ROUND THE WORLD. if we thought fit, to the East Indies again, where we might load, for England or Flanders, such goods as we thought proper; or, if we did not think fit to take so great a run, we might go away to the south, and round by Cape Horn into the Atlantic Ocean, and perfect those discoveries which we made part of in the beginning of our voyage. This was so clear a scheme of trade, that he seemed surprised with it, and fully satisfied in But the captain then objected every part of it. against the length of the voyage to the South Seas from the Philippines, and raised several scruples about the latitude which we should keep in such a voyage; that we should not be able to carry any provisions which we could take on board in these hot countries, that would keep for so long a run, and several other difficulties; to all which, I made answer, that when we had sold our cargo at the Philippines, and found our advantages there to answer our desires, I would not oppose our returning from thence directly to England, if they found it needful; or if they thought a further adventure would not answer the risks we were to expect in it, and that we would never have any dispute about that. This satisfied them fully, and they went immediately with the news to the men, as what they thought would please them wonderfully, seeing they were mighty uneasy but two or three days before, about their being to go back again to the south of America, and the latitude of 64, where we had not only been twice driven back, as if Heaven had forbidden us to pass that way, but had been driven so far to the south that we had met with a most severe cold, and which pinched our men exceedingly, who being come, as we might say, a hot weather voyage, were but ill furnished for the weather usual in the latitudes of 64. But we had a harder task to go through than we expected upon this occasion, and it may stand here upon record, as a buoy or beacon, to warn officers and commanders of ships, supercargoes, and such as are trusted in the conduct of the voyage, never to have any disputes among themselves (I say not among themselves) about the course they shall take, or whither they shall go; for it never fails to come among the men after them; and if once the debate is but named on the outside of the great cabin door, it becomes immediately a dispute among the officers upon the quarter-deck, the lieutenants, mates, purser, &c.; from thence it gets afore the mast, and into the cook-room, and the whole ship is immediately divided into factions and parties; every foremast man is a captain; every boatswain, gunner, carpenter, cockswain, nay, and even the cook, sets up for a leader of the men; and if two of them join parties, it is ten to one but it comes to a mutiny, and perhaps to one of the two last extremes of all mutinies, viz., running away from the ship, or running away with the ship. Our case was exactly thus, and had issued accordingly, for ought I know, if we had not been in a port where we got immediate assistance, and that by a more than ordinary vigour in the management too. I have mentioned the first time when we called a council about our voyage at the Canaries, and how it was carried against my opinion not to go I took no notice of this at first, knowing that As soon as we had determined, as you have heard, our voyage among ourselves in the great cabin, the supercargo and Captain Mirlotte, as above, went out upon the quarter-deck, and began to talk of it among the officers, midshipmen, &c.; and, to give them their due, they talked of it very honestly, not with any complaint of being overruled, or over-persuaded, or the like, but as a thing that was fully agreed to among us in the great cabin. The boatswain, a blunt, surly, bold fellow, as think that we cannot find our way to the coast The gunner took it from the boatswain, and 66 shipped myself for the South Seas when I first came on board the ship, and in hopes of good booty, and if we go thither, I know nothing can hinder us, wind and weather permitting; but this is such a voyage as no man ever attempted before; and whatever he proposes can have nothing in it for the men but horrid fatigue, violent heats, sickness, and starving." One of the mates takes it from him, and he says as openly, "I wonder what a plague the rest of the gentlemen mean, they were all against Captain when he started this whimsical voyage before, and now they come all into it of a sudden, without any consideration; and so the project of one man must ruin the most promising voyage in the world, and be the death of above two hundred as stout fellows as ever were together in one ship in this part of the world. as has often been the case, prompt them to mutiny against all command, and run away with the ship. However, I had presence of mind enough to enter into proper measures for our general safety, and to prevent the worst in case of any attempt upon me, first I represented the case to the rest of the gentlemen, and asked if they would stand by me, and by the resolutions which we had taken for the voyage; then I called in to our assistance || the chief mate, who was a kinsman of one of our owners, a bold, resolute gentleman, and the purser, who we knew was faithful to us; as also, the surgeon and the carpenter: I engaged them all to give me first their opinions whether they were convinced of the reasonableness of my scheme for the voyage I had proposed; and that they might judge for themselves, laid it all before them again, that they were convinced entirely of its being the most rational prospect of the voyage for us, of any we could go about. When I had done this, I recommended it to them to expostulate with the men, and, if possible, to keep them in temper, and keep them to their duty; but at the same time, to stand all ready, and upon a signal which I gave them, to come all to the steerage, and defend the great cabin door with all the other hands, whom they could be sure of; and in the mean time to be very watchful over the motions of the men, and see what they drove at. One of the midshipmen followed the mate, and said we were all promised that another ship should be gotten, either purchased or taken, and that the first ship we took, should be manned and victualled out of this ship, where we were double manned and crowded together enough to bring an infection among us, in such hot climates as we are going into; and if we were in the South Seas, we should easily buy a ship, or take a ship for our purpose, almost where we would; but in all this part of the world there is no such thing as a ship fit for an Englishman to set his foot in. We were promised too, that when we got into such a At the same time, I fortified myself with the ship, we that entered as midshipmen should be French captain, and the supercargo, and the preferred to offices as we were qualified, and as other captain; and by the way, all the French our merit should recommend us. What they captain's men were true to bim (and he true to are going to do with us now I can't imagine, un-us) to a man. We then brought a sufficient less it be to turn us afore the mast when half the foremast men are dead, and thrown overboard. The master or pilot of the ship heard all these things, and sent us word into the great cabin of all that passed, and, in short, assured us, that if these things went a little further, he was afraid they would come up to a mutiny; that there was great danger of it already, and that we ought to apply some immediate remedy to it, or else he thought it would be too late. He told me the particulars also, and how the whole weight of their resentment seemed to tend to a quarrelling at my command, as believing that this project of going to the East Indies, was wholly mine; and that the rest of the officers being a little influenced by the accident of our being driven so far out of our way, were only biassed in the rest by my opinion; and as they were all against it before, would have been so still if it had not been for me; and he feared, if they went on, they might enter into some fatal measures about me, and perhaps resolve to set me ashore in some barren, uninhabited land or other, to give me my bellyful of new discoveries, as it seems some of them had hinted, and the second mate in particular. I was far from being insensible of the danger I was in, and indeed of the danger the whole voyage, ship and all, was in; for I made no question, but that if their brutish rage led them to one villanous action, they would soon go on to another; and the devil would take hold of that handle to represent the danger of their being punished for it when they came home; and so, store of ammunition and small arms into the great cabin, and secured the steerage, as also the round-house, so that we could not possibly be surprised. There was nothing done that night; but the next morning I was informed that the gunner and second mate were in close cabal together, and one or two of the midshipmen, and that they had sworn to one another, not that they would not go the voyage as was proposed, for that might have ended in their running away, which I should not have been sorry for; but in short, their cath was, that the ship should not go the voyage, by which I was presently to understand that they had some measures to take to prevent my design of the voyage to the Philippines, and that perhaps this was to run away with the ship to Madagascar, which was not far off. I had, however, this apparent encouragement in this case, viz., that as the contrivance was yet but two days old, for it was but two days since they had any notice of our intentions to go, they would be some days caballing and forming an interest among the men, to make up a party strong enough to make any attempt, and that as I had a strong set of men who would be as diligent the other way, they would be heaving and contriving one way and the other way to get the men over to their opinion, so that, at least, it would be some time before they could make their party up. The thing was rightly conjectured, and the three men above, who had made themselves the head of the mutineers, went on apace, and my men increased too, as much as could be desired for the time; but the Friday after, which was about five days from the first discovery, one of the midshipmen came and desired to speak with me, and desired it might not, if possible, be known that he was with me. I asked him if he desired to be alone; he said no, I might appoint who I thought convenient that I could trust, but that what he had to say was of the last importance to all our lives, and that therefore he hoped I would be very sure of them who I trusted in such a case. Upon this I told him I would name the chief mate, the French captain, and the supercargo, and in the meantime I bid him not be too much surprised, for that I had already some warning of the thing which I believed he had to tell me of, and that I was preparing all things to disappoint it; that, however, I should not value his fidelity the less, and that he might speak freely his mind before those men, for they were all in the secret already, and he might be sure both of protection and reward. Accordingly, I bid him go out upon the quarter deck, and walk there, and that when the chief mate went off into the round-house, 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 black project 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, chief mate, doctor, and carpenter, with some others, and run away with the ship. He told me that they had not fully consulted 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 pleased, 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 who 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, consult their measures for good and all. I had all that day (Monday) to order my preparations, and upon this plain intelligence I resolved 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, as I say, settled my measures, I called for the cockswain, and bid 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 ships, 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. Upon this, and his importunity, I seemed to consent, and we all went on board. yes. Captain Merlotte, who spoke Dutch very well, then asked if he was on board; they answered hailed the ship, asked the captain's name, and Then he bid them tell him that the captain of the English ship was come to visit him; upon which, immediately, their chief mate bade them and before we could get up, the Dutch captain man the side, and stood at the side to receive us, came upon the quarter-deck to meet me, and while we were there, the chief mate, by the with great civility invited me into his cabin; and 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 begged 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 desire; 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 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 that, as he said, 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. 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 who I pleased to have go along with him. 1 answered smilingly to him, "Pick and choose them yourself; only leave the pinnace's crew, that went with me yesHe was extremely affected with it, and asked terday, because they must go on board again me what he could do to serve me, and assured to carry the Dutch captain a little present of me that he would not only do what in him lay, English beer that I am going to send him, and but would engage all the ships in the road to fetch a-board their drunken cockswain, who was do the like, and the governor also on shore. I so drunk we were fain to leave him behind us. thanked him very sincerely, and told him, that what at present was the thing I thought lay before me was this, viz., that the chief conspirators would be on shore to-morrow, with one, or perhaps two, of our boats, to fetch water, and get some fresh provisions, and I would be very glad || to have them seized upon by surprise when they were on shore, and that I then thought I could || master the rest on board well enough. "Leave that to me," says he, "I'll 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'll write a line to the governor, and give it you now; then, when your men go on shore, order one or 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 meantime," adds he, "while this is doing on shore, I'll 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 or less; 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 that if I desired more help, I should hang out a signal, viz., a red antient on the mizen top. This was just what he wanted; and we found he chose all the chief rogues of the conspiracy; such as the boatwain, 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-andthirty 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, they found three boats of Dutchmen at the watering-place, for the captain had gotten 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 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 from stress of weather, and hoped they might have leave to fill water and buy necessaries for their money. He told them 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 cockswain was so very drunk, that I took occasion to ask leave publicly to leave him on board till the next day, giving the Dutch cap-he supposed the governor would not refuse them tain, 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 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 asking 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. || notice being given to 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 sub> mitted, 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, caused a handsome dinner to be prepared for him, and caused his men to be all treated upon the deck, and made mighty preparations for a 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 cutlas in my hand, but said nothing; neither was there a word spoke anywhere all the while. 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 excellency. 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 meantime, 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 gover-of, being no less than thirty-five more; these they nor sat in. After some time the mate was called in, and the governor told him that he had read the letter which he had brought, and asked him, by an in. terpreter, 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, desperate, and strong fellow; but he saw it all to no purpose to dispute or resist. In this juncture the chief mate, the faithful midshipmen, the carpenter, and the gunner's mate, with about twenty men who they could trust, went fore and aft between decks, and secured all the particular men that we had the least suspicion secured, bringing them up into the steerage, where their hands were tied behind them, and they were commanded not to speak one word to 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 on 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 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 stepped forAt the same time, the three men without were ward a step or two, and beckoning to the mate made prisoners also by the soldiers. When the to command silence, I told the men that I was governor had thus secured these men, he called not disposed to hurt any man, nor had I done what them in, and inquired the particulars of the I now did, but by necessity, and that I expected case, and expostulated with them very courteously they should all submit; that if any one of them upon such a horrid, villanous practice, and in-made the least resistance he was a dead man, quired of them what the occasion could be, and hearing all they had to say in their defence, told them he could do nothing in it more 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 with one another, or sending any messages to one another, or to the boats. When this was done, the governor sent six files of musqueteers down to the watering-place, with orders to secure all the Englishmen in the two boats, which was done. They pretended to make some resistance at first, being all very well armed; but the seamen of the three Dutch longboats, joining themselves to the soldiers, and 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 commission, or letter of marque, 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 |