Cyprus mutiny Cyprus mutiny The "Cyprus" mutiny took place in 1829 off the British penal settlement of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania, Australia). Convicts seized the brig and sailed her to Canton, China, where they scuttled her and claimed to be castaways from another vessel. On the way, "Cyprus" visited Japan during the height of the period of severe Japanese restrictions on the entry of foreigners, the first Australian ship to do so. The mutineers were eventually captured. Two of them, George James Davis and William Watts, were hanged at Execution Dock, London on 16 December 1830, the last men hanged for
William Watts [1725] 1728 – 3 February 1812), a well-connected widow. She is known to history as Begum Johnson and lived most of her remarkably long life in Calcutta, which in 1772 became the "de facto" capital of British India. This connected William Watts to the Governors of Fort St. David and of Calcutta. Watts was proficient in Bengali, Hindustani and Persian languages. He was chief of the Kasimbazar (or Cossimbazar) factory (trading post) of the East India Company. Robert Clive made Watts the Company's representative to the Nawab's court at Murshidabad. Clive engaged Watts to work out a secret plan for