Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/380

fact that five other convict ships had recently arrived with all their people "in excellent state of health and strength of body," while those in the Hercules and Atlas were "in a state shocking to humanity." To the master of the Coromandel King conveyed his pleasure "at the general thankfulness and gratitude every prisoner expressed for your care and attention during the voyage."

On arrival of the Atlas and Hercules "some of the convicts were lying dead with heavy irons on, and many died as they were coming from the ship to the hospital.^[1] King's commissioners, Lieut. Fowler, of H.M.S. Investigator, Dr. Harris, the naval officer, and Mr. Law, master of a South Sea whaler, condemned the gross misconduct on board of the Hercules and Atlas.

Proceedings were taken against the master of the Atlas by T. Jamison, the surgeon, who had sailed as a passenger, but was compelled to leave the ship at Rio. The abductor, H. B. Hayes, associated intimately with the master, and Jamison brought actions against both, in Sydney. Hayes was sentenced to six months' imprisonment; Brooks, the master, was ordered to pay £100 damages.

The commander of the Hercules (Betts) reported a mutiny. Two sentinels were on the quarter-deck. The other soldiers were between decks and unarmed. The master, chief officer, surgeon, and purser, with Captain Wilson, a passenger, were at dinner. Screams of convict women were heard. A rush had been made, and the sentinel was overpowered.

"I came forward with my officers and Captain Wilson, and immediately shot one man, who had a blunderbuss presented at me, but the piece did not go off; some more of the insurgents were killed by the rest of the party; and the convicts, seeing their intentions frustrated, ran forward as speedily as they came aft, and the ship's company and troops now being collected together, began to vent their rage upon such of the insurgents as were to be found on deck, in heating them with cutlasses and the butt-ends of their muskets, until at length they forced them down into the prison. When the tumult had entirely subsided we found twelve of the convicts killed, and ten wounded, two of whom died soon after. . . . It may be necessary to remark that Jeremiah Prendergass, who towards the latter end of the affray I had been obliged to shoot, was a desperate ringleader,