[ Mutiny on HMS Winchester, 1854, and initiation ceremony for blue jackets. ] Proof of the start of an article, including a diary of 'The Winchester's Last Commission' and extract from letter by Sir Charles Fellowes.

This item appears to be a proof of the first eight pages of an unpublished 'account of the mutiny' on board HMS Winchester in the South China Seas in 1854 (while on its way to take part in the Second Burmese War, in which the Winchester's captain Granville Gower Loch (1813-1853) would be killed). The mutiny, which was quashed by Rear Admiral Fleetwood Pellew (1789-1861), is described by the author of the present item as the ship's 'skeleton in the cupboard'. The text breaks off before the mutiny takes place, with the Winchester having left Point de Galle, and on its way to Trincomalee. If the item was suppressed, it may be because either the mutiny, or the initiation ceremony for blue jackets which is described, was an embarrassment to the authorities, even after thirty years. HMS Winchester was a 52-gun fourth rate launched in 1822. She became a training ship in 1861 and was renamed HMS Conway. She was renamed HMS Mount Edgecumbe in 1876 and was sold in 1921. The present item, by 'an old Winchester', would appear to be part of a proof. In large part it consists of an extract from a diary, described by its author as 'possibly unique, as written by a foremost hand, who believed at the time he wrote it he was laying himself open to a severe penalty by keeping it.' 8pp., 12mo, paginated [i]-viii. Incomplete: the first part only, breaking off abruptly on the last page. In fair condition, aged and worn, with slight damage to inner margin from rusty staples. No evidence has been found that the piece was printed. The text begins, on p.i: 'As every family has its skeleton in the cupboard, so, during a commission of five years, there are many things which are disagreeable that it is desirable should be kept out of sight by the ship's company; bygones should be bygones with them: so that if any unpleasantness shows forth in the following pages it is not through a desire on my part to “unearth the hatchet” for the mere sake of unearthing it. My motive is to do good, to show the rising generation of our blue jackets what their predecessors before them have experienced, and what rocks and pitfalls they ought to steer clear of for the glory of the old flag; […]'. The author writes on p.ii: 'I trust I may be excused for giving an account of the mutiny, but it will do good in showing how foolish it is of men to follow the rash lead of one or two devil-may-care men, and of making such a stupid demonstration as was done on board the Winchester. It was a mercy the marines had not received the order to fire, and they were all ready for it, and I believe very little more would have provoked that order to be issued by the Admiral, under the circumstances.' He reproduces an extract 'from the letter of an old Winchester, the late Admiral Sir Charles Fellowes' (reprinted with permission of 'the courteous proprietor of the Englishman'), to show that 'however ill they may think of their officers, those officers are never unmindful of their comfort and welfare'. The extract from a letter 'to the author' is dated from 'St. Jerome, Dunkeld N.B., November 6, 1882.' It is followed by a section subtitled 'The Winchester's Last Commission', beginning: 'H.M.S. Winchester, a fifty-gun frigate of the Symonds type, was towed down Portsmouth harbour out of “ordinary,” and placed in commission under the able command of Captain Gower Grenville Loch, C.B., on St. Patrick's day, 1852.' There follow details of events in 1852, including: 'May 14, 1852. - Went out of harbour and anchored at Spithead, the writer having been drafter to her from H.M.S. Victory, as a boy of first class and school apprentice, two days previously.' A dialogue ('dispute') between the ships boatswain and 'old Father Neptune' is also given, followed by an extended description of the elaborate initiation ceremony for 'young children on board', involving 'the barber, with his huge razors, manufactured out of old iron hoops, some of them jagged like a saw, and his filthy lather of tar, grease, and all sorts of unnamable abominations'. The 'lofty land of the Cape' is sighted, and the ship sets sail for 'the East Indies, to take part in the war with Burma', 'sailing out of Simon's Bay […] close to the dreaded rocks on which H.M.S. Birkenhead struck' (he gives a reminiscence regarding the 'enquiry into the Birkenhead's loss', on board 'the old Victory'). The item ends abruptly, at the foot of p.viii: 'But speedily we left the soaring albatross and the lively little Cape pigeons far away astern, as the weather warmed up in the tropics, after shaping our course for Point de Galle, which place we reached at 4 P.M. on August 31st: and merely staying long enough to communicate with the shore, at midnight, we hove up the anchor and started for Trincomalee […]'.