The president told Gowers: 'Call the next witness.'
'George Weaver, ' Gowers said, and waved back the Marine sentry who was obviously going to escort him to the witness's chair. 'Go over there, ' he added, because Weaver obviously had not grasped what was happening.
Gowers then asked: 'You are George Weaver, and on the fifth of June last you were serving in the Sarasota Pride, an American vessel?'
'I were.'
Gowers paused and then wrote down 'Yes'. He was uncertain what the next question should be and glanced over at the president, who coughed and asked: 'Have you ever served in one of the King's ships ?'
'Aye, sir, the Jocasta - for three weeks.'
'How came you to be serving in her?'
'You know that already, sir! ' Weaver protested.
'You are giving evidence now, ' Edwards explained patiently. 'The court has to hear the whole story, and in the proper sequence.'
'Very well, sir. I were steward in the Three Brothers out of Plymouth. Bound from Port Royal, Jamaica, to Antigua, she was, when somewhere orf Navassa Island the Jocasta sent over a boarding party and pressed five men, including me.'
'How were you rated in the Jocasta?”
'Well, Captain Wallis gave us the chance of volunteering, so we'd get the bounty, and we took it. Seems his steward had just died - 'e was one of them what you've still got on that list of mutineers, by the way - and so I got made 'is steward.'
'Do you remember the date you boarded the JocastaT'
'Aye, the fifth of November, it were, an' a lot of fireworks there were a few days later.'
'Quite, ' Edwards said calmly, 'but just answer without any additions. Now, how soon did you become aware that some of the ship's company might be discontented?'
'Soon as I went on board, sir: twelve men was flogged that afternoon.'
Ramage glanced at Summers and the other two men.
'Why had Captain Wallis awarded that punishment?' Edwards asked.
Weaver paused, and Ramage thought it was an unwise question for Edwards to have asked at this stage; but the words were spoken.
'Well, sir, seems they was furling the foretopsail the day before, and Captain Wallis said he'd flog the last man down orf the yard, and a man fell and was killed -'
'Stop, ' Edwards ordered. 'That is hearsay evidence and -'
'T'isn't hearsay, sir, beggin' yer pardon, an' I heard you explaining what hearsay was. No, sir: I heard Captain Wallis say it with his own voice.'
'But you were not on board.'
'Not the day it happened, sir, but before he had those dozen men flogged he did some speechifying, an' he said they hadn't learned the lesson.'
Edwards was silent but Marden asked: 'What lesson, and how did it tell you about the threat?'
'The lesson was that they was too slow furling the topsail, ' Weaver said patiently.
'But Captain Wallis said only one man, yet you say twelve were flogged.'
'Yes, sir. He never did flog the last man because he was the one what fell and killed hisself. 'Murmuring', that's what the Captain flogged the twelve for. He said they was murmuring after the man was killed.'
Ramage saw that Captain Teal, sitting next to him, had clenched his hands as they rested on the table top. Threatening to flog the last man down - that could only create panic. Flogging a dozen men for 'murmuring' when they saw a frightened shipmate fall from the yard in his rush to avoid punishment. . . The Navy, Ramage thought bitterly, was better off without men like Wallis. Edwards was still silent. Was he being tactful, leaving the junior members of the court the task of questioning Weaver? The minutes would make uncomfortable reading at the Admiralty, but there were other captains at sea, not as bad as Wallis perhaps but likely to become so; the story should come out, if only to warn them.
'What punishment was awarded the twelve men?' Ramage asked.
'Three dozen each, sir, and he had a left-handed bosun's mate who laid on the last dozen and so crossed the cuts.'
'What happened on the lower deck that night?' Ramage knew he asked the question only to compare the answer with what he guessed his own reactions would have been if he was a seaman.
'Some of them decided to take the ship, sir.'
'How many men decided?'
'About a dozen.'
'Were any of these prisoners among the dozen?'
'Yes, sir. Summers, him what tried to strangle me in the Sarasota Pride.'
'Why did he try to strangle you?'
'Because I never did join the mutiny, sir.'
Ramage watched Summers. No reaction; the man's eyes remained staring at the deck. He seemed remote from the trial - perhaps he was at this moment back on board the Jocasta, reliving that time two years ago . . .
'Did the ship's company mutiny the next day?'
'No, sir, not for several days.'
'Why was there a delay?'
'The floggings, sir.'
'What floggings - the dozen the day you joined the ship?'
'Oh no, sir! ' Weaver exclaimed, surprised at Ramage's question. 'Eight men was flogged the next day, two dozen each, an' four of the men was among the ringleaders, an' by the time the bosun's mates had finished with them their backs was so cut up they could 'ardly move, let alone mutiny.'
'Why were they flogged?'
'No one was quite sure, sir. Cap'n Wallis said it was the thirty-sixth Article.'
Again Ramage sensed the tension among the captains sitting at the table: they were seeing a grim picture of Wallis emerging, not because Weaver was trying to blacken him but because the simple answers gave away more than the man realized. The thirty-sixth Article covered 'All other crimes . . . which are not mentioned in this Act'. An unscrupulous captain could use it to have a man flogged because he sneezed; indeed, the Article was usually called 'The Captain's Cloak', because it covered everything. But one had to try to be fair to Captain Wallis: that bare answer in the minutes could be misleading.
'You must have some idea of what these men did.'
'No, sir. Not then, nor the next day.'
Edwards interrupted and asked harshly: 'What happened the next day - the third day, in fact?'
'The Captain picked twenty-two more men an' charged 'em under the thirty-sixth. They was all put in irons - that's what set it orf.'
'Set what off?' Edwards asked, obviously trying hard to remain patient.
'The mutiny, sir. It started off with men freeing the twenty-two prisoners, so they shouldn't be flogged. Most of them still had bloody backs from floggings they'd got earlier.'
Edwards obviously decided that he had heard enough about the mutiny generally because he said abruptly: 'I am going to ask you about the activities of these prisoners, but first tell the court what you were doing immediately before the mutiny.'
'Well, sir, Cap'n Wallis was an impatient man, like, and when he called for his steward - that was me, o' course - he didn't like no delay. So he made me sling me 'ammock just outside his door, right by where the Marine sentry stood.
'That night there was a lot of talk on the lower deck, but I don't know what it was all about - though I could guess - because I kept away from it.'
'Did you know they were plotting a mutiny?'
Weaver waited a full half-minute before answering and then, taking a deep breath, said: 'I know what Article Twenty says -'If any person in the Fleet shall conceal any traitorous or mutinous practice or design . . .'- but I've got to confess I knew but I didn't say nothing.'
'Why did you not report it?'
'Because they said they'd cut my throat if I did.'
'How could they do that, once you warned the officers ?'
'They would take the ship anyway, sir, ' Weaver said simply, 'even if the officers were ready.'
'How do you know that?' Edwards demanded sharply. 'There were the Marines.'
'Most of them - all except the lieutenant and sergeant - were in it.'
Edwards knew it was impossible for the sergeant to have been unaware of groups of men gathering on the lower deck and whispering together, but he did not pursue the point; the man had been murdered anyway.
'How and when did the mutiny start?' Edwards asked.
'About ten o'clock at night, sir. The men rushed up from the lower deck. Some seized the quarterdeck, others went to the gunroom, and some went to the Captain's cabin.'
'What about the Marine sentry at the Captain's door?'
'He was in the group that murdered the Captain - leastways, I think he was, sir.'
'Why don't you know? You must have been in your hammock, which you said was slung by the door.'
'As soon as the men came rushing up I started to get out of me 'ammock, sir, but the sentry fetched me a clip with the butt o' his musket and knocked me out, sir.'
'Very well, let's consider the activities of these other prisoners. What do you know of Summers?'
'He was one of the leaders, sir. He was the one that threatened to cut me throat if I warned the officers.'
