Stockwin's Maritime Miscellany (30 page)

After 22 days they landed on uninhabited Henderson Island, within the modern-day Pitcairn Islands. They soon exhausted the natural resources there, however, and all but three of them decided to press on.

Back at sea, one by one the men died. At first they were thrown overboard, but as time went on and more died, hunger drove the sailors to eat the corpses. In Pollard’s boat, however, there had been no natural deaths and the men drew lots to determine who would be sacrificed for the survival of the others. The grim fate befell Pollard’s young cousin.

Eventually they were picked up by other whaleboats. After more than 90 days in the tiny craft, in which they drifted some 6,400 km, only eight of the original 21 mariners from the
Essex
had survived.

According to Nantucket legend, years later George Pollard was asked if he had known a man called Owen Coffin. He replied, ‘Know ’im? Why bless you, I ate ’im.’

First mate Owen Chase wrote an account of the disaster which inspired Herman Melville to pen his famous novel
Moby Dick
.

SKYSCRAPER – few cities in the world today are without these majestic buildings soaring skyward. Chicago’s Home Insurance Building erected in 1884 was the world’s first tall building supported by an internal frame and was dubbed a ‘skyscraper’ by the press.
DERIVATION
: the highest sail in a ship, a skyscraper is a small triangular canvas set above the royals in order to maximise the effect of a light wind.

The warship
Mary Rose
, named after Henry VIII’s favourite sister and the Tudor emblem, was the pride of the King’s fleet, described as ‘the flower of all ships that ever sailed’.

Mary Rose
had a long and successful career against the French behind her when she sailed from Portsmouth harbour in July 1545 at the head of the English fleet to take on the approaching enemy once again.

King Henry watched from Southsea Castle, just a few hundred metres away.
Mary Rose
fired one broadside at the French and was turning to fire the other broadside when water flooded into her open gunports and she suddenly capsized in full view of the monarch, the screams of the sailors ringing in his ears. Only 30 or so of those on board survived. The official crew of
Mary Rose
was 200 mariners, 185 soldiers and 30 gunners, but one account says there were as many as 700 on board when she sank.

Among those drowned was Vice-Admiral Sir George Carew, whose wife, watching with the king, collapsed in shock. The cry of horror that broke from Henry’s lips became seared in the memory of those near him.

There is no agreement as to exactly why the great warship sank. One recent theory puts it down to a French cannonball. Some believe it was indiscipline within the crew. Indeed the last message shouted by George Carew to his uncle Sir Gawen Carew sailing nearby in the
Matthew Gonnson
was, ‘I have the sort of knaves I cannot rule.’ Others believe it was due to the gunports being too close to the waterline. It was probably a combination of factors, however, that caused the catastrophe.

The wreck of
Mary Rose
was discovered in 1968, and in 1982, after much underwater preparation, the surviving section of the ship was lifted from the seabed and returned to Portsmouth harbour 437 years after her departure. Now on view in the Historic Dockyard, she is the only sixteenth-century warship on display anywhere in the world.

During the age of sail the penalty for naval insurrection was hanging at the yardarm. Under the Articles of War, a court martial had first to be convened before such punishment, usually swift and merciless, was administered.

One of the most notorious mutinies to take place in the Royal Navy occurred aboard HMS
Hermione
, a 32-gun frigate. In July 1797 Hugh Pigot became her new captain. He already had a reputation for cruelty, and after a very unjust punishment of one of the crew the others became particularly restless.

On 20 September, patrolling the Mona Passage, a major entry point into the Caribbean, the men prepared to shorten sail for the night. Not content to leave the supervision of this to his officers, Pigot called out through his speaking trumpet that the sailors were slow and that he would flog the last man down on deck. Three younger sailors panicked and slipped in their haste to come down. One broke his fall by landing on the master, injuring him. The others fell senseless at Pigot’s feet, and he growled, ‘Throw the lubbers overboard.’ He then ordered two boatswain’s mates to go aloft with knotted ropes to beat the remaining sailors. He had a dozen seamen flogged the next day.

The following night three parties of mutineers took matters into their own hands. One group overpowered the marine on duty outside Pigot’s cabin and then forced the door open. Pigot jumped up from his cot in his nightshirt. Grabbing a dirk he put up a strong fight against cutlasses and boarding axes, but soon he was backed into a corner, injured and bleeding.

Meanwhile the alarm had been raised and the third lieutenant, Mr Foreshaw, tried to take control on the quarterdeck, but he was quickly overcome and thrown overboard.

In his cabin, Pigot was subjected to continuous physical and verbal assaults. His cries for mercy were ignored, and he was finally hurled through the stern windows into the sea. His screams of fury and pain could be heard from the shark-infested waters as the ship drew away.

Although some were opposed to taking any more lives, the carnage continued. The maddened ship’s company brutally murdered another ten and dispatched them overboard. They then took the ship into La Guaira, Venezuela, a few days’ sail away, where they handed it over to the Spanish.

The navy set about seeking retribution, finally bringing 33 to trial and hanging 24 of them. Many eluded capture.
Hermione
was recaptured and
returned
to naval service. It was decided that she must have a new name, and at first it was to be
Retaliation
, but this was considered too pointed and it was changed to
Retribution
.

Other notorious British naval uprisings were the mutinies at Spithead and the Nore, the latter led by former naval officer turned seaman Richard Parker, and the insurrection against Captain Bligh on board HMS
Bounty
, famously made into five films.

An incident in the American naval brig USS
Somers
, captained by Alexander Mackenzie, caused a controversy that is still argued over today. Three sailors were hanged in December 1842 aboard the vessel, before a court martial was convened. They were midshipman Philip Spencer, son of the secretary of war, boatswain’s mate Samuel Cromwell and seaman Elisha Small. It was alleged that they had planned to take over the ship, throw the officers and loyal crew members to the sharks and then use the ship for piracy. Ashore, Mackenzie was the subject of a court of inquiry, which fully exonerated his conduct. At a subsequent court martial, convened at Mackenzie’s request, he was acquitted of a charge of murder
.

Vasa
was built in the 1620s for the new naval fleet of Sweden’s King Gustavus Adolphus, one of the country’s ablest and most successful military rulers. The first in a projected series of five great warships,
Vasa
was to be the mightiest in the world, armed with 64 guns on two gundecks, a broadside of nearly half a ton. Her cost had been 100,000
dalers
, equivalent to the value of 10 per cent of the country’s annual harvest.

On 10 August 1628 she was ready for her maiden voyage to the naval station at Alvsnabben, some 110 km around the coast, to pick up 300 soldiers before continuing to Poland, her final destination. Thousands of spectators crowded the vantage points in Stockholm’s harbour, including foreign ambassadors, some of whom were no doubt spies of the king’s enemies.
Vasa
was a magnificent sight, with hundreds of extravagant carvings and gold, green, red and blue paintwork. A flotilla of small boats gathered to see her on her way.

The day was calm and there was just a light breeze from the southwest. She was towed along the waterfront to the southern side of the harbour, where the sails were set, and she made way to the east. The gunports were open and the guns fired a salute.

As she left the harbour she was shielded by the cliffs, and light winds hardly filled her sails. Once the headland had been passed the wind freshened and she heeled to port. The sheets were cast off and
Vasa
righted herself. Then another gust came, again forcing her over. This time water poured in through the lower gunports and the glorious and mighty warship heeled further, then foundered, just 90 m from shore.

Survivors clung to debris and nearby boats raced to their aid. Of the 150 people on board, between 30 and 50 are believed to have perished, among them the helmsman. He had stayed at his post, where he would be found by archaeologists 333 years later.

After the disaster the captain of
Vasa
was arrested. The king was waging war in Poland at the time, and it took two weeks for him to learn of the disaster. He put it down to ‘imprudence and negligence’ and angrily demanded that the guilty parties be punished. At an official inquest held at Stockholm’s royal castle all those who might have been responsible were called to account, but no one could be punished without awkward consequences, so the solution was to render no verdict at all.

In 1956 the wreck was found and discovered to be in an amazing state
of
preservation, and she was raised in 1961. Now housed in the purpose-built Vasa Museum in Stockholm, she is an international tourist attraction and provides a unique record of life aboard a seventeenth-century warship.

HIGH AND DRY – stranded, without resources or support.
DERIVATION
: a beached ship or one up on blocks in the yard for repair or storage was said to be high and dry. For sailors, seeing their ship in effect out of its natural element, the sea, has a disturbing effect.