AT SPITHEAD, APRIL 15TH.—AT THE NORE, MAY 22nd.
In the course of February and March, 1797, Lord Howe received several anonymous letters, enclosing petitions from the ships’ companies of a number of vessels of the Channel fleet, asking for increased pay and better provisions. These letters, though coming from different quarters, were apparently written by the same hand, and the authorities judging that they were so, and that they represented an agitation carried on by one person, took but little notice of them.
A word to the wise is sufficient, but governments are not always wise, or the Admiralty would at least have made inquiries as to the justice of the demands made. Of this, however, they can hardly have been unaware, for while the pay of the army and the militia had been increased, the pay of the navy had remained the same from the time of Charles II., and many abuses had sprung up in the administration of the commissariat which bore very hardly upon the men. The greed of purveyors and the corruption of commissioners provided them with food short in quantity and often unfit to eat; while under the system then in vogue the ship’s purser was allowed to deduct two ounces in every pound of provisions served out to the men and a similar proportion of grog and beer in lieu of direct wages from the government.
It soon became evident, however, that the disaffection was far more formidable than was at first supposed. On the return of the Channel fleet into port a secret correspondence was arranged between all the ships that composed it; and this ended in a unanimous agreement that no ship should lift an anchor until a redress of grievances was obtained. At this stage it was reported to Lord Spencer, the head of the Admiralty, that a general conspiracy had been entered into to take command of the fleet on April 16th; to test which on the 15th Lord Bridport ordered the signal to prepare for sea. But instead of the men proceeding to weigh anchor, they manned the rigging and gave three cheers, as the signal for mutiny, and every other ship followed the example.
The officers of every ship exerted themselves to their utmost to bring their men back to obedience; but all their endeavours were vain. The fleet being now in the complete possession of the seamen, every ship’s company appointed two delegates, and Lord Howe’s cabin was fixed upon as their place of consultation. On the 17th an oath was administered to every man in the fleet to support the cause in which they had engaged, and ropes were reeved to the yard arms in every ship as signals of the punishment that would be inflicted on those that betrayed it. Several officers who had made themselves particularly obnoxious to their respective crews were sent ashore.
In the meantime, though the admiral was restricted from putting to sea, he retained the command of the fleet in every other respect; the strictest discipline was maintained and the severest orders and regulations were enacted by the delegates, enjoining the most respectful attention to their officers, and threatening disobedience with rigorous chastisement.
On the 18th two petitions, one to the Admiralty and the other to the House of Commons, were drawn up and signed by the delegates. They were both worded with the highest propriety of expression and respect. The petition to parliament stated that the price of all articles necessary for subsistence having advanced at least thirty per cent. since the reign of Charles II., when the seamen’s pay was settled as at present, they requested that a proportionate relief might be granted to them. It represented at the same time that, while their loyalty was equal to that of the army, the pensions of Chelsea had been augmented to thirteen pounds a year, but those of Greenwich still remained at seven. The petition to the Admiralty contained a recital of the services rendered by the petitioners and a warm declaration of their readiness to defend their country, and set forth the low rate of their pay, and the insufficiency of their allowance of provisions, demanding increase of both, together with the liberty of going ashore while in harbour and the continuance of pay to wounded seamen till cured and discharged.
Such, in the meanwhile, was the alarm of the public, and particularly of the government, that it was judged necessary to transfer the board of Admiralty to Portsmouth, in order to be nearer at hand to inspect the transactions on board the fleet, and to consult on the readiest and most likely means of quelling the discontent, the consequences of which might prove ruinous to the nation by throwing open the Channel and all the neighbouring seas to the uncontrolled dominion of the French fleets and cruisers.
The first lord of the Admiralty, Lord Spencer, accompanied by Lord Arden and Admiral Young, repaired accordingly to Portsmouth, where they directly proceeded to take into consideration the petition that had been transmitted to the board. They authorised Lord Bridport to inform the ships’ companies that they would recommend the king to propose to parliament an augmentation of pay to the seamen in the navy at the rate of four shillings a month to petty officers and able seamen, three shillings to ordinary seamen, and two shillings to landsmen. Seamen wounded in action were also to continue in the receipt of their pay till cured or declared unable to serve, when they should be allowed a pension or admitted into Greenwich Hospital.
To this notification the seamen replied by requesting that the long-established distinctions in the navy, of able and ordinary seamen, should be retained; the pay of the former to be raised to one shilling a day, and that of petty officers and ordinary seamen in the usual proportion; they also requested that the pay of the marines while on board should be the same as of ordinary seamen, and that the pensions of Greenwich Hospital should be increased to ten pounds.
On April 20th the lords of the Admiralty notified to Lord Bridport their compliance with the demands of the seamen, directing him to make it known through the fleet, and to require, in consequence, an immediate return of the people to their duty, on pain of forfeiting their right to smart-money, to pensions from the chest of Chatham, and to an admission into Greenwich Hospital, and of being made responsible for the consequences that might ensue from the continuance of their disobedience. They were informed, at the same time, that an unqualified pardon for all that had taken place would be granted to every ship’s company that should, within one hour of these resolutions being communicated to them, submit to their officers and cease to hold farther intercourse with those who remained in a state of mutiny.
On the 21st, Admirals Gardner, Colpoys and Poole went on board the Royal Charlotte in order to confer with the delegates, who explicitly informed them that it was the determination of the crews to agree to nothing that should not be sanctioned by parliament and guaranteed by the king’s proclamation. Admiral Gardner was so irritated by this declaration that he seized one of the delegates by the collar, and swore he would have them all hanged, with every fifth man throughout the fleet. This behaviour of the admiral so exasperated the ship’s company that it was with difficulty he escaped with his life.
The delegates from the Royal George returned immediately to their ship and informed their crew of what had happened; after some consultation they resolved to summon all the delegates on board their ship. This was forthwith done by hoisting the red, a signal that struck terror through the fleet, as it was not generally understood; the officers in particular being apprehensive that some fatal designs were in agitation. The crew now proceeded to load their guns, to order the watch to be kept as at sea, and to put everything in a state of defence.
On the following day the ships’ crews directed two letters to be written, one to the lords of the Admiralty, to acquaint them with the motives for their conduct on the preceding day, and another to Lord Bridport, in which they styled him their father and their friend, and assured him of their respect and attachment. This induced him to return to his ship the next day, the 23rd, and to rehoist his flag, which he had struck during the confusion on the 21st. After a short and pathetic address to the crew he informed them that he had brought with him a redress of all their grievances and the king’s pardon for what had passed. After some deliberation these offers were accepted and every man returned to his duty.
From April 23rd to May 7th the fleet remained in due subordination; but on that day a fresh mutiny broke out. The seamen, from whatever cause it arose, had conceived a mistrust of government, and apprehending a violation of the promises made to them, renewed their former menaces. As soon as this alarming intelligence arrived, government dispatched with all speed a person of the highest weight and authority to quell this unexpected tumult. This was Lord Howe, an officer long held in the first degree of respect and esteem in the British navy, and personally beloved by all that had served under him for his humane disposition as well as for his many great qualities. His presence and exhortations wrought the desired effect, and happily dissipated the suspicions that were beginning to prevail.
Conformably to the expectation of the public, the House of Commons on May 8th took into consideration the estimates laid before it by the ministry, for the purpose of augmenting the pay, and the Bill, as soon as it was framed, went through the necessary formalities without delay, and immediately received the royal assent by commission.
The suppression of the disturbances among the seamen at Portsmouth, without recurring to violent measures, and by granting their petitions, occasioned universal satisfaction, and it was hoped that no farther complaints would arise. These reasonable expectations were, however, wholly disappointed by a fresh mutiny that broke out at the Nore on May 22nd.
The crews on that day took possession of their respective ships, elected delegates to preside over them, and to draw up a statement of their demands and transmit them to the lords of the Admiralty. These demands went much farther than those of the seamen at Portsmouth and Plymouth, and were not met with the same indulgence. On June 6th, in the morning, the fleet at the Nore was joined by the Agamemnon, Leopard, Ardent, and Isis men-of-war, together with the Ranger sloop, which ships had deserted from the fleet under Admiral Duncan.
The principal person at the head of this mutiny was one Richard Parker, a man of good natural parts and some education, and of a remarkably bold and resolute character. Admiral Buckner, the commanding officer at the Nore, was directed by the lords of the Admiralty to inform the seamen that their demands were totally inconsistent with the good order and regulations necessary to be observed in the navy, and could not for that reason be complied with; but that on returning to their duty they would receive the king’s pardon for their breach of obedience. To this offer Parker replied by a declaration that the seamen had unanimously determined to keep possession of the fleet until the lords of the Admiralty had repaired to the Nore and redressed the grievances which had been laid before them.
In order to put an end with all possible expedition to a mutiny that appeared so dangerous, Lord Spencer, Lord Arden and Admiral Young hastened immediately to Sheerness and held a board, at which Parker and the other delegates attended; but their behaviour was so audacious that the lords of the Admiralty returned to town without the least success. The principal article of complaint on the part of the mutineers was the unequal distribution of prize-money, for the omission of which they much blamed their fellow-seamen at Portsmouth. On the return of the lords of the Admiralty from Sheerness a proclamation was issued offering His Majesty’s pardon to all such of the mutineers as should immediately return to their duty; intimating at the same time Admiral Buckner was the proper person to be applied to on such an occasion. All the buoys, by the order of government, were removed from the mouth of the Thames and the neighbouring coast; from which precaution any ships that might attempt to get away would be in danger of running aground. Great preparations were also made at Sheerness against an attack from the mutinous ships, which had manifested some strong indications of an intention to bombard that place; and furnaces and hot balls were kept ready.
Emboldened by the strength of men and shipping in their hands, and resolved to persevere in their demand till they had exhorted a compliance, the mutineers proceeded to secure a sufficiency of provisions for that purpose by seizing two vessels laden with stores, and sent notice ashore that they intended to block up the Thames and cut off all communication between London and the sea in order to force government to a speedy accession to their terms. They began the execution of this menace by mooring four of their vessels across the mouth of the river and stopping several ships that were coming from the metropolis.
These transactions, while they excited the greatest alarm in the nation, were violently reprobated by the seamen belonging to the two divisions of the fleet lying at Portsmouth and at Plymouth. Each of them addressed an admonition to their fellow-seamen at the Nore, warmly condemning their proceedings as a scandal to the name of British seamen, and exhorting them to be content with the indulgence already granted by government, and to return to their duty without insisting on more concessions than had been demanded by the rest of the navy.
But these warnings proved ineffectual. The reinforcement of the four ships lately arrived, and the expectation of being joined by others, induced them to persist in their demands. The committee of delegates on board the Sandwich came to a determination to commission Lord Northesk, whom they had kept in confinement in the Montague, of which he was commander, to repair to the king in the name of the fleet, and to acquaint him with the conditions on which they were willing to deliver up the ships. The petition which he was charged to lay before the king was highly respectful and loyal to him, but very severe on his ministers, and they required an entire compliance with every one of their demands, threatening on the refusal of any to put immediately to sea. Lord Northesk readily undertook to be the bearer of their petition, but told them that from the unreasonableness of their demands he could not flatter them with the hope of success. Confiding in him, they said, as the seamen’s friend, they had entrusted him with this mission on pledging his honour to return with a clear and positive answer within fifty-four hours.
Lord Northesk departed accordingly for London, and was introduced by Lord Spencer to the king. But no answer being returned to the message, and information being brought to the fleet that the nation at large highly disapproved of their proceedings, great divisions took place among the delegates, and several of the ships deserted the others—not, however, without much contest and bloodshed. The mutineers, despairing now of accomplishing their designs, struck the red flag, which they had hoisted as the signals of mutiny, and restored a free passage to the trade of the metropolis. Every ship was now left at its own command, and they all gradually returned to obedience, though on board of some violent struggles happened between the mutineers and the loyal parties.
The principal conductor of the mutiny, Richard Parker, was seized and imprisoned, and after a solemn trial that lasted three days on board of the Neptune, was sentenced to death. He suffered with great coolness and intrepidity, acknowledging the justice of his sentence, and expressing his hope that mercy might be extended to his associates. But it was judged necessary to make public examples of the principal and most guilty, who were accordingly tried, and after full proof of their criminality, condemned and executed. Others remained under sentence of death till after the great victory obtained over the Dutch fleet at Camperdown by Admiral Duncan, when His Majesty issued a general pardon.