Shipboard Rebellion on the Pleiades

If other officers of the steamship Pleiades had not come to the rescue of Mate Armstrong just as they did last night, Armstrong would not be enjoying the balmy atmosphere of the Puget Sound country today. The Pleiades has a Chinese crew, and it is customary for the officers to give all orders to the crew through 'Chinaman No. 1' or the chief boatswain. Armstrong became dissatisfied with the manner in which the cook was dishing up his daily bread and insisted on a change. He had made several protests, but all to no avail. Some way or another he got it into his head that 'No. 1' was to blame. This particular man had been ordered several times to punish the cook for minor offenses but had always neglected to obey the orders. Armstrong decided that he would administer the punishment that had been so long deserved, and that is where he ran up against the 'ethics' of Chinese seamanship. The ordinary seaman does not object to being flogged if the operation is performed by the proper authorities, but for a man to be flogged by an ordinary 'foreign devil' is too much for any respectable seaman to stand. If 'No. 1' had administered the punishment, the cook would have had nothing to say. Under the circumstances, he rebelled, whereupon his fellow countrymen present joined in the fray. It did not take them long to make the mate think he was up against half a dozen heavyweights, and he soon decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and he proceeded to call for help. When help arrived, Armstrong had been knocked to the floor with a club and was receiving punishment in a manner that would have been creditable even to the heavyweights. The crew members were soon subdued and the cook and 'No. 1' put in irons, where they will remain until the ship gets to sea, where punishment of the 'high seas' style will probably be administered.