On this first voyage of the "Julia Ann" to Australia, Captain Pond "made every preparation to guard against and prevent, if possible, any effort on the part of the crew to introduce a Neptune carousal" when they crossed equator.   But a barrel of whiskey had been smuggled on board and the crew got drunk and took over the ship. Pond says, "all authority was lost, and for three days we were barricaded in our state rooms and the ship allowed to drift at the mercy of the wind, no person at the helm."

With help from some of the passengers, Pond and Captain Davis were able to regain control of the "Julia Ann", "placing the second and third mates in irons, and confining them in their staterooms..." However the ship was a mess. He says, "The ship was dismasted, fore and aft. All three of her top gallant masts were hanging by their rigging over the sides. We rigged up jury masts, got what sail we could on the ship, and bore away to Tahiti, the nearest port under our lee."