MUTINY AND SHOOTING ON THE HIGH SEAS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1559, 4 August 1873, Page 2

MUTINY AND SHOOTING ON THE HIGH SEAS.

It was recently reported by telegraph that an American ship, William Tapscott, had put into Wellington ;while oh her voyage from Euderby Island, ,to,Queenstown, Ireland, with 2000 .tons of guano. On arrival, the crew complained of being shot at and cruelly treated by the captain ; on the other hand the captain accused the officers and crew of mutiny. The American Consul,- Oapt. M'lrityre, went on board soon after arrival, accompanied by the captain of another American vessel, iihe Horatio Sprague, ; forffche purpose , of 'irive'stigating the '• case. The mutiny arid subsequent occurrences having been committed on 'the high seasj' and under, the i r American flag, ', pur 'courts of law have no jurisdiction, 'arid' if. r the offenders,! whether captain 0$ crew; are'to bebrought.to, justice, they will have to be forwarded to America for, trial, on the application of 'the Consul; and under the provisions, of the . Extradition Treaty. The facts appear to be somewhat to the following effect :— '■ •' The 'captain, according itb the crew's story, soon after leaving Enderby Island, began to indulge in the wildest excesses and commit the utmost brutalities on his men, who for a time bore them patiently. One of his reported freaks appears to have originated in a laudable desire to improve the cleanliness of the crew; accordingly he insisted on having them all.scrubbed with birch brooms in spite of strenuous remonstrances. This and other eccentricities: at length roused the seamen to resistance, which at first did not improve the state of affairs, the [chief recalcitrant being cut down with aa axe, another "pinked" with a cutlass, and a third shot, beside a liberal administration being made of handspikes and belaying p'ing^i Happily none of these affrays endear fatally, but at length the captain- proceeded to make a target .pf the first mate. On this the other side were compelled to open fire, and the captain received a shot in the knee, and being disabled arid finding himself. " raked fore : a*d aft " had to succumb, and was accordingly handcuffed and confined to his cabin under a strong guard. To add to the complications' of the affair, the ship proved to be leaky • and making water so rapidly that it is stated, she must have foundered in a very short; time ; unless she had, succeeded in reaching a port. It does riot appear yet .how these, circumstances were logged,, but the crew adopted 'one of' the mostiprlmitive as well as novel expedients for recording; the -most striking scenes of this eventful' voyage. One of the men, with an : artistic;;tur;n, chalked the eyentet on the ( deck, and ,the tableau was fresh when the 'vessel came into 1 harbor. One sketch depicted/ the ; captain (standing watching the scrubbing process, armed with hatchet aud revolver; in the other he is smiting th c second Pfficer ; m another he is aiming out of his cabin, while on deck $he mate stands "sighting" the captain with his pistol. , It was at this stage that the mate shot the captain in the kneei ? The captain's version of the affair, briefly told, is as follows :— Theshipleft Enderby Island on the 9th June, , and all proceeded quietly and well until the twenty-third day, when off the. Navigators' Islands. The chief mate then suited duty, and was therefore ordered to his cabin by the captain. The mate, denied the captain's authority, and challenged his power to keep order. He also asked that all hands, should be called aft, in order to hear the grounds on which he was placed under arrest.^ This was complied with, the mate stopped the captain from explaining the matter, and. complained to the crew of the ship being unfit to proceed round the Horn. He used violent language; and the crew also became violent, insisting on the vessel being run to the nearest port. ■ The captain replied , ha did not

think the circumstances justified this course, but if necessary, he would adopt it. The crew then refused duty. After some negotiation between captain and crew, the latter rushed the former, knocked him down, put him in irons, and by the orders of the second and third officers, confined him in his cabin. In the evening the captain got the irons off one hand, and arming himself ' with the only available weapon, an axe, went on the poop. The second mate threatened to shoot him, and was about to carry the' threat out, when the captain struck him with the axe on the cheek. The mate had previously fired a revolver-shot from the main deck at the captain, but without effect. A second shot took effect in the captain's left knee. The crew then began to pelt the captain with all sorts of missiles, and five other shots were fired at Lirn by the mate. The captain was at last obliged to go below, being severely bruised, and since that he has been kept in his cabin in close arrest.