Hmm - if it was foggy (not mentioned previously - bit of a 'drip feed' topic !) then neither option seems particularly attractive to me:
Punching into a current at maximum revs, engine
exhaust roaring away, noisy bow-wave but making slow speed over the ground, in a narrow potentially congested channel in poor visibility, with any shipping coming out downtide having to travel fast to maintain steerage way, is NOT a great recipe for avoiding collisions...
It's very easy to be run into from behind, as well, in a channel, if you don't keep watch as thoroughly astern as ahead.
At least if you're quietly hove to, engine shut down, away from the bottleneck of the channel, you can keep all your senses working, and people have a better chance of avoiding a stationary target. Definitely more seamanlike than anchoring: too hard to take avoiding action.
On the smattering of facts you've laid out for us, I think your musings regarding mutiny might be a bit unfair, bordering on lubberly