Gabriel Powell (rebel)

Munden caught three fully loaded Dutch ships and landed a small force of marines behind Jamestown and recaptured the island on 4 May.

[2] After these hostilities, the East India Company found it hard to convince the English settlers, who had fled the island, to return, let alone to recruit new colonists.

[4] Throughout the early 1680s, Powell expanded his landholdings and established himself on the south coast at the opposite end of the island to the capital, Jamestown, where a bay, valley and point were named after the family.

[7] The St Helena Council Consultations, which are filled with the complaints and counter-claims of the islanders, contain a number of disputes in which Gabriel Powell senior features.

[9] His location on the far side of the island with direct access to the sea, put Powell in a good position to be able to profit form illegal trade with non-East India Company ships.

This incident demonstrates Powell's increasing dissatisfaction with the island's authorities and the severity of his punishment must have been a factor behind his decision to rebel.

The soldiers' grievances included: poor pay, rations and conditions (particularly, the harsh punishments); but their main gripe was that the East India Company was not honouring its commitment for a passage home at the end of their commissions.

Like the soldiers, they were unhappy with the martinet nature of the regime, but they also had to struggle with unstable economic conditions and an unsympathetic Governor in John Blackmore.

[12] The erratic responses of his administration, made it seem that the East India Company was more intent on milking the planters dry through taxation, than helping establish a robust market economy.

Little mercy was shown the rebels and no heed was taken of their plea to be tried by a British court rather than the Governor's tribunal, which answered to the East India Company, rather than the Crown.

Although numbers and details vary from version to version, further to the four rebels, who had already been killed in the uprising, two more were hung from the fort wall on 23 December 1684; another five were hung about twelve months later; at least six were exiled to Barbados (four of whom had had their death sentences commuted); about seven were forced to relocate to Bombay; and thirty other islanders were made to kneel down with halters around the necks and swear allegiance to the King and to thank the East India Company for its mercy.

In Brooke's account, a number of islanders, led by Powell and John Sheldon, mounted a campaign to the East India Company Directors and the British Government complaining of the harsh treatment of their friends and seeking financial redress, particularly for the widows and/or orphans of the executed rebels.

Janisch reports that conditions were so bad that: In April–May 1689, while he was still in prison, Powell managed, secretly, to sell off some of his assets to fund his escape, although, technically, the sale would need validation by the council.