Germany Investigates Modern-Day Mutiny on High Seas Aboard Gorch Fock

Germany has ordered one of its naval ships into an Argentine port, as defense officials fly there to investigate reports of a modern-day mutiny on the high seas. Sailors are alleged to have refused orders en masse, after a female recruit plunged to her death while climbing the ship's 120-foot mast during a training exercise on the tall ship.

German officials have since fielded allegations of a cover-up and reports of harsh treatment of the dead recruit's comrades, who were in mourning.

The sailor's death and subsequent row happened in November aboard the German navy's prestigious Gorch Fock, a triple-masted vessel with square sails that's been used to train recruits since 1958. Sarah Schmidt, 25, fell off the mast and died during a stopover in Brazil, the BBC said, citing a leaked parliamentary report. Several of her comrades, upset about her death, refused to climb the mast, and some wanted to get off the ship altogether.

Germany Probes Real-Life Mutiny on High Seas

Danny Gohlke, AFP / Getty Images

Cadets of the German navy are said to have mutinied on the training ship Gorch Fock after the death of a 25-year-old student, who fell off the mast.

"What followed was, simply, a mutiny," Hellmut Königshaus, commissioner for the armed forces of the Bundestag, told a parliamentary committee this week, according to Britain's Daily Mail.

Angry about their refusal to follow orders, the ship's captain, Norbert Schatz, cabled back to Germany that he was in a "Captain Bligh" situation -- a reference to the 1789 mutiny on the Bounty, when sailors on a British warship overpowered their cruel captain, William Bligh, and cast him adrift in an open boat.

Schatz accused four officer-cadets of "lack of cooperation with the ship's command" and ordered them to be flown back to Germany, claiming they had "mutinied and incited the crew," The Independent reported. Schatz also reportedly teased the young cadets, accusing them of being weak and fearful. He said that when he was younger, he used to climb trees. "Young people don't sit in cherry trees any more, they sit in front of computers," the newspaper quoted Schatz as saying.

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Word of the alleged mutiny eventually filtered back to the German government, and parliament began investigating. On Thursday, the German military ordered the ship into the Argentine port city of Ushuaia, where investigators are en route to visit the ship and get to the bottom of what happened.

The incident has sparked criticism of Germany's defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, who's accused of failing to maintain order in the military, and also of not reeling in the cadets' harsh commanders.

"If there have been failures, there will be consequences. This has to be cleared up," Guttenberg said in today's edition of the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, according to Deutsche Welle. He rejected the allegation that there had been a cover-up after the cadet's death.

"Degrading military exercises will not be tolerated," he was quoted as saying.