Near Mutiny on the Awatea

Interviewer: Your first impression of the Awatea?

The Awatea was . . . when we got, went on board, we found, discovered that we were to sleep in hammocks over the mess tables. It was very crowded and as I recall there was a, I wouldn't say, well, yes I guess you could say it was almost a mutiny occurred. There was another NCO and myself, were right in there. The only thing we found that, when we decided to walk off the ship, the most of the men, wanted an NCO to lead them. Which this other fellow and I would not do because that definitely would, would have been called mutiny. And, but a lot of fellas did walk off and our own officers broke machine guns out and covered them while they were on the dock, and then the negotiations started of course for them to return. Some of the fellows I would say, oh four or five, neglected to return, they just took off and I guess they were not found until after we had sailed. When the majority were back on board the ship, we heaved up anchor and went out into the bay.

Interviewer: What was the reason for the mutiny Mr. Peterson?

I would say the, the confinement of the ship, the . . . I can't, couldn't say the food yet, because we hadn't been fed yet. Just, I don't know a sort of, possibly uneasiness, of premonition of what was going to happen. I couldn't tell you, I don't know, but it was definitely there.