the watch.

I told him, if that was true, it would be in their favour, but I expected he would prove it to my satisfaction before I accepted that for an excuse. He told me, it might, perhaps, be hard to prove it, seeing the boatswain and his mate, and the second mate, were gone, but the rest of the ship's crew could all testify that they were a part of the men whose watch it was, and that they were upon the forecastle by the necessity of their duty, and no otherwise; and called several men who were upon duty with them to witness it, who did confirm it.

Upon this, I found myself under a necessity, in justice to the men, to approve it; but my own management was a bite upon myself in it; for, though I did allow the midshipman to wink at their slipping away, as before, yet I made no question but I should have some left to make examples of; but as I could not go back from the promise of mercy which I had allowed the midshipman to offer in my name, so I tricked myself by their mistake into a necessity of pardoning them all, which was very far from my design; but there was no remedy.

However, the men, when they were so happily escaped, desired the midshipman, who had been instrumental to their deliverance, to a.s.sure me, that as they were sensible that they had deserved very ill at my hands, and that yet I had treated them thus kindly, they would not only reveal to me all the particulars of the conspiracy, and the names of those princ.i.p.ally concerned in it, but that they would a.s.sure me they would never more dispute any of my measures, but were very ready to do their duty as seamen, to what part of the world soever I might think fit to go, or which way I thought fit to carry them, whether outward or homeward; and that they gave me the tender of their duty in this manner with the utmost sincerity and with thankfulness, for my having forgiven them that conduct which was the worst that a seamen could be guilty of.

I took this very kindly, and sent them word I did so, and that they should see they had taken the wiser course; that I had an entire confidence in their fidelity; and that they should never find I would reproach them with, or use them the worse for, what had past.

I must confess, I was very glad of this submission of the men; for though, by the measures I had taken, I was satisfied I should conquer them, and that I was safe from their attempts; yet, carrying it on by resentment, and doing justice upon the offenders, whatever advantage it had one way, had this disadvantage in the consequence; viz., that it would ruin the voyage, for at least half the men were in the plot.

Having thus conquered them by good usage, I thought my next work was to inquire into the mistakes which had been the foundation of all this: so, before I parted with the men who had returned to their duty, I told them, that as I had freely forgiven what was past, so I would keep my word, that I would never reproach them with it; but that I thought it was necessary their judgments should be convinced how much they were imposed upon, as well as their tempers be reduced by my kindness to them. That I was of the opinion that they had been abused in the account given them of what I had designed to do, and of the reasons I had to give for doing it; and I would desire them to let me know afterwards, whether they had been faithfully informed or not; and whether in their own judgment, now when they were freed from the prepossessions they were under, they could object anything against it or no.

This I did with respect to the other men whom I had made prisoners in the steerage, whom I had the same design to be kind to as I had to these; but upon whom I resolved to work this way, because, after all, I might have this work to do over again, if I should meet with any disappointment or miscarriage in the voyage; or especially, if we should be put to any difficulties or distresses in the pursuing it.

In order to this I caused the voyage itself, and the reasons of it, the nature of the trade I was to carry on by it, the pursuit of it to the South Seas, and, in a word, everything just as we had argued and settled it in the great cabin, to be put into writing and read to them.

The fellows, every one of them, declared they were fully satisfied in the voyage itself, and that my reasons for it were perfectly good; and that they had received a quite different account of it; as that I would carry them into the island of the Moluccas, which was the most unhealthy part of the East Indies; that I would go away to the south for new discoveries; and that I would go away thence to the South Seas; which was a voyage of such a length, that no ship could victual for; that it was impossible to carry fresh water such a length; and, in a word, that it was a voyage that would destroy us all.

It was the chief mate and the midshipman who took them all down the scuttle, that brought me this account from them: so I made him take two of those penitent mutineers with him, and go to the men in the steerage, whom he had made prisoners at first, and see whether their delusions were of the same kind, and what kind of temper they were in; accordingly, he went to them directly, for this was not a business that admitted giving them time to club and cabal together, and form other societies or combinations which might have consequences fatal to us still.

When he came to them, he told them, the captain was willing to do all the justice possible to his men, and to use them, on all occasions, with equity and kindness; that I had ordered him to inquire calmly what it was had moved them to these disorders, and what it was which they had been made to believe was doing, that they could enter into measures so destructive to themselves, and to those who had intrusted them all with the ship and cargo; for that, in a voyage, every foremast-man, in his degree, is trusted with the safety of the whole ship.