A New Voyage Round the World by a Course Never Sailed Before

Accordingly, I bade him go out upon the quarter-deck, and walk there, and that, when the chief mate went off into the roundhouse, he should go down between decks as if he was going into his cabin to sleep, and that, when he heard the chief mate call the cabin boy, a black of mine, whose name was Spartivento, he should take that for a signal that the steerage was clear, and he might come up, and should be let into the great cabin; all which was so managed, and in so short a time, that he was with us in the great cabin in a quarter of an hour after the first conference, and none of the men perceived it.

Here he let me into the whole secret, and a wicked scheme it was; viz., that the second mate, the gunner, three midshipmen, the cockswain, and about six-and-thirty of the men, had resolved to mutiny, and seize upon all us who were in the new project, as they called it; and to confine us first, then to set us on shore, either there where we were, or somewhere else, and so carry the ship away to the South Seas, and then to do as they found convenient; that is to say, in a word, to seize upon me, the other captain, the French captain, the supercargo, the chief mate, doctor, and carpenter, with some others, and run away with the ship.

He told me, that they had not fully concluded on all their measures, nor gained so many of the men as they intended; that they were to sound some more of the men the next morning, and, as soon as they had made their number up fifty, they were resolved to make the attempt, which they did not question would be by Thursday, and this was Monday morning; and that, if they were then ready, they would make the onset at changing the watch the same evening. He added, that, as they were to go on shore the next morning for fresh water, I should know the truth of it by this; that the second mate would come to me, and tell me that they wanted more water, and to know if I pleased the boats should go on shore, and that, if I chose it, he would go with them, or any else whom I pleased to appoint; and that, upon supposition that I would leave it to him, to take those he thought fit to go with him, he would then take occasion to choose the principal conspirators, that they might, when they were on shore, conclude upon the measures they intended to pursue.

I had all that day (Monday) to order my preparations, and upon this plain intelligence, I determined to lose no time, nor was it long before I resolved what to do; for as their design was desperate, so I had nothing but desperate remedies to provide. Having therefore settled my measures, I called for the cockswain, and bade him man the pinnace, for that I was to go on shore, and I appointed only the supercargo, and the surgeon, and the French captain, to go with me.

There were no English ships in the road, but there were about five Dutch vessels homeward-bound, waiting for more, and three outward-bound. As I passed by one of the outward-bound East India ships, the French captain, as we had agreed before, pretended to know the ship, and that the commander was his old acquaintance, and asked me to give him leave to visit him, and told me he was sure he would make us all welcome. I seemed unwilling at first, telling him I intended to go on shore and pay my respects to the governor, and, as was usual, to ask him leave to buy some provisions, and that the governor would take it very ill if I did not go. However, upon his alleging that we would not stay, and that the Dutch captain, upon his going on board, would, he was sure, give us a letter of recommendation to the governor, by which we should have everything granted that we could desire, I consented to his importunity, and we went on board.

Captain Merlotte, who spoke Dutch very well, hailed the ship, asked the captain's name, and then asked if he was on board; they answered, Yes; then he bade them tell him the captain of the English ship was come to visit him; upon which, immediately their chief mate bade them man the side, and stood at the side to receive us, and, before we could get up, the Dutch captain came upon the quarter-deck, and with great civility invited us into his cabin; and, while we were there, the chief mate, by the captain's order, entertained the boat's crew with like civility.

When we were in the cabin, Captain Merlotte told the Dutch captain that we came indeed to him in the form of a visit, but that our business was of the greatest importance, and desired we might speak to him of it in the hearing of none but such as he could trust. The captain told us with the greatest open-heartedness imaginable, that though we were strangers to him, yet we looked like honest men, and he would grant our request; we should speak it in the hearing of none but those we could trust, for there should be nobody by but ourselves.

We made him fully sensible that we knew how obliging that compliment was, but begged he would admit any whom he thought worthy to be trusted with a secret of the last importance. He then carried it as far the other way, and told us, that then he must call in the whole ship's company, for that there was not a man in the ship but he could trust his life in his hands. However, upon the whole, he sent everybody out of the cabin but us three and himself, and then desired we would speak our minds freely.

Captain Merlotte, who spoke Dutch, began, but the Dutch captain interrupted him, and asked if the English captain, meaning me, spoke Dutch; he said no; upon which he asked Captain Merlotte if he spoke English, and he said yes, upon which he let me know that he understood English, and desired I would speak to him in English.

I was heartily glad of this, and began immediately with the story, for we had time little enough, I told him that he was particularly happy in having it in his power to say he could put his life in the hand of any man, the meanest in his ship; that my men were unhappily the reverse of his; and, then beginning at the first of the story, I gave him a full account of the whole, as related above.

He was extremely affected with it, and asked me what he could do to serve me, and assured me that he would not only do what in him lay, but would engage all the ships in the road to do the like, and the governor also on shore. I thanked him very sincerely, and told him what at present was the circumstance I thought lay before me, was this, viz., that the chief conspirators would be on shore on the morrow, with one, or perhaps two, of our boats, to fetch water and get some fresh provisions, and I should be very glad to have them seized upon by surprise, when they were on shore, and that then I thought I could master the rest on board well enough.

Leave that to me, says he, I will give the governor notice this evening, and as soon as they come on shore they shall be all seized; But, says he, if you think they may incline to make any resistance, I will write a line to the governor, and give it you now; then, when your men go on shore, order two of the principal rogues to go and wait on the governor with the letter from you, and when he receives it, he shall secure them there; so they will be divided, and taken with the more ease.

In the mean time, added he, while this is doing on shore, I will come on board your ship, with my long boat and pinnace, and as many men as you please, to repay you the compliment of this visit, and assist you in reducing the rest.

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 shore; and indeed some of my men were so drunk, that they could scarce sit to their oars; and the coxswain 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 shore, 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 shore 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 coxswain, 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 shore, 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 shore from two other ships,) full of men also, having acquainted them with the design. As soon as our boats came on shore, 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 shore 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 shore 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 shore, 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 principal 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 shore, 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 cutlass 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 passing 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 circumstances 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 shore, and suffered to go to the second mate and his comrades: and farther, I told them what circumstances 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 circumstances 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 shore, 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 passion 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; God 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 shore, 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 shore 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 butts 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 passion, 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 shore, 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.