Season 4, Episode 7: The “Berwind” Mutiny
Guest: Tim Garrity
Air Date: April 13, 2023
Host: Jenna Jandreau
Chebacco Chats welcomes back Tim Garrity to talk about one of the worst cases of mutiny and mass murder in American maritime history, on board the Berwind, captained by Edwin Rumill of Pretty Marsh. This fascinating story from history includes Rumill’s background on MDI, conditions on board the Berwind, what happened on that fateful day, and the course of events after the “mutineers” were captured.
In Garrity’s article in Chebacco: The Maritime Edition, he writes, “Of all the stories we tell about Mount Desert Island’s histories, the Berwind mutiny is one of the lesser knowns, appearing rarely in published work or media produced for the tourist trade. The subject’s obscurity is surprising since the episode illustrates so well the hardships endured by mariners and their families at home. The tale of the Berwind is also rare among Mount Desert Island stories in that it features men of color, whose lives at sea were especially difficult and became more so if they fell into the hands of the criminal justice system.”
About Our Guest
Tim Garrity was executive director and historian of the Mount Desert Island Historical Society from 2010 to 2020. He and his wife, Lynn, reside in Blue Hill. He is Chair of the Advisory Board for the Clement and Linda McGillicuddy Humanities Center at the University of Maine and a volunteer for the Blue Hill Heritage Trust.
Chebacco articles by Tim Garrity
- The Berwind Mutiny (2023)
- The Stone Barn Farm (2022)
- Land of Lies: The Role of Deception at Saint Sauveur (2020)
- George Hefflon’s Silent Mission (2019)
- The Norwood’s Cove Object: Saint Sauveur in History and Legend (2018)
- Real and Imagined France in Acadia National Park (2017)
- Immigrants in the Borderland, 1880-1920 (2016)
- Borderland of the Present with Catherine Schmitt (2016)
- A Cloud of Witnesses (2015)
- The War at Home – Copperheads Down East, 1861-1865 (2014)
- Far from Home: The Spring of 1864 (2013)
- The Woman Question: Francis Parkman’s Arguments Against Women’s Suffrage (2012)
- John Gilley Fell at the Battle of the Wilderness (2011)
Previous Chebacco Chat appearances
- Season 3, Episode 14: The Stone Barn Farm with Renee Duncan of Maine Coast Heritage Trust
- No. 35: Centennials: Now and Then
- No. 32: George Hefflon’s Silent Mission
- No. 30: The Norwood Cove Object
- No. 23: John Gilley Fell at the Battle of the Wilderness