POSTSCRIPT
Whenthe venerable lady—the Marian Johnstone of the preceding narrative—had arrived at this point, she declined to proceed. She said she had told enough. If a sequel was necessary, it must be invented. She had several grandchildren, and she did not choose to vex or distress them by unnecessary candour.
With much coaxing, however, and during repeated visits, she let fall enough to admit of a truthful ending to her strange tale, and the few things material omitted by her were supplied by Admiralty records and certain files of shipping papers.
It seems that amongst them they safely carried the little brigOld Stormyto the English Channel, where, hauling in close to the French coast, they spoke a French smack, and Captain Butler went ashore to await Marian Johnstone in some French or Flemishtown that had been agreed upon. The brig then stretched across to the English coast and landed Nodder, who died twenty-four hours after his arrival in England. Then, with the assistance of a few ’longshoremen, the vessel was carried to the Thames.
Miss Johnstone at once called upon her uncle. No particulars of an interview, which surely must have been memorable and remarkable, were to be procured. Though Captain Butler had sworn that he would not accept a free pardon if it were granted, nor ever again set foot in his native country, Miss Johnstone went to work nevertheless to render him what is called by the lawyers an unattainted person. It might have been that Captain Butler knew the law better than she; it is certain that her uncle, Mr. Johnstone, a shrewd old lawyer, gave her neither hope nor encouragement. His reasons are probably indicated in an ‘opinion’ he obtained from one who stood high as a legal authority in his day. The following extract may be given:
‘The unfortunate master has apparently been guilty of no less than three differentfelonies within the jurisdiction of the Lord High Admiral,i.e.on the high seas. The three felonies are (1) scuttling, of which he is wrongfully convicted and transported; (2) being at large during a sentence of transportation without lawful excise—felony under 5 Geo. IV., c. 84, s. 24; and (3) of being concerned with other convicts in piracy with bloodshed, under 18 Geo. II., c. 30, s. 2. As to pardons: All convictions are to be presumed, of course, to be correctly made until the contrary be shown. By 7 Geo. IV., c. 28, a warrant under the royal sign manual is equivalent to a pardon under the great seal, and this only as a pardon as to the specific felony committed by the pardoned, and does not avail as to any offence committed subsequently to that pardoned and not mentioned in the pardon.’
The seizure of theChilde Haroldhad occurred subsequently to Butler’s conviction for attempting to scuttle theArab Chief. He was also at large whilst still a convict. Miss Johnstone, with much spirit, but with a good deal of wrong-headed obstinacy also, persistedin struggling in the direction of a pardon for her sweetheart until certain convincing representations finally determined her to desist. Having made all necessary arrangements with regard to her property, she joined Captain Butler abroad and was married to him. They ultimately went to the United States, and it is understood that for some years Captain Butler had command of a fine clipper ship flying the Stars and Stripes and trading between Boston and the western South American seaboard.
The award for the salving of theOld Stormymade a considerable sum. The cargo proved to be exceedingly valuable. Some of the pictures were by great masters, and the consignment of china alone was valued at eleven thousand pounds. Captain Butler, through Miss Johnstone, refused to touch one penny of the award; the money was therefore paid in sums proportioned by the rating to Mr. Bates, Will Johnstone, and the man Collins.
It is remarkable that the cabin story of the abandonment of theOld Stormyproved absolutely true. A single survivor of thecrew was rescued; he was carried to Sierra Leone, where he died; before he died he detailed the facts of the mutiny, murders, and abandonment, precisely as they were recited in the document found in the brig.
TheChilde Haroldwas fallen in with by a large heavily armed Portuguese man-of-war, thirty leagues west of the island of Tristan d’Acunha. She had been wrecked aloft in a gale; the convicts were in terrible distress, they were short of water, they had wantonly wasted the ship’s stock of provisions. The commander of the Portuguese ship perceiving the vessel’s character sent a number of armed men on board, and then, strangely enough, towed her for a supply of fresh water to Tristan d’Acunha, where both ships arrived three weeks after the departure of theOld Stormyfrom that island. The transport was then conveyed to Table Bay, refitted, placed in charge of a new captain and officers along with a strong crew, and despatched on her voyage to Hobart Town, where she safely arrived. How the ringleaders were punished has not been ascertained.
The long-boat, containing Captain Sutherland, Captain Barrett, the soldiers, women and children, was fallen in within seven or eight degrees north latitude, and the people, who were all in good health in spite of great sufferings from exposure—one death only, a child, having happened—were carried round the Horn before there occurred an opportunity to tranship and send them home. But the quarter-boats in which the seamen had been sent adrift were never accounted for.
This, then, is the true sequel of the extraordinary adventures of the remarkable young woman who has been styled in this narrative of her experiences Marian Johnstone.
THE END
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.The cover image for this eBook was created by the transcriber and is entered into the public domain.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
The cover image for this eBook was created by the transcriber and is entered into the public domain.