H.M.S Dreadful- part the second.

Lieutenant Summers was at first a competent and respected leader. His popularity, however, was eroded by the uncertainty over the future. Return to Britain or any of its possessions was out of the question, but they couldn't simply sail around for ever hoping to evade capture and retribution.
H.M.S Dreadful landed at Tome- Tome on May 15th 1777. Now, for the first time the men were faced with the option of forming their own settlement.
Of the original 71 mutineers only 50 now remained, disease, malnutrition and desertion having accounted for the others. There were new additions however, in the form of 20 or so women who the crew had picked up from Wessel's Island at the northernmost end of the archipelago. Within a week of their arrival at Tome- Tome the first signs of the notorious Island Malaise that had so badly effected the earlier Portuguese settlement began to appear amongst the crew. By June 20th there had been 30 fatalities, including Lieutenant Summers and a number of the women.Two factions now formed.

Mister Jeffries

Mister Jeffries, the First Mate, was in favour of remaining at sea and petitioning the crown for a pardon.

Midshipman Cock

Midshipman Cock, on the other hand, wanted to found a settlement on Tome- Tome based on libertarian principles. He put forward a convincing case for the sustainability of such a project. The land, he noted, was fertile and the fishing was good.
Two accounts remain of the parting of the ways- Cocks' report, written years later, is very damning of Jeffries' motives, saying that he was 'hellbent on pursuing a career in piracy'. A more balanced account came from Midshipman Bould, who reluctantly sided with Jeffries in the hope of somehow returning to England. Bould eventually achieved his aim 22 years later, and was the sole participant in the mutiny to be granted a Royal Pardon (1798).

Citizen Thomas Cock (left) and his Council.

Eventually after much debate and one minor skirmish (described by Bould as 'little more than an ale-house brawl...') Jeffries put to sea with a skeleton crew of 20 supporters. Cock and those loyal to him ( including the women) remained. Tamba- Tamba had come into being...