Famous Naval Mutinies Which Changed The Path Of History

Rebels do not only wander on lands but on the seas as well and we bring you today, some of history's most ferocious naval rebellions.

i. The Hermione Mutiny

The Royal Navy vessel, Hermione was trawling the Caribbean on the night of September 21, 1797, when the crew launched the bloodiest mutiny in British naval history. Angry at the draconian punishments their captain, Hugh Pigot meted out to them, nearly thirty men spilt into groups and launched a coordinated attack on their superiors. 

With many of them drunk, the captain was stabbed to death in his cabin and several other officer's were slaughtered with cutlasses and tomahawks. Once in control of the ship, the crew dragged the rest of the officers to the main deck and those whom they approved were spared while the rest were simply tossed overboard.

 A total of ten officers were murdered in the uprise. Knowing they could never return to England, the mutineers sailed for La Guaira in modern-day Venezuela and claiming they had merely murdered their superiors in a frenzy, they agreed to turn over Hermione to the Spanish in exchange for asylum. 

The British authorities apprehended a few of the mutineers based on tips from informants but over one hundred and twenty evaded capture and Hermione sailed under the Spanish flag until 1799, when the British HMS Surprise recaptured it in a brave night raid.

ii. The Kiel Mutiny

The beginning of the German Revolution and the end of World War I started when sailors rebelled in Kiel's mutiny. The uprising began in October 1918 when Germany's tired sailors learned of a plan to launch a last-ditch attack against the British Royal Navy.

 Unwilling to partake in what they saw as a suicide mission, crews at the port of Wilmershaven simply ignored their orders and refused to prepare their ships for battle. When the ringleader's of the protests were arrested, it sparked a bloody mutiny which soon spread to the nearby city of Kiel. 

These demonstrations succeeded in stopping the German Navy's attack plans, but by November 3, the mutinies had turned into a revolution and thousands of people occupying ships and buildings eventually seized control of the whole city. 

The rebellion seemed to be contagious as similar uprisings soon sprang up throughout Germany. Within a few days, the German war effort crumbled and Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated his throne, making way for the eventual rise of the Weimar Republic.

iii. The Potemkin Mutiny

Being one of the pivotal events in the 1905 Russian Revolution, the Potemkin Mutiny was sparked by a mundane argument over food. It occurred during the Russo-Japanese War when the seven hundred crewmen of the battleship Potemkin were given rations of borscht made from maggot-ridden meat.

 Forced to eat the broth or face punishment, the sailors rebelled and under the leadership of a revolutionary mariner, Afanasy Matyushenko, the crew killed nearly half of the ship's officer's in a bloody shootout before commandeering Potemkin and the torpedo boat, Ismail. The triumphant Matyushenko and his rebels sailed on the sea for eleven days before surrendering the battleship in Romania. 

Many of the crewmen remained in exile but others, including Matyushenko returned to Russia only to be arrested and executed. The mutiny was immortalized in the 1925 silent film “Battleship Potemkin” and was a significant influence on the 1917 revolution that led to the Soviet Union's creation.