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.