ROUGH JUSTICE
Extract from Joan Druett's In Rebellion on the Sharon "On the Eleaventh day of December 1841 I was in the Ship Sharon Capt Howes Norris in the Lattirude of 1 Degree South and longitude of 150:33 East. The sun arose in great splendour and the day was most beautiful," wrote Benjamin Clough in his journal. "And passed away with the usual work on board ofA Whale ship at sea. Such as looking out for whales steering the Ship at work in the rigging &c. " Thar idyllic late afternoon, Benjamin Clough was engaged in a domestic task. Having done his laundry, he was standing in the slung larboard boat at the stern quarter, hanging two pairs of pantaloons on a line he had stretched between the davits. Then, as he recorded, "I overheard the Capt. floging the Steward [George Babcock] in the Cabbin." There is no explanation for the whipping, though Captain Norris was shouting, "Will you lie ro me?" Then Clough heard him yell, "Let go of that!" Evidently Babcock had grabbed the flailing end of the captain's rope, because Clough heard the steward's voice scream, "But you will kill me ifI do! " Then there were the sounds of a struggle. Thomas Harlock Smith, the first mare, had overheard the shouting, too. Clough heard him go into the cabin and grapple the rope our of the steward's desperate clutch. Then Norris came up the stairs, and ordered Nathan Smith and Benjamin Clough to "seize up" secure - Babcock " in the larboard side of the
~ke
Mizzen rigging," ready for a flogging. "Ar 5 PM the Capron seased up the Steward in the riggen and flogged him, " wrote Andrew White. Such scenes must have been highly unpleasant for greenhands like William Weeks. Norris hadan unusual style of flogging, too. Usually the victim's shirt was removed, and he was lashed across the bare back, but according to Benjamin Clough's journal, once Babcock had been tied up in the rigging by the wrists and ankles, Norris "rook down his pantaloons, " exposing his naked buttocks. Then, as Clough recorded, Captain Norris "gave him 2 dozen" with a thick, doubled rope. After letting him down, Norris ordered the steward to go back to his work in the pantry. Instead, the instant the officers and captain were safely out of sight, George Babcock fled to the forecastle-o r, as the cooper phrased it, "went forid." George Babcock did not belong in the forecastle: as a steward, he did not have a berth there. On most ships the men who did live there would have told him in no uncertain terms to take himself back where he belonged. Usually the steward was a despised member of the crew, the foremast hands considering him nothing better than the captain's lackey. On this occasion, however, the off-duty hands broke tradition by giving Babcock a refuge. For a while, the officers in the after quarters did not realize what had happened. As Clough recorded, all seemed peaceful. He and first officer Thomas
The Whaling Barque Sharon
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the
ofMadness
Captain Howes Norris Harlock Smith were on duty on the quarter deck, passing away the rime by strolling up and down in the coolness of the descending night, telling each other yarns. Then, down in the cabin, the bell rang for the steward. There was no reply. Ir rang again. Still no answer. Clough and Smith looked about the shadowy decks, bur Babcock was nowhere to be found. So Thomas Harlock Smith "s ung out" loudly, demanding to know if the steward was in the bows of the ship. He was answered by the seaman from Newburyport, William Smith, who was called out from the forecastle, "Aye, he's here. " The defiance in William Smith's tone was a warning. With Benjamin Clough close beside him, Thomas Harlock Smith hurried forward. Arriving at the top of the ladder that led down into the forecastle, he called out for Babcock again, to be answered by a chorus of determined voices, saying that the steward "was not comeing up until! he was used better. " The foremast hands had had enough of the captain's brutal treatment of the young black man and were determined to defend him. This was open rebellion. Unless it was countered swiftly and decisively, control of the ship could be seized by the men. Clough, instinctively understanding the danger, ran back to the quarter deck. Meeting Norris, he "raid him how things stood." Norris, white-lipped, his fists clenched, strode grimly forward, yelling the steward's name. Again, the men answered for likewise, was "assisted aft" by the captain and put in handcuffs. After that, it was the turn ofThomas Williams, another New Yorker, who, like Baker and William Smith, was a qualified seaman. Ar the sight of him Captain Norris flew into a paroxysm of rage,
SEA HISTORY I 05, AUTUMN 2003