This was so clear a scheme of trade, that he seemed surprised with it, and fully satisfied in every part of it. But the captain then objected against the length of the voyage to the South Seas from the Philippines, and raised several scruples about the latitude which we should keep in such a voyage; that we should not be able to carry any provisions which we could take on board in those hot countries, that would keep for so long a run, and several other difficulties; to all which I made answer, that when we had sold our cargo at the Philippines, and found our advantages there to answer our desires, I would not oppose our returning from thence directly to England if they found it needful; or, if they thought a farther adventure would not answer the risks we were to expect in it, we would never have any dispute about that.

This satisfied them fully, and they went immediately with the news to the men, as what they thought would please them wonderfully, seeing they were mighty uneasy but two or three days before, about their being to go back again to the south of America, and the latitude of 64°, where we had not only been twice driven back, as if heaven had forbidden us to pass that way, but had been driven so far to the south, that we had met with a most severe cold, and which pinched our men exceedingly, who being come, as we might say, a hot-weather voyage, were but ill furnished for the state of the air usual in the latitudes of 64°.

But we had a harder task to go through than we expected, upon this occasion; and it may stand here upon record, as a buoy or beacon to warn officers and commanders of ships, supercargoes, and such as are trusted in the conduct of the voyage, never to have any disputes among themselves, (I say not among themselves), about the course they shall take, or whither they shall go; for it never fails to come among the men after them, and if the debate is but named on the outside of the great cabin door, it becomes immediately a dispute among the officers upon the quarter-deck, the lieutenants, mates, purser, &c.; from thence it gets afore the mast, and into the cook room, and the whole ship is immediately divided into factions and parties; every foremast man is a captain, or a director to the captain; every boatswain, gunner, carpenter, cockswain, nay, and even the cook, sets up for a leader of the men; and if two of them join parties, it is ten to one but it comes to a mutiny, and perhaps to one of the two last extremities of all mutinies, viz., running away from the ship, or, what is worse, running away with the ship.

Our case was exactly thus, and had issued accordingly, for aught I know, if we had not been in a port where, we got immediate assistance, and that by a more than ordinary vigour in the management too.

I have mentioned the first time when we called a council about our voyage at the Canaries, and how it was carried against my opinion not to go to the East Indies, but to go to the South Seas, about by Cape Horn. As the debate of this was not at all concealed, the officers of the ship, viz., the two lieutenants and two mates, the purser, and others, came in, and went out, and not only heard all we said, but talked of it at liberty on the quarter-deck, and where they pleased, till it went among the whole ship's crew. It is true, there came nothing of all this at that time, because almost all the votes being against my opinion, as I have said already, the ship's company seemed to join in naturally with it, and the men were so talked into the great prospects of gain to themselves, by a voyage to the South Seas, that they looked upon me, who ought to have had the chief direction in the business, to be nobody, and to have only made a ridiculous proposal, tending to hurt them; and I perceived clearly after this, that they looked upon me with an evil eye, as one that was against their interest; nay, and treated me with a sort of contempt too, as one that had no power to hurt them, but as one, that if things were left to me, would carry them on a wildgoosechase they knew not whither.

I took no notice of this at first, knowing that, in the process of things, I should have opportunity enough to let them know I had power to oblige them many ways; as also, that I had authority sufficient to command the whole ship, and that the direction of the voyage was principally in me, though I being willing to do everything in a friendly way, had too easily, and, I may say, too weakly, put that to the vote, which I had a right to have commanded their compliance with. The ill consequences of which appeared not for some time, but broke out upon the occasion of our new measures, as will presently appear.

As soon as we had determined our voyage among ourselves in the great cabin, the supercargo and Captain Merlotte went out upon the quarter-deck, and began to talk of it among the officers, midshipmen, &c.; and, to give them their due, they talked of it very honestly; not with any complaint of being over-ruled, or over-persuaded, but as a measure that was fully agreed to among us in the great cabin.

The boatswain, a blunt, surly, bold fellow, as soon as he heard of it, Very well, says he, so we are all come back into Captain Positive's blind proposal (for so he called me); why this is the same that everybody rejected at the Canaries; and now, because we are driven hither by contrary winds, those winds must be a reason why we must undertake a preposterous, ridiculous voyage, that never any sailor would have proposed, and that man never went before. What, does the captain think that we cannot find our way to the coast of America again, and because we have met with cross winds, we must never meet with fair ones? I warrant him, let us but go up the height of St. Helena, we will soon reach the Rio de la Plata and Port St. Julian again, and get into the South Seas too, as others have done before us.

The gunner took it from the boatswain, and he talks with one of the midshipmen in the same dialect. For my part, says he, I shipped myself for the South Seas when I first came aboard the ship, and in hopes of good booty; and if we go thither, I know nothing can hinder us, wind and weather permitting: but this is such a voyage as no man ever attempted before; and whatever the captain proposes, can have nothing in it for the men, but horrid fatigue, violent heats, sickness, and starving.

One of the mates takes it from him, and he says as openly, I wonder what a plague the rest of the gentlemen mean; they were all against the captain when he started this whimsical voyage before, and now they come all into it of a sudden, without any consideration; and so the project of one man must ruin the most promising voyage ever yet undertaken, and be the death of above two hundred as stout fellows as ever were together in one ship in this part of the world.

One of the midshipmen followed the mate, and said, We were all promised that another ship should be gotten, either purchased or taken, and that the first ship we took, should be manned and victualled out of this ship, where we were double manned, and crowded together enough to bring an infection among us, in such hot climates as we are going into; and if we were in the South Seas, we should easily buy a ship, or take a ship for our purpose, almost where we would; but in all this part of the world there is no such thing as a ship fit for an Englishman to set his foot in. We were promised, too, that when we got into such a ship, we that entered as midshipmen should be preferred to offices, as we were qualified, and as our merit should recommend us. What they are going to do with us now, I cannot imagine, unless it be to turn us afore the mast, when half the foremast men are dead, and thrown overboard.

The master, or pilot of the ship, heard all these things, and sent us word into the great cabin of all that passed, and, in short, assured us, that, if these things went a little farther, he was afraid they would come up to a mutiny; that there was great danger of it already, and that we ought to apply some immediate remedy to it, or else he thought it would be too late. He told me the particulars also, and how the whole weight of their resentment seemed to tend to quarrelling at my command, as believing that this project of going to the East Indies was wholly mine; and that the rest of the officers being a little influenced by the accident of our being driven so far out of our way, were only biassed in the rest by my opinion; and, as they were all against it before, would have been so still, if it had not been for me; and he feared, if they went on, they might enter into some fatal measures about me, and perhaps resolve to set me on shore in some barren uninhabited land or other, to give me my bellyful of new discoveries, as it seems some of them had hinted, and the second mate in particular.

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.

When we were in the cabin, Captain Merlotte told the Dutch captain that we came indeed to him in the form of a visit, but that our business was of the greatest importance, and desired we might speak to him of it in the hearing of none but such as he could trust. The captain told us with the greatest open-heartedness imaginable, that though we were strangers to him, yet we looked like honest men, and he would grant our request; we should speak it in the hearing of none but those we could trust, for there should be nobody by but ourselves.

We made him fully sensible that we knew how obliging that compliment was, but begged he would admit any whom he thought worthy to be trusted with a secret of the last importance. He then carried it as far the other way, and told us, that then he must call in the whole ship's company, for that there was not a man in the ship but he could trust his life in his hands. However, upon the whole, he sent everybody out of the cabin but us three and himself, and then desired we would speak our minds freely.

Captain Merlotte, who spoke Dutch, began, but the Dutch captain interrupted him, and asked if the English captain, meaning me, spoke Dutch; he said no; upon which he asked Captain Merlotte if he spoke English, and he said yes, upon which he let me know that he understood English, and desired I would speak to him in English.

I was heartily glad of this, and began immediately with the story, for we had time little enough, I told him that he was particularly happy in having it in his power to say he could put his life in the hand of any man, the meanest in his ship; that my men were unhappily the reverse of his; and, then beginning at the first of the story, I gave him a full account of the whole, as related above.