Men Convicted Of Mutiny

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32382, 22 August 1970, Page 13

Men Convicted Of Mutiny

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) ROSYTH (Scotland), Aug. 21. The five sailors convicted of the Royal Navy’s first mutiny in 16 years were sentenced today to terms of up to 21-months detention. A court-martial has ordered that all five be dismissed with disgrace from the service. The court had been told that the five staged a sitdown outside the wardroom of the minesweeper Iveston on July 5, after a heavy day’s drinking, and defied all orders to move.

“Their conduct was insubordinate and almost villainous,” said Commander Angus Falconer, the prosecuting officer. He submitted, however, that none of the five was so drunk that he did not know what he was doing. This point was challenged by defence counsel, who said that the sailors had drunk so much they could not possibly have realised what they were doing. One of the sailors had drunk a tot of rum, 14 pints of beer, 11 whiskies, one vodka, and six cans of beer. “I think I would be dead after taking all that,” said counsel.

Recalling that mutiny had once carried the death penalty, defence counsel said, “it seems incongruous that out of a drunken shambles, a charge which might have led to the death-penalty should have arisen.” The court was told that the five sang Irish rebel songs and that one of them, Edward Griffiths, struck a chief petty-officer.