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, as has been often 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 prompt measures for our general safety, and to prevent the worse, 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 into our assistance the chief mate, who was a kinsman of one of our owners, a bold resolute gentleman, and a 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, arguing every part of it so clearly to them, 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.
At the same time I fortified myself with the French captain, and the supercargo, and the other captain; and by the way, all the French captain's men were true to him, and he true to us, to a man. We then brought a sufficient store of ammunition and small arms into the great cabin, and secured the steerage, as also the roundhouse, 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 a 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 oath 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, 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 trusty set of men, who would be as diligent the other way, they would be contriving every method 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 affair was rightly conjectured, and the three men 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 begged 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 whom 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 those in whom I confided.
Upon this, I told him, I would name the chief mate, the French captain, and the supercargo, and in the mean time, I bade him not be too much surprised, for that I had already some warning of the scheme 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 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.