Mutiny

a rising of soldiers or sailors against a lawful officer. To join a mutiny, or to incite an insurrection among soldiers or sailors, is a serious offense. The laws of the United States provide that a soldier guilty of the offense shall be tried by court-martial and shall suffer death or such other punishment as the court may determine upon. A mutiny among seamen being regarded as a still more serious affair, death alone is the penalty. The laws of Great Britain are similar. In Russia the power of summary punishment is lodged in the hands of superior officers. Soldiers or sailors guilty of disobedience, not amounting to mutiny, may be put to death, even without the formality of trial. One of the most notable cases of mutiny on record is that of the sailors of the ship Bounty in 1789. The sailors arose in mutiny and took possession of the ship, setting their officers and eighteen of the crew adrift. As certain punishment awaited them if they returned home, about half of the mutineers settled on Pitcairn Island, where their descendants still live. In 1809 a British ship happening to touch for water, was surprised to find young men who spoke the English language. On inquiry, it was found that they were descendants of old mutineers who had taken native wives. The settlement thus founded still occupies the island. See Selkirk