Cover and Table of Contents created by Transcriber and placed in the Public Domain.
THE
WRECK OF THE "GROSVENOR:"
AN ACCOUNT OF
THE MUTINY OF THE CREW AND THE
LOSS OF THE SHIP
WHEN TRYING TO MAKE THE BERMUDAS.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE & RIVINGTON,
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET.
1877.
(All rights reserved.)
LONDON:
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.
As the men had been up all night, I recommendedthe carpenter to go to them andtell them that the watches would not bealtered, and that the watch whose spell itwas below should turn in.
Some, it appeared, asked that rum shouldbe served out to them; but the carpenteranswered that none should be given themuntil breakfast time, and that if they gottalking too much about the drink, he'd runa bradawl into the casks and let the contentsdrain out; for if the men fell to2drinking, the ship was sure to get into amess, in which case they might be boardedby the crew of another vessel and carriedto England, where nothing less than hangingor transportation awaited them.
This substantial advice from the lips ofthe man who had been foremost in planningthe mutiny produced a good effect, and thefellows who had asked for spirits were atonce clamorously assailed by their mates;so that, in their temper, had the carpenterproposed to fling the rum casks overboard,most of the hands would have consentedand the thing being done.
All this I was told by the boatswain, whohad left the poop with the carpenter, butreturned before him. I took this opportunityof being alone with the man to askhim some questions relative to the mutiny,and particularly inquired if he could tell mewhat was that intention which the man3named "Bill" had asked the carpenter tocommunicate to me, but which he hadrefused to explain. The boatswain, whowas at bottom a very honest man, declaredthat he had no notion of the intention thecarpenter was concealing, but promised totry and worm the secret out of Johnson orothers who were in it, and impart it to me.
He now informed me that he had comeinto the mutiny because he saw the menwere resolved, and also because they thoughthe took the captain's part, which was abelief full of peril to him. He said that hecould not foresee how this trouble wouldend; for though the idea of the men to quitthe ship and make for the shore in openboats was feasible, yet they would run veryheavy risks of capture any w