SERIOUS MUTINY ON BOARD AN AMERICAN SHIP.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 49, 29 February 1864, Page 5 (Supplement)

SERIOUS MUTINY ON BOARD AN AMERICAN SHIP.

The- American ship Webster, commanded b} r Captain Lawrence, and. belonging to' jNTew York, is lying in the Mersey, bound from that port with passengers and cargo. On "Wednesday a complaint was sent to Mr. De Costa, shipjnng master, "Waterloo Road, that the crew on board- the "Webster were in a state of mutiny, having robbed seA r eral of the passengers and attempted to stab the officers of the ship. Mr. De Costa went to the Detective Office in Dale-street, and made application for Inspector Carlisle to be allowed to go on board with some policemen. As they were not aware of the serious nature of the disturbance on board the vessel they only took three men and Inspector Mawdsley with them in the tender. "When Carlisle, Mr. De Costa, Inspector Mawdsley, the captain and the officers went onboardthe vessel, five men were picked from the crew, and charged with mutinous conduct and attempting to stab the first officer. The captain stated that the officers of the ship had to sleep all the previous night with arms prepared, and had to have the hatches battened down, as they feared an attack upon them by the crew. "When Carlisle w r ent on board, seeing the state of affairs, he advised the men to be quiet, remarking that they were in the port of Liverpool, and if they had any grievance to complain of they would receive justice. The crew, however, did not at all seem inclined to follow his advice, and some of them shouted out that rather than that the five men who had been picked out should be taken on shore they would , "cover the deck with blood." Carlisle remonstrated with them as to the folly of their conduct, pointing out that if they had anything to complain of they would have ample" redress. The five men who had been picked out as the leaders of the mutineers and whom the officers proposed to take ashore, said that they would not leave the vessel. Others of the crew shouted out that if the police took one on shore they must take all, and that before they would allow them to do so they would "spill their_ blood." While ' Carlisle was attempting to persuade the nien : to leave the vessel, one of the crew named Frank Lynch ms.de a spring at him, and drawing his sheath knife inflicted an incised wound in the neck, near the jugular vein, saying at the same time. " Take that you that will do for "you." The captain of the vessel 'seeing this attack made upon Carlisle, took out his revolver, and asked whether he should sEbot the man. Carlisle begged the captain not to do so; and the crew then drew their sheath knives, made a rush, at the officers of the x vessel and the policemen," and compelled them to take refuge in the cabin' and rigging of the vessel ; and it was only by. . t%q captain and .the officers drawing their revolvers and .threaten-

ing to shoot the men if they attacked them that the mutineers were held at bay. Inspector Mawdsley, seeing the serious aspect of affairs, sent the tender on shore for more policemen to come to their assistance, when the man who had stabbed Carlisle remarked that he had " made a vacancy in the force for somebody." Mawdsley went among the men advising them to behave themselves, saying that' Carlisle had^done them no harm, when Lynch - again remarked, " Oh, you don't fret, it has made a vacancy for you." Others of the crew said to Mawdsley, that if ;the police attempted to leave the - Webster with the men charged with assaulting the ship's officers, " there would be more blood flowing on the decks than there was water:" Assistance having been procured in the shape of some thirty policemen, Inspector Mawdsley called each man to tarn. - separately, and those wlio said .they would not remain on board the .ship were handcuffed and placed on board .the tender for the purpose of being taken on shore. Carlisle was attended to by the surgeon of the ship, when it was found that he had received a wound about an inch in -length in the neck, in the vicinity of the jugular vein, and the surgeon stated that if the man had wished to inflict fatal injuries he could not have selected a more likely place to produce such a result. Carlisle himself regards his escape as a miracle. The man made a most determined rush at him, and had it not been that the collar of his coat caused the knife to slant to one side is little doubt that he would have been struck on the jugular vein, and that the injuries would have been of a fatal character. The mutineers, nineteen in number, and just half of the crew, were taken on shore and lodged in the main Bridewell, where they were charged — Lynch with stabbing Carlisle, and the others with mutiny on board ship.