endeavoured to capture the vessel. They seized the master,
who was only rescued after some firing. On quelling the
convicts the master and officers "found it necessary to hang
one of the principal ringleaders." They were tried in
Sydney by the Vice-Admiralty Court, and honourably
acquitted for the shooting and hanging. Lord Hobart also
ruled (30th Jan. 1802) that they were clearly justified" in
what they had done in suppressing the mutiny.
Irish sedition at Norfolk Island had been serious, and was repressed by Foveaux in Jan. 1801. Being warned of it he seized thirty concealed pikes.
"Not feeling justified in taking the law entirely into my own hands," Foveaux wrote, ". . . after considering that a similar plot has lately been in meditation at Port Jackson . . . in short, that the salvation of the colony would in a great measure depend upon the steps taken, . . . I convened the officers both civil and military . . . they were unanimously of opinion that an immediate example of capital punishment should be made of Peter M'Lean and John Wollaghan, which was accordingly done on the same evening. I have had very strong information against four soldiers, whom I have consequently discharged, and have no doubt but some of them would be hanged was the Judge-Advocate acquainted with the late Acts of Parliament relating to such persons. I have promised to intercede with your Excellency in favour of H. G. (the informer) to get him his free pardon. . . . I have no doubt from the secret manner in which matters were conducted that had it not been for him we should all have been sacrificed at their pleasure."
One soldier received 500 lashes and was drummed out of the regiment for striking a sergeant in connection with the matter. Twenty-two convicts were severely punished.
On the 10th March, King commended Foveaux's meritorious conduct to the Secretary of State, and Lord Hobart expressed his "perfect approbation of the promptitude and vigour displayed in suppressing the dangerous insurrection."
But Foveaux encountered unexpected opposition. Colonel Paterson called him to account (through King) for dealing with soldiers "without any form of trial." King advised Foveaux to transmit the written opinions of the officers he had consulted. He sent also a free pardon for one convict, and a conditional pardon for another (subsequently changed at Foveaux's request for a free one). Foveaux told King privately that he did not think any one but Colonel Paterson would have asked what authority he had for what he had done.
