He had informed them that, whatever happened, they should not be in danger; that the ship should not join the West Indian fleet unless every man except himself received amnesty.

If the amnesty was not granted, then one of two things should happen--the ship must make for a South American port, or she must fight.

Fighting would not frighten these men.
It was rather among the midshipmen that Dyck looked for trouble.
Sometimes, with only two years' training at Gosport, a youngster became a midshipman on first going to sea, and he could begin as early as eleven years of age.

A second-rate ship like the Ariadne carried eighteen midshipmen; and as six lieutenants were appointed from them, only twelve remained.

From these twelve, in the dingy after-cockpit, where the superficial area was not more than twelve square feet; where the air was foul, and the bilges reeked with a pestilential stench; where the purser's store-room near gave out the smell of rancid butter and poisonous cheese; where the musty taint of old ropes came to them, there was a spirit of danger.
Dyck was right in thinking that in the midshipmen's dismal berth the first flowers of revolt to his rule would bloom.
Sailors, even as low as the pig-sty men, had some idea of fair play; and as the weeks that had passed since they left the Thames had given them better food and drink, and lessened the severity of those above them, real obedience had come.
It was not strange that the ship ran well, for all the officers under the new conditions, except Dyck himself, had had previous experience.
The old lieutenants had gone, but midshipmen, who in any case were trained, had taken their places.