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One of the strangest stories in the brief history of the Queensland Marine Defence Force was that of Captain Henry Townley-Wright. Captain Wright, an Englishman, was appointed Senior Naval Officer of the Force in 1881 after retiring from the Royal Navy. His four-year career in Queensland was marked by several controversies, including an apparent lack of discipline amongst the Gayundah crew. Reports from the time say some residents of Kangaroo Point lived in fear of unruly sailors. Wright himself was an undischarged bankrupt. [His capacity for high living exceeded his salary of £600 a year. He had also been accused of misappropriating public money. A wine and spirits debt of £165 is noted]. By 1887 the state of his local debts had became so bad, the Queensland Government requested his resignation. Captain Wright refused. He claimed the privilege of being in command of a ship bearing the White Ensign, indicating the ultimate authority of the British Admiralty [rather than the authority of the Queensland Government]. In late 1888 a further crisis developed when Captain Wright demanded forward payment of his salary. The Government refused and instructed him to hand over charge of Gayundah to his first lieutenant, Francis Pringle Taylor. Wright ignored their demand. Instead, he placed Taylor under arrest on board the boat. The Government then officially dismissed Captain Wright. In response, he prepared to sail the Gayundah to Sydney. The Queensland Government interpreted this act as mutiny and theft. It decided to take severe measures. Armed police were sent to the Botanic Gardens with orders [from Colonial Secretary Morehead via Police Commissioner D.T. Seymour] to prevent the ship, which was moored in the middle of the river, from leaving Brisbane. [A squad of 20 police marksmen lined the riverbank, training their rifles on Wright and his crew, while] a crowd of more than 2,000 curious onlookers gathered to watch the extraordinary scene. [Commissioner Seymour proceeded aboard Gayundah followed after by Under Colonial Secretary Gray]. It was reported at the time that Wright considered aiming the Gayundah’s guns at Parliament House [and that he had discussed with his gunner the practicability of doing so], before finally agreeing to release Taylor and surrender to the police. Captain Townley-Wright, RN, was removed from the ship. [ This episode caused much disquiet - after all, this was one of Her Majesty's captains being arrested at gunpoint, beneath the Union Jack, by another jurisdiction altogether! The Battle of Brisbane, with police snipers lining
the river banks and Gayundah's guns manned, had been narrowly averted.] The above text has been adapted from Gibson, David A. "The White Ensign", Queensland Heritage, Vol. 3 No. 7, November 1977, pp. 3-15. The portions in [ ] brackets are additions from other sources.
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