A MUTINOUS NAVY.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 22, 9 January 1911, Page 7

A MUTINOUS NAVY.

RIO DE JANEIRO SHELLED. OFFICERS KILLED. London, Nov. 25. A somewhat hferious naval mutiny has brokeno ut at Rio de Janeiro. The vessels involved were the newly-built Brazilian dreadnoughts —Minas Geraes and Sao Paulo—the latter of which was at Lisbon during the recent revolution, and afterwards sailed for Brazil conveying Marshal Hermes da Forseca, the President-elect, back to his native land after his tour in Europe. The crew murdered some of their officers, shipped the others on land, and then fired slid Is on the city. The men then offered to surrender if an amnesty was guar anteed. and their demands attend :d to. This demand is under con-

sideration by the Senate, and, in official language, the incident is regarded as closed. The result was entirely non-political, and was confined to the sailors. THE BOMBARDMENT. Captain Neves, commanding the Minas Geraes. had on Tuesday night been dining on board the French cruiser Duguay- Tronin. Towards 10 o’clock he returned to iiis ship, and as he stepped on board there was a great uproar, mingled with the report of ritb*s. This was the first intimation of the mutiny. The captain anil two officers, supported by . a few bluejackets, resisted their assailants, but were soon despatched, while another officer was mortally wounded. The crew shouted, “ Long live liberty I” This success was immediately followed by a mutiny in the other dreadnought, the Sao

Paulo, and the scout Bahia. All the officers were put ashore, and a first-class seaman named Joao Candido took command of the squad- I ron. The ships were abundantly | supplied with ammunition and pro- | visions, and they requisitioned coal | from the private depot on Vianna Island. They also seized some barges carrying coal for the French mail steamer Atlantique and the [ British steamer Oronsa. Later a bombardment of the city was begun and kept up at intervals throughout the night, causing consternation among the inhabitants. In the morning a gun was occasionally fired by the mutineers. The mutinous ships, nearly all flying the red flag, proceeded to perform some evolutions in the bay. j The loyal torpedo destroyers took up stations at the end of the bay i in readiness to torpedo the mutineers at the word of command. At ' 7 o’clock the Minas Geraes. San j Paulo. Bahia, and Floriano crossed the bar and opened fire on the forts, but they did not reply. As soon as they were over the bar. : the mutineer-? put about and reentered the bay. taking up positions commanding the city and firing their guns at various points. One shell of small calibre penetrated a house on Castello Hill, in the I middle of the city. Two children , and a woman in *he street were

killed. During the day the naval arsenal formed a special target for the mutineers. At mid-day a boat flying a white flag hailed the San Paulo. On board it was a deputy and retired naval officer named Carvalho, who came to parley. Later he went on board to convey the terms on which the Government would accept surrender. CAUSE OF THE TROUBLE.

According io a Belgian at present in London, discontent has been smouldering for some time past among the Brazilian sailors, who complain of their inconsiderate treatment and inadequate pay. This discontent was greatly accentuated by the visit to England of the crews whose business it was to take the new dreadnoughts and destroyers to Rio. These men saw how different their conditions of life were from those of the sailor in the British navy, and probably made up their minds to make an early effort to better their conditions while such powerful weapons of compulsion were ready to their hands.