MUTINY ON BOARD THE STRATHEARN.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 610, 2 June 1876, Page 3

MUTINY ON BOARD THE STRATHEARN.

{EocliTiampton Bulletin, May 10.) Considerable alarm was created on Monday morning in the town by a report that a number of the seamen had mutinied on board the Strathearn, in Keppel Bay. By telegram from the Pilot station intelligence was received to the effect that the greater number of the barque's crew were amongst the insurgents, that considerable violence had been used towards the first and second officers (the captain was at the time in Rockhampton) and that wanton destruction of the ship's property had been one of the chief amusements of the rebels, who were mostly under the influence of drink. Inspector Collopy, senior-sergeant Brannelly, and nine constables, proceeded to the scene of the mutiny on Monday afternoon. A few minutes after midnight, the Strathearn was reached. About the same time the chief officer (Mr Macfarlane) and his second (Mr Currie) arrived alongside, and accompanied the police force on board. At that time things on the whole were apparently quiet; the deck was in charge of the third mate (Mr Kelly), and the crew were nearly all in bed in the forecastle ; but, judging by the half'drunken shouts which now and then proceeded from that part of the vessel, the mutineers were evidently not asleep. The sub-inspector and his companions having gained the deck without opposition, the men were marched to the forecastle. The third officer also weut with the

I force, for the purpose of identifying the participants iu the disturbance. They made no j resistance to the police, bat swore in no measured terms that they had been most brutally used by the captain and his first and second officers, and were " wiiliug to go to gaol or anywhere else to be out of the power of the tyrants." At the call of the i snb-iaspector the seamen rose from their ! bunks, and dressed themselves. A number of them were at the time evidently under the influence of intoxicants, and continued to abu36 their officers. Eighteen mutineers were, after some time, pointed out by the third officer, and aTrcsted by the police. They were got on board the Sir Charles Cowper as soon as possible, and the steamer moved away. From the chief officer, our reporter, who accompanied the police, gained the following facts in reference to the mutiny :—On Sunday last, about seven o'clock in the evening, Mr Macfarlane grew suspicious that danger was brooding, and mentioned his apprehension to the second officer, who said that he would walk round the forecastle, see the men, and report matters. On arriving at that part of the vessel he observed one of the seamen, who was to all appearance drunk, leaning over the hatch. He expostulated ■'with him, and having looked at the other members of the crew, returned to the saloon, and mentioned what he had seen to his chief. Almost immediately one of the crew came aft. and inquired for Currio. the second officer. Mr Macfarlane, suspecting that something was wrong, advised his second not to go on to the maiu deck, but to remain on the poop. At the moment Mr Ourrie gained the poop, Mr Macfarlane saw a man spring on the poop ladder, go forward to the second officer, and strike him a violent blow, which knocked him across the rail. The first officer tbeu went forward to expostulate with the assailant, when, almost as quick as lightning, three more of the seamen bounded on to the poop, evidently thirsting to have a part in the affray. The first officer, feeling confident that matters were approaching a serious stage, told the second officer not to fight with the men, and went down for jhis revolver. To get it was but the work of a few seconds', but by the time he regained the poop the second officer was on the ground struggling violently in the grasp of one of the seamen, eight or nine others surrounding them with drawn knives. Several more joined in pounding and kicking the second officer, and he would most undoubtedly have been very seriously injured had not the first, officer and the boatswain rushed to his rescue. Fortunately, they succeeded iu dragging the second officer from the grasp of the mutineers, and got him below, his body bruised almost from head to foot, his face swollen and cut, and the blood pouring from a wound on his left eye. His clothes were literally torn from his body, and altogether he presented the appearance of having been harshly dealt with. The first officer proceeded to have the companion door barricaded, and other pieparations made to resist a further attack. Without loss of time the mutineers flocked aft, breaking the skylight, disarranging and destroying everything movable on board, swearing loudly, and threatening to have the lives of the first and second officers before they went to bed. This state of things continued until about 10 p.m, when the men a'cre heard consulting in low t- nes as to the best method of murdering their officers. After this ihe first officer made up his mind that it was no longer safe for himself and his second to remain on board, and succeeded in passing word through to the third mate and boatswain to have a boat ready as soon as the mutineers were s r me what quieter, to facilitate an escape to the shore. About 11 p.m. the men had left the aft part of tho vessel, but were still far from quiet in the forecastle, and the first and second officers ra«de a rush for the boat, and succeeded in getting clear of present danger. They got to the quarantine station grounds, and on the following morning, at an early hour, the first officer telegraphed the stat 5 of affairs to the captain. Apparently no ill feeling existed on the part of the crew towards the third mate and boatswain, and no attempt was made to molest them, although they were wholly unable to keep the mutineers in subjection. From the time the first and second officers left until the arrival of the police, the men (according to the statements of the third mate) continued to perpetrate the most mutinous acts. In their drunken freizy they smashed the binnacle and threw it into the sea, knocked the companion in, and pitched overboard everything, even to the ship's fishhook, they could move on deck. Thrice the hatches were torn open, and each time was the liquor broached. During the time the first mate was on shore be had repeated communication witti the ship by the pilot boat, and bears testimony to the admirable way in which the third officer and boatswain tried to keep things quiet. The men charged with the mutiny lost every characteristic of violence and insubordination after leaviug the Strathearn, and during the passage up the river, although unshackled in any way, behaved in an orderly manner. They are to all appearance a strong, high-spirited lot of young men, and allege that their break-out was provoked by the extremely unmanly and tyrannical manner in which they were treated by the three chief officers of the ship. They protest they would sooner die than go on board again ; and some went so far as to say if they were compelled to return to England in the vessel, there would be murder on board. They seem heartily glad at the prospect of changing life from the Strathearn to life in Her Majesty's gaol, as the former was, according to their statements, a bondage worse than death, and one in which they were subjected to treatment " unfit for a dog,"