Mutiny on the Rising Sun by Jared Ross Hardesty

Author:Jared Ross Hardesty [Hardesty, Jared Ross]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS036020 History / United States / Colonial Period (1600-1775)
Publisher: NYU Press

6

Aftermaths

Edward Tothill was probably annoyed by the execution. Certainly, he wanted to see justice served and may have even enjoyed watching the men who murdered his “good friend” George Ledain receive their comeuppance. Nevertheless, Governor Mauricius’s insistence on spectacle impeded Tothill’s ability to deal with the mutiny’s fallout. It was up to him to salvage the schooner and its cargo, notify Gedney Clarke, the widows, and other business partners, and help resolve any questions and disputes over property. To ensure that happened, Tothill had to work within Suriname’s legal structure, using the personal relationships he had cultivated with planters and local officials, while also drawing on his New England contacts. It was a delicate balancing act.

As Tothill helped spread word across the Atlantic, the survivors and family and friends of the victims had to deal with the aftermath of the mutiny. It is hard to fathom how the mutiny affected the individual lives and psyches of those involved. Legal records, account books, and business correspondence—the archive of this study—rarely convey emotion. Yet it is also difficult to reckon with the sheer tragedy of it all. The mutiny shattered families and communities, destroyed relationships, jeopardized livelihoods, and threw lives and futures into chaos.

Paramaribo was a small town, and Tothill was well connected. As soon as Blake and Shaw arrived on 26 June 1743 (7 July NS), he learned of the mutiny. The news of Ledain’s death must have shocked Tothill. Heartbroken, the merchant felt duty bound not only to his friend but also to the newly widowed Mary Ledain. Since Ledain was part owner of the Rising Sun, he immediately requested the governor send a crew to recover the schooner.1 In doing so, Tothill established himself as the go-to person for Dutch officials in regard to the case and the caretaker and executor of Ledain’s interests in Suriname.

Tothill’s desires, however, were more easily requested than achieved. Almost immediately, Governor Mauricius encountered problems with recovering the ship and its cargo. On 27 June (OS), the day after Blake and Shaw arrived with the mutineers, the governor complained about his inability to find a crew to go to Courantyne and retrieve the Rising Sun. Ship captains in Paramaribo were resistant, complaining that it would take upward of two months to complete the task. Even offering money and other incentives, including part of the ship’s lucrative cargo, could not change their minds. Eventually, the governor found a captain willing to lend his ship and gathered individual sailors and others to man the vessel. Mauricius asked Tothill to select a British merchant to accompany the voyage. Although this merchant’s name is never given, Mauricius wanted the ship and its cargo assessed according to British custom. By this point, the governor had to know that enslaved people were part of the cargo, either from Heijse’s report or from his encounter with the Rising Sun the previous month. The governor did not promulgate any specific instructions about the captives but nevertheless prepared for the arrival of a ship full of contraband.

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