Mills was captain of the
Colinda which was chartered by the Hudson's Bay Company in
1854 to carry goods and over 200 passengers, servants, and coal miners from
London to
Victoria.
1 Instead of
Victoria, the ship arrived at the
Port of Valdivia because his passengers forced him to stop there.
2 The passengers were tried in a naval court for
mutinous and piratical conduct.
However, Mills did not prove the charges and was in turn charged with failure to
provide enough food for the passengers.
3 After this, the passengers refused to travel with Mills and he sold most of his cargo.
He advertised his journey to those at the
Port of Valdivia before being towed to
Victoria by a steam ship.
4 In
Victoria, Mills obtained an
injunction
for his failure to properly execute the charter.
5 The
Colinda was then sent back to
London.
6 Mills refused to hand over the money that he received from selling the ship’s goods.
Only after a
tedious process,
authorities recieved the money from Mills.
7Mills wrote to
Sir George Grey in
1855 to complain about the attitudes of the
Vancouver Island authorities.
8 Mills claimed that the
loose manner of the Company’s Servants
and the promises they made to his passengers
created a tissue of grievances
which were
out of [his] power to control.
This, he argued, was why his passengers rebelled against him. He was thrown into
prison for four months and was interrogated privately and not allowed visitors. Mills
claimed to have been in solitary confinement for two months.
9 His ship was, according to Mills, seized in
the Queen's name
and
converted into a brothel for prositutes and drunkards.
10 A few months later Mills received a reply stating that nothing could be done for
his case. He reiterated his issue, but the case was ignored.
11
- 1. Douglas to Grey, Sir George, 26 October 1854, No. 41, 1917, CO 305/5, p. 122.
- 2. BC Metis, John Powell Mills, Metis Nation of British Columbia.
- 3. Douglas to Grey, Sir George, 26 October 1854, No. 41, 1917, CO 305/5, p. 122.
- 4. Ibid.
- 5. Ibid.
- 6. Douglas to Grey, Sir George, 13 May 1855, No. 4, 6876, CO 305/6, p. 47.
- 7. Ibid.
- 8. Mills to Grey, 1853-08, 276, CO 305/6, p. 313.
- 9. Ibid.
- 10. Ibid.
- 11. Mills to Molesworth, 6 August 1855, 7488, CO 305/6, p. 319.