The Ship, her crew and her voyage
The British barque Saladin was typically employed on a long voyage
from England to the coast of Peru, where she would take on a cargo
of guano, a powerful and valuable fertilizer for the return trip to England.
On February 8, 1844, she left Valparaiso with an even more valuable
cargo. In addition to guano, she was also carrying over 7,000 silver
dollars, a pile of 13 silver bars and 90 tons of copper.
She had a crew of twelve, under the command of Captain Alexander MacKenzie, who was known as a hard drinking, hot tempered man.
Thomas F. Bryerly was his First Mate.
The crew list was dated February 8, 1844, the same day that Bryerly
began making entries in the ship’s log.
She also had two passengers, a Captain George Fielding and his
twelve year old son, also named George.
Saladin never reached England. On May 21, 1844, the ship was found stranded near Country Harbour, Nova Scotia. The first person to board
the barque was Captain William Cunningham of the schooner Billow.
On board, he found only six men. They were drunk and acting in a very suspicious manner.
The last entry in the ship’s log was for April 14, 1844. Cunningham came
to realize that something terrible must have happened to the eight missing people whose names appeared on the crew list for the voyage.
Both Captain MacKenzie, Captain Fielding and young George were all unaccounted for.
Cunningham had to use his powers of observation and his own imagination
to try to piece together what might have happened to the rest of the crew.
He reported his suspicions to the authorities, who launched their own highly detailed investigation. This involved some pioneering forensic work and Canada’s last piracy trial.
What happened?
Unknown to Captain MacKenzie and his crew, George Fielding was a
smuggler, who was on the run from the Peruvian authorities after trying
to smuggle a load of guano out of the country. Fielding took one look at Saladin’s cargo manifest and began to form a dangerous plan.
He approached the men he thought he could trust and told to them that
they could be rich if they took a chance. He also used threats, saying
that if they didn’t join him, they would be killed. George Jones, the ship's
sailmaker and three of the ship’s crew agreed to join the plot.
On April 15, 1844, the conspirators enacted their plan, killing Bryerly, who
was in command of the back watch with an axe shortly after midnight. The conspirators made their way to Captain MacKenzie’s cabin, where the growling of his dog, Toby, awoke the ship’s carpenter, Jem Allen. Acting quickly, the men killed Allen, who was able to cry out before he was thrown overboard. MacKenzie was killed when the men called “man overboard” to trick him into coming on deck. Two crew, Sam Collins and Thomas Moffat were killed as they prepared to assume their duties. An oath was sworn
on MacKenzie’s bible and plans to distribute the wealth were laid.
Untouched by the first rash of killings were William Carr, the ship’s cook
and her steward, John Galloway, who were thought to be trustworthy and sympathetic to the cause. By the next day, a few ill-timed remarks from Fielding gave the others the idea that he would kill them too if given half a chance and his fate was sealed. George Fielding and his son were both thrown overboard, leaving only six men alive aboard Saladin.
The mutineers decided to run the ship aground and depart with the cargo but fate stepped in once again as Billow arrived on the scene almost immediately. Cunningham’s questions seemed to rattle the crew and his observations led him to contact the local authorities. The crew were rounded up, charged with piracy and murder and taken to trial in Halifax.
The trial was a sensational affair. The men entered pleas of not guilty but the evidence was damning. The jury were only out for fifteen minutes before returning guilty verdicts for George Jones, William Johnston, John Hazelton and Charles Anderson. Carr and Galloway, who were only charged for the murders of Fielding and his son, were found not guilty of their part in the mutiny.
The four mutineers were hung in Halifax on July 30, 1844. Hundreds of people turned up for the much publicized event and many remarked on the speech given by Jones before he was hung. A ballad about the mutiny and George Jones was written shortly after the hangings and later rediscovered by folklorist Helen Creighton.
The story of the mutiny aboard the barque Saladin continues to intrigue people around the Maritimes and has become an important part of our rich marine heritage.
