346 The Story of the New England Whalers 



in the ship but we five aforementioned men are 

 quite innocent of any part in the affair. 



"(Signed) CYRUS PLUMMER. 



JOHN HALL. 



"Witnesses: RICHARD CARTHA. 



"HucH DUFF. CORNELIUS BURNS. 



HENRY T. LORD. WILLIAM HERBERT. 



HERMAN GRAF." 



The ship made port at Sydney. The author- 

 ities captured eight of the mutineers, including 

 Plummer. They were placed on the Junior, 

 where each was confined in a heavy hard-wood 

 cage lined with iron, and a guard of six well-armed 

 men was stationed over each cage. A new crew 

 was shipped and then she sailed for home. 



As the story was told by the officers, the mutiny 

 was unprovoked, and Starbuck speaks of it as a 

 "diabolical atrocity." When Plummer and his 

 associates were put on trial, however, Benjamin 

 F. Butler, the noted Civil War general, took up 

 the defence with such effect that Plummer only 

 was found guilty of deliberate murder. The facts 

 of the mutiny were not disputed, but it was testi- 

 fied that the men had been driven to desperation 



