LONDON, April 24—The American clipper-ship Sovereign of the Seas, Warner, of New York, from Melbourne, reports that a serious affray occurred on board during the passage from Melbourne, arising from the insubordination of some of the crew, who are at present confined on board in irons.
On the 17th March, the ship on the Equator, long. 32, a quarrel took place between two of the steerage passengers, of whom there were seventy-six on board, and one of the crew. The mate interfered, and ordered the seaman on deck, but he refused, and became abusive, when he was put into irons by direction of the captain. After the lapse of about fifteen or twenty minutes, all the crew mustered aft, and demanded of the captain the immediate release of the man, an Englishman, or they said they would take the ship from him, amid loud murmurings and threats. Previously, it should be mentioned, reports had reached the captain of a contemplated attack to seize the ship.
The captain, observing the determined conduct of the men, at once armed himself, as also did the officers, and then proceeding on deck, ordered the men forward: they refusing, he, with his officers, drove them back at the point of the bayonet; in the scuffle four men got wounded. Most of them had some weapon in their possession, either a belaying pin, crow-bar, or knife, and their conduct was of such a character as to create alarm for the safety of the ship. After being driven forward, they still refused to return to their duty, and mustered in the forecastle.
The captain, perceiving the serious nature of the case, consulted with the chief cabin and a large number of the steerage passengers, which resulted in their arming themselves and aiding the captain in seizing the ringleaders. Six were picked out, and they had been placed on one side of the deck, when a man named Hall stepped forward from the remainder of the crew, and urged them not to stand by and see their shipmates put in irons, but to stand up for them. The captain, seeing the man making towards him, cautioned him not to move a step; if he did, he would blow his brains out. He persisted, when the captain in raising a pistol, by some means it got discharged, and the contents passed through the legs of the third mate, Mr. Myers, a German, wounding him severely.
Hall, with the rest, were immediately seized and dragged down below, where they were securely ironed ; they were ten in number. They were placed between decks, where they have since been confined.
Three Thames police officers boarded the ship on her arrival in the river, into whose custody it is expected the mutineers will be given as soon as the vessel has discharged her cargo.
25—The ten men charged with mutiny on board the Sovereign of the Seas, while on her passage from Melbourne to London, still continue to remain in irons. Yesterday the captain applied to the Thames Police Court magistrate, for a warrant to convey the prisoners to that court, but the magistrate declined to grant the application, on the ground that the offence was committed under the American flag. Since then the American Consul has addressed Lord Palmerston on the subject, with a view of obtaining the government sanction respecting the disposal of the prisoners on board-most of them being English subjects.
Hull Packet, Hull, Yorkshire, England, April 28, 1854