1810: Metta Fock, embroiderer	1716: Maria of Curacao, slave rebel
1842: The prisoner-mutineers of the Governor Phillip
November 8th, 2019 Headsman
On this date in 1842, four men hanged in Australia for the mutiny on the Governor Phillip.*
In this abortive rebellion, a dozen prisoners being carried on the aforenamed brig off the coast of Norfolk Island capitalized on the inattention of their guards and attempted to commandeer the vessel. By every account it was an unpremeditated affair, simply an attack of opportunity when the prisoners realized they'd been carelessly left free on the deck with only two guards, who were speedily thrown into the drink. (One drowned.)
Their aspirations at this moment ran along the lines of Fletcher Christian: merely to escape.
"Captain Boyle, I want to make a proposal with you," one of the mutineers shouted at the momentarily deposed skipper while the latter was barricaded in his cabin. "Give us provisions and sails, and we'll take the boat and leave you." No deal was struck; instead, within a matter of minutes, the crew and guards rallied and took back the ship. It was the least they could do since, as one news article put it, "it certainly says little for their vigilance or prowess that such an attempt could have been made with any chance of success by a handfull of unarmed men."
Five prisoners and the one drowning guard died in the scrap.
The seven surviving mutineers were left to stand trial for piracy, four — John Jones, John Sayers, Nicholas Lewis and George Beaver — of them ultimately consigned to the gallows at Sydney. (Two reprieves and a non-prosecution spared the remainder.) They arrived thence "so firm, yet in so resigned and devotional a state of mind" for they had "gradually become aware of their awful situation and received … those aids and consolations of religion" whilst "fully acknowledging the justice of the law."
* The ship was named for Arthur Phillip, who commanded the First Fleet that founded the first British penal colony in Australia in 1788 — the germ of the eventual city of Sydney. (Named for Phillip's patron, the Viscount Sydney.)
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Entry Filed under: 19th Century,Australia,Capital Punishment,Common Criminals,Death Penalty,Execution,Hanged,Murder,Occupation and Colonialism,Piracy
Tags: 1840s, 1842, george beaver, john jones, john sayers, nicholas lewis, november 8, sydney