'Did he take part in any of the murders?'
'The Captain, sir. I was just getting up after the sentry knocked me out - this was after they'd finished in the cabin - and Summers came out and kicked me in the side, an' he said: 'I've just done in your bloody Captain.''
'You are sure of the words?'
'Yes, sir, but Perry - 'im that's standing there next to 'im - said: 'No, I gave 'im the cut that did for 'im, ' and the two of them started quarrelling about it.'
'Why should they quarrel about it?'
'They was all in liquor, sir, and later on, when they was trying to get the votes, each of them said they should be the leader because they'd killed the Captain.'
'And who was - er, elected captain?'
'Summers, sir, because Perry stood down.'
'Why did Perry stand down?'
'Because of Summers and that knife of his. He suddenly grabbed Perry and knocked him down and held a knife at 'is throat and said he would kill him too, rather than let him command the ship.'
'And Perry agreed?'
'Yes, sir, he didn't 'ave no choice, really, but they elected him mate. Summers captain and Perry mate, just like a merchant ship.'
'What about the other people necessary to work the ship - were they elected too?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Harris, the third prisoner there, ' Edwards said, 'what do you know of him?'
'He wasn't a ringleader, not at first, sir. But after the mutiny he finished off some of them.'
Edwards was so puzzled he could only repeat Weaver's words: 'Finished off some of them?'
'The wounded officers - the First and Third Lieutenants and the Lieutenant of Marines: they was still alive after the ship was taken.'
'How was Harris concerned in their murder?'
'The mutineers were voting on everything, and they were told to make a show of hands whether the living officers should be put to death or kept alive and handed over to the Dons, but Harris swore they should all die.'
'He simply made that statement?' Edwards demanded.
'Oh no, sir: he shouted that as he ran below, and he stabbed them where they was lying.'
'What did the mutineers think of that, then?'
'Most of them abused him when he came back to the quarterdeck and said what he had done, but that was all.'
Ramage leaned forward to catch the president's eye and received a nod of approval.
'Were you the only man who did not take part in the mutiny ?'
'No, sir, there was forty or fifty of us.'
'What happened to you?'
'We was given all the unpleasant work until we got to La Guaira. Swabbing the blood off the decks, and things like that, sir.'
'So there were about one hundred and twenty-five mutineers?'
'About that, sir. I think there was one hundred and eighty-two in the ship's company.'
'So the prisoner Summers was elected leader by more than one hundred and twenty-five mutineers, and Perry the second in command, that is correct?'
'Yes, sir.'
'And Harris - what did he do?'
'Well, sir, he was always in liquor, and not many of the mutineers would have anything to do with him after he killed the wounded. He used to stay close to Summers and run errands for him: fetch him a mug of rum or a chaw of tobacco, ' Weaver said contemptuously. 'He was trying to make up for being a Johnnie-come- lately, that's what the rest of us reckoned.'
Ramage made a mental note that Weaver's evidence had so far condemned the other three prisoners for conspiracy, concealing mutinous designs, mutiny and murder. It remained to cover running away with the ship, deserting and 'holding intelligence with the enemy'. Yet every question that was asked merely underlined the other question that none of them would ever ask out loud: what private hell had Wallis established on board the Jocasta that made more than five score seamen rise against him? Ramage was certain the mutiny had been directed entirely at Wallis: the murder of the officers had been incidental. Indeed, the fact that most of the mutineers later wanted to keep alive the wounded survivors bore that out.
More than twenty seamen had been put in irons ready for a flogging next day for - at best - some frivolous charge contrived by Wallis. Part of the mutiny had been to free those men. Part? It was probably the whole reason, but releasing the men meant disposing of the officers and the Captain. Would the men have spared Wallis and the officers if they could have freed the prisoners without bloodshed? Idle speculation: no one would ever know . . .
Beside him Captain Teal cleared his throat. 'After the mutiny was over and the new captain had been elected, how did the men decide where to take the ship?'
'They argued almost the whole day, sir. Some was for taking her back to Jamaica, and some was for the Main.'
'Jamaica?' Teal asked incredulously.
'Aye, sir. They wanted to draw up a document which everyone on board signed, a round robin, they said, and give it to the Commander-in-Chief when they arrived there.'
Edwards lifted his hand to stop Teal. 'This document, ' he said brusquely, 'what would it have said?'
'Well, sir, they all agreed what it would say; what they didn't agree about was whether it would do any good. Them as thought it wouldn't eventually won on a show of hands.'
'But what would it have said! What did they want to tell the Commander-in-Chief?'
'Why, sir, ' Weaver said, as though it should have been obvious to everyone, 'to tell the Admiral that they meant no harm by what they'd done, that they was loyal to the King but was in mortal fear that Captain Wallis would flog 'em all to death. An' give the Admiral the figures, of course.'
'What figures?' Edwards was obviously fascinated, but Ramage had already guessed what was coming.
'The figures for the floggings, sir: the Captain had flogged 109 men in seven weeks, a total of 2, 616 lashes . . .'
'That's your story! ' Edwards exclaimed, clearly shocked.
'No, sir, ' Weaver said firmly, 'they was the figures taken from the Captain's journal. Summers showed it to the Spanish officers when they came on board at La Guaira. Captain's own figures, they was.'
There was a complete silence for two or three minutes. Ramage did some hurried sums. That averaged fifteen floggings a week with each man getting two dozen lashes. Captain Marden then asked: 'The mutineers finally voted to take the ship to the Main?'
'Yes, sir. Summers and a few of the others made speeches and said if they went to Jamaica they'd all be hanged, signed letter or not, because the Admiral wouldn't listen to them, Captain Wallis being his favourite, so they voted for La Guaira.'
'Summers made such a speech, ' said Captain Teal. 'What of the other prisoners, Harris and Perry?'
'Perry followed Summers and spoke for La Guaira. Some of the others said the same thing, and then Harris made a long speech. He just repeated what Summers said and the men soon got tired of listening to him and called for a vote.'
'What happened when the ship arrived off La Guaira?'
'The Spanish came out. One of the officers spoke English.'
Ramage gave Teal a nudge to indicate he had some questions and asked: 'Did you anchor off the entrance or what?'
'No, sir. Summers hoisted white flags - flags of truce, he called 'em - from the fore, main and mizen, and then hove-to off the anchorage. After about an hour a Spanish boat came out full of soldiers. And lots of officers, of course.'
'Who did the negotiating?'
'Summers, sir, but there was a committee of six mutineers he had to report to. They had to agree to everything.'
'Had the committee decided on the terms - on the price they were going to ask the Spanish for handing over the ship?'
'Price, sir?' Weaver was genuinely shocked. 'Oh no, sir, they weren't a selling of her! No, all the terms they asked was to be allowed to live on the Main and start a new life.'
'That was for the mutineers. What about those of you who did not mutiny?'
'That depended on Summers, sir. He had three lists. One was the men to be handed over to the Spanish as prisoners; the second was men who should be allowed to go free; the third them as should get rewards.'
'Were those to be handed over to the Spanish, the men in the first list, those who had not taken part in the mutiny?'
'Not all of them, sir. There was about twenty-five. The cook, some seamen and myself.'
'What about the second list? Were they men who had not been in the mutiny?'
'Yes, sir. You see some of us had upset Summers or Perry, and as a sort of punishment we were put on the first list. They used to go round threatening people. As bad as Captain Wallis, they was. Them as hadn't took part in the mutiny and hadn't fallen foul of Summers went on the second list.'
'The Spanish authorities agreed to all this?'
'They did eventually, sir, but at first they thought it was some sort of trap. They insisted on taking nearly everyone on shore in the boat, twenty at a time. They brought out more Spanish seamen each time they came back. Then they tried to sail her into the anchorage.'
'Tried?'
'Yes, sir; they got her in irons, and eventually Summers took the conn and brought her in.'
'How do you know that - surely you had been taken off as prisoners?'
'No, sir, the prisoners were put in irons with a guard of Spaniards. We got worried once when the ship touched a rock and we was all trussed up, but she came off all right.'
