Globe (whaleship)
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Globe, of Nantucket |
| Owner: | C. Mitchell, & Co. |
| Launched: | 1815 [1] |
| Out of service: | 1828 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Whaleship |
The whaleship Globe, of Nantucket, Massachusetts, was active between 1815 and 1828.
The Globe Mutiny
On December 22, 1822, Globe, with a complement of 21 men under the command of Captain Thomas Worth, set sail on a whaling expedition to the Pacific. After finding success in the "off Japan" whaling grounds the Globe arrived in Honolulu for provisioning. According to testimony, "Six men ran away in the Sandwich Islands, and one was discharged."[2]
Captain Worth took on seven new crew, four of whom (Silas Payne, John Oliver, William Humphries and Joseph Thomas) played major roles in the mutiny. Samuel B. Comstock, a 22 year old boatsteerer (harpooner), was the instigator of the mutiny, which occurred on January 26, 1824, near Fanning Island, 900 miles south of the Hawaiian Islands. Captain Worth, and three other officers were killed. Soon after William Humphries, one of the mutineers, was accused of plotting to take the ship and was tried by a kangaroo court of the mutineers and hung.[3]
On 14 February 1824, Globe was brought to Mili Atoll by her mutinous crew. Comstock, the leader of the mutiny, had ambitions of creating his own kingdom on Mili Atoll. The other mutineers suspected that Comstock intended to destroy the Globe and kill the rest of crew.[3]
Payne and Oliver and two others shot Comstock. In an atmosphere of distrust existing between the mutineers, Payne and Oliver made an error in judgment of sending Gilbert Smith, a boatsteerer, to secure the Globe. Smith and five other crew cut the anchor cable and set sail, eventually arriving at Valparaiso, Chile, where they were brought into custody by the American consul, Michael Hogan. The Globe, under Captain King, was fitted out and returned to Nantucket, with Gilbert Smith as master, arriving in November 1824.[3]
Payne and Oliver attempted to intimidate the islanders, however the islander massacred most of the remaining mutineers. Out of nine castaways on Mili Atoll, only Cyrus M. Hussey and William Lay survived. They were rescued on 21 November 1825 by U.S. schooner Dolphin, commanded by Lieut. Com. John Percival.[2]
See also
- Mili Atoll—Description of The Globe Mutiny
- Nantucket shipbuilding
Notes
- ↑ Fairburn, William Armstrong; Ritchie, Ethel M (1945–1955). Merchant Sail. Center Lovell, Maine: : Fairburn Marine Educational Foundation, Inc. pp. 512, 993.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Hussey, Cyrus M; Lay, William (1828). "A Narrative of the Mutiny, on Board the Ship Globe, of Nantucket, in the Pacific Ocean, Jan. 1824, And the journal of a residence of two years on the Mulgrave Islands; with observations on the manners and customs of the inhabitants". New-London: Wm.-Lay and C.M. Hussey. Retrieved 2010-02-19.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 James A. Michener & A. Grove Day, The Globe Mutineers, in Rascals in Paradise, London: Secker & Warburg 1957
Further reading
- Hussey, Cyrus M; Lay, William (1828). "A Narrative of the Mutiny, on Board the Ship Globe, of Nantucket, in the Pacific Ocean, Jan. 1824, And the journal of a residence of two years on the Mulgrave Islands; with observations on the manners and customs of the inhabitants". New-London, Conn.: Wm. Lay and C.M. Hussey. Retrieved 2010-02-19.
- Paulding, Lieut. Hiram. (1831). Journal of the Cruise of the United States schooner "Dolphin" … in pursuit of the Mutineers of the Whale Ship "Globe". New York.
- Michener, James A.; Day, A. Grove (1957). Rascals in Paradise. London: Secker & Warburg. pp. 13–50, Rascals in Paradise: The Globe Mutineers.
- Starbuck, Alexander (1964). History of the American Whale Fishery, From its Earliest Inception to the Year 1876. New York: Argosy-Antiquarian.
- Heffernan, Thomas Farel (2002). Mutiny on the Globe: the Fatal Voyage of Samuel Comstock. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., Inc. ISBN 0-393-04163-8.