Wager Mutiny - Mutiny

Mutiny

Cast ashore in dreadful conditions, the crew of Wager were frightened and angry with their captain. Dissent and insubordination soon became increasingly common. King even fired a four-pounder canon from Wager at the captain's hut to induce someone to collect him and his mates once they began to fear for their safety on the wreck.

Checking rebellious thoughts of the crew was British Naval law. Dissent by seamen or officers within the contemporary Royal Navy was met with a brutal and energetically-pursued vigour. Anyone found guilty of mutiny would be pursued for the rest of their lives across the globe, and to be found guilty required very little insubordination by today’s standards. Once convicted, there could only be one rapidly executed sentence: death by hanging from the yardarm.

The crew therefore knew they were playing an extremely dangerous game and there was a continual effort to build a narrative to justify their rebellious actions. Full mutiny indeed would not even have occurred had the captain agreed to a plan of escape devised by Bulkley, who had the confidence of most men, whereby the carpenter, Cummins, would lengthen the longboat and convert it into a schooner which could accommodate more men. They would then make their way home, via the Strait of Magellan, to Portuguese Brazil or the British Caribbean and then home to England. The smaller boats, the barge and the cutter, would accompany the schooner and be important for inshore foraging work along their journey. Bulkley was certainly skilful enough to give the plan at least some chance of success. Despite much prevarication in the ensuing negotiations, Captain Cheap would not agree to Bulkley's plan, preferring to head north and try to catch-up with Anson's squadron. If discipline for ordinary seamen was brutal, the officers were no better off. The importance of doing one's utmost to complete a mission was implicit.

Aware that he had lost his ship, Cheap was in a predicament; in such a situation a court martial was automatic, and if found guilty he could be thrown out of the Navy and into a lifetime of poverty and isolation at best. At worst he could be found guilty of cowardice and executed by firing squad, a real threat, exemplified by the later execution of Admiral John Byng in 1757. Cheap wanted to head north along the Chilean coast to rendezvous with Anson at Valdivia, having come to the conclusion that unremitting zeal was now required to salvage something from the disaster which had befallen his first command. A disaster his warrant officers had warned him of repeatedly, and a fact that would reflect badly on him when the Admiralty investigated the loss of his ship. This was essentially the impasse which led to the mutiny. Many other events occurred which were used by the mutineers to justify their actions, including the shooting by Cheap of a drunken insubordinate midshipman called Cozens, who Cheap shot in the face at point blank range without warning immediately after arriving at a reported altercation in a rage. Inexplicably, Cozens was refused medical aid on the orders of the captain, and took ten days to die in agony.

The carpenter continued modifying the boats for an as-yet undecided plan of escape, and until this was complete, outright mutiny would remain only a possibility, however, once the schooner was ready, events must necessarily come to a head. Bulkley set the wheels in motion by drafting the following letter for the captain to sign:

"Whereas upon a General Consultation, it has been agreed to go from this Place through the Streights of Magellan, for the coast of Brazil, in our way for England: We do, notwithstanding, find the People separating into Parties, which must consequently end in the Destruction of the whole Body; and as also there have been great robberies committed on the Stores and every Thing is now at a Stand; therefore, to prevent all future Frauds and Animosoties, we are unanimously agreed to proceed as above-mentioned."

Baynes was presented with the letter to read, after which doing so he made the following comment, which astonished the mutineers:

"I cannot suppose the Captain will refuse the signing of it; but he is so self-willed, the best step we can take, is to put him under arrest for the killing of Mr. Cozens. In this case I will, with your approbation, assume command. Then our affairs will be concluded to the satisfaction of the whole company, without being any longer liable to the obstruction they now meet from the Captain's perverseness and chicanery."'

As expected, Cheap refused to sign Bulkley's letter. On 9 October, armed seamen entered Cheap's hut and bound him, claiming that he was now their prisoner and they were taking him to England for trial for the murder of Cozens. Lieutenant Hamilton of the Marines was also confined, the mutineers fearing his resistance to their plan, which confirmed the fact that this was indeed a mutiny. Cheap was completely taken aback by this, having no real idea how far things had gone. The bound Cheap now turned his attention to his Lieutenant, Baynes, terrifying him with the words "Well 'Captain' Baynes! You will doubtless be called to account for this hereafter."