This was open rebellion. Unless it was countered swiftly and decisively, control ofthe ship could be seized by the men. shrieking that he "co uld hardl y keep his hands off him. " Clough, horrified, saw Norris grab up a hamm er, swing it, and smash it into the sailor's left cheek. Dazed and bleeding, one hand cradling hi s crushed upper jaw, Tom Wi lliams staggered the rest of the way to the quarter deck, where he, like the others, was shackled. T hen Sterling Taylor, a 21-year-old green hand from Connecticut, was grappled. T hat done, Captain Norris com manded C lough to "fetch Sam A Negro." T hough Sam uel Leods denied having anything to do with the rebellion, he was handcuffed too.] o hn Moore, a 19-year-old greenhand from N ew York, was the last. T hey had run out of irons, so "the captain gave him A slap in the face and said ti e him up with A piece of spun yarn ." Nine men were lined up by the mizze n mast, o ne spitting teeth and blood , another hun ched over in dreadful pain: Sam uel Leods, John Witcher, John Allen, John Moore, Jack Baker, Sterling Taylor, William Smith, Thomas Williams, and Geo rge Babcock. Behind his violent rage, Norris must have been rhinkingclearlyand coldly. F rom his experience on the London Packet, he knew how swiftly control of the crew cou ld be lost. Obviously, Wi lliam Smith had headed the rebellion. He was the man who had co nfronted him with his fists raised; he had been the one with the loudest demands. If William Smith had been ab le to summo n th e crew with his cry of, "lf th ere are any men among you, com e aft!" Norris would have been forced to fl ee ro the safery of his cabin . If he tied up Wi lli am Smith and fl ogged him , though , it co uld trigger a rush to seize the quarter deck, despite th e leveled muske ts . So Norris need ed a scapegoat-a substitute for Wi lliam Smith, who was not, like William Sm ith, a natural leader. Thinking he knew how to find o ne, he turned to the first mate, and said , "Put the steward in the ri gging." Geo rge Babcock began to blubber. Despite his cryi ng and pl eadin g, he was seized up again-a nd cowardice proved hi s un doing. Cross-examined, he screamed our that it had been Jack Baker who had promised that the men would protect him if he took refuge in the forecastle-Jack Baker! "And ," wrote C lough, "when he said he was advised by Baker the captain said let him go and Bakerouroflons. " So Babcock
SEA HISTORY l 05 , AUTUMN 2003
was released, and Jack Baker was seized up in his place. The sai lor's pantaloons were taken down , and his buttocks exposed, ready fo r a whipping. Norris had yet anot her age nda.J ud ging by Clough's account, the on ly officer who had acted with resourcefulness in the face of rebellion had been Clough himself, the
man yet another twelve lashes. That done, Norris addressed the others, asking if th ey wanted to pl ea for pardo n"beg off." Utte rl y intimid ated, prepared to go to any lengths to avo id the pain and indigni ry of a flo gging, they all caved in and craved his forgiveness. No rris grud gingly consented-b ut not befo re they had sign ed a written promise that they would "do better for the future. " .t NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: For th e pas t
third mate. Both the first and second mares could have been mu ch less resolute than Norris wo uld have liked, a good reaso n for involving them in th e brutal pun ishment ro come . So Nor ri s ordered Thomas H arl ock Sm ith to ca rry our the flogging. "The captain ro ld the mate to put it onto him where there was the most fl esh," C lough reco rded. Accord ingly, Thomas Harlock Smith "gave him 2 doze n with 8 part of ya rn, " whi le Jac k Baker shrieked and begged, "Ofering to take his Oath on the Bible that he did not start Mutiny, calling the lord to have mercy o n hi s so ul and promising to d o better. " Norris then ordered the mares to put Witcher in th e rigging. T his time it was Nathan Sm ith's rum. Norris gave the order, "And the Secont Mate gave him A doze n. " T hen, turning to T homas Harlock Sm ith, Captain Norris inquired whether he would like to deliver the next half of the punishm ent, and the first officer took the doub led rope, and dealt the moaning sea-
162 years the derails of this rebellion and its violent aftermath have remained a well-kept secret, confided by third mate C lough to his private journal, and never made public. Yet, when I first read his lon g description, I experienced a nagging sense of deja vu-a strong feeling that I had already read this "secret part of the tragedy" in H erman Melville' sMoby-Dick. Trawling through the great novel, this gut feeling was co nfirm ed. In chapter 54, "The TownHo 's Story," a similar uprising is described, in which Steelkilt, a seaman from Buffalo, New York, is hit on the cheek with a hammer. Indeed , I began to wo nder if so me part of Melville's insp iration for this chapter was gossip he had hea rd about the failed revolt on the Sharon. T he timing is right. In December 184 1, when this rebellion rook place, Herman Melville was crew on the Sharon's sister ship, Acushnet. Four months later, in April 1842, when the Sharon made her next landfall, at the island of Rorum a, William Smith, the ringleader of the fa iled rebellion, and Thomas Williams, his face scarred forever from the blow of Norris's hammer, ran away from the ship. In 1843, when Melville was sailing the eastern Pacific on the whaleship Charles & Henry, Williams and Smith were sailing out ofTalcahuano, Chileand, according to "The Town-Ho's Story," the narrator heard the yarn in "the thick-gilt riled piazza" of a South American inn. Ir is also likely that Melville heard the tale on board ship , during one of the mid-sea visits that whalemen called "gamming." Ir is impossible to prove that he was inspired by the tale, of course, but nevertheless it remains a most intriguing speculation .
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