This is forwarded from a Scottish mailing list, from an Australian subscriber; thought it might be of interest since the ship was from New Bedford.... > >From the Wigtown Free Press 15th April, 1858 > MUTINY AND MURDER ON THE HIGH SEA :- The Sydney papers contain accounts of an extra ordinary act of piracy and murder. They state- "Considerable excitement was caused by the arrival on the 11th of January of the American whale ship "Junior", of New Bedford, in charge of her first officer, who reported that a mutiny had broken out on board the vessel on Christmas Day, which had resulted in the murder of the captain and the third mate, and the desertion of the ship by the mutineers. The mutineers took possession of the ship with the intention of taking her to some distant port and selling her, but were unable to do so from their ignorance of navigation. On the fifth day after the mutiny the retreat of the first officer in the lower hold was discovered, and his life, although in danger from the violence of Cartha, who appears to have entertained a bitter enmity against him for previous ill treatment, was spared on condition that he would take the ship into the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. When the men left the ship they imposed an oath upon the chief mate to take the ship on to New Zealand. Had he done this they would have had a considerable time before them to provide for their own safety. But, of course he regarded the oath thus forced upon him as imposing no moral obligation and he determined upon making towards the nearest port at which he could get assistance for the ship, and invoke the arm of justice to pursue the mutineers. He at first shaped his course towards Hobart Town, but, meeting with the intercolonial trader, he was advised to bear up for Sydney, and did so. The excitement here on hearing of this mutiny, as well as the public sympathy with its victims, was ??? great. Soon afterwards word was brought of some of the men having been seen at Gabo Island, and a steamer was at once despatched in search of them, with an armed party of police. The location of the ?? however, secured three of them. The fourth Cartha, escaped into the bush, but he has since been captured." > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > SCT-WIGTOWNSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >