As Spencer Tracy said in Fury, "The mob doesn't think. It has no mind of its own." I don't think the quote originated with that movie but whoever first said it, it's generally true.
While the book gives more of the reasons, even in the movie we see Jake Holman remaining an individual, always separate from the crew. Holman gives in on some small issues, but his nature requires him to resist become part of the it's always been done this way crowd. To some degree we are all against change when the status quo is comfortable for us.
But there are those who, however comfortable the situation, can see a better way to do things, just as there are those who are never really happy with anything, even though they don't know a better way. Either type can be a problem for a unified group. They are likely to face hostility from the group if circumstances change, especially when it's for the worse. Even when Holman proves his way works (very true in the book), they know he isn't really onboard with how things are. It's easy to blame him for why their idealistic world is collapsing.
As things progress they aren't only unhappy, they are actually scared. Even in a cohesive unit this will lead to problems since they have an individual who seems to be the cause of the trouble. Normally where you have great leadership the senior officer will try to direct any anger or discontent to themselves, but for the Sand Pebbles, Collins can't achieve that since he was a fine captain until Holman arrived. The Sand Pebbles are a unit, but for the crew they are a unit minus Jake Holman.
The other consideration is the crew was ignorant of the reality. The Chinese wanted Holman, supposedly for trial. We may know any trial would be a sham, but the mob would justify in their minds that a trial was appropriate and if Holman was innocent he would be set free. To them a Captain's Mast or Court Martial is probably the only law they know, and they would expect Holman's trial would be a fair outcome.
Near mutinies have happened before where the mob failed to consider both sides of the issue. Not many, if any, have centralized on a single individual, but the mob only needs a reason, however unreasonable it might be. I doubt all my points are correct as the writer intended, but I never thought the crew's behavior was strange. In my own time I have witnessed units begin to break down, although not with such serious consequences at stake. Like a mob they had to be forced to actually think about what they were doing, and then they backed down.
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