MUTINY IN THE FLEETS.
During the sitting of parliament mutinies broke out in the fleet, which gave far greater alarm than the suspension of cash payments by the Bank. For some time great dissatisfaction had prevailed among the seamen respecting their pay and provisions; and in the month of February Lord Howe received several anonymous letters, praying for his lordship’s influence towards obtaining an increase of pay, and an improvement in the quality and quantity of food. At the same time a correspondence was established between the crews of the different ships, and a committee of delegates was appointed to obtain a redress of grievances. These proceedings were conducted with great secrecy; and it was not till Lord Bridport made a signal to prepare for sea, in April, that they became known. Then, instead of weighing anchor as the signal imported, the seamen of the admiral’s ship ran up the shrouds, and saluted the surrounding ships’ crews with three cheers, to which a long and loud response was given. It became manifest that the spirit of disobedience was general; and this was soon shown by action as well as by the voice. The next step of the delegates was to assemble in the cabin of the admiral’s ship, and to place the officers in custody, in order to prevent them from going on shore. A petition to the admiral was drawn up, and presented on the spot; accompanied with a declaration that, till the prayer of the petition was granted, till their pay was increased and their provisions altered, they should not quit their present station, “unless the enemy was known to be at sea.” On discovering this mutinous spirit, a committee of the admiralty, with Earl Spencer at their head, repaired to Portsmouth, with a view of inducing the seamen to return to their duty. This was on the 18th of April; and five days later the admiral returned to his ship, when, after hoisting his flag, he informed the crew that he had brought with him a redress of all their grievances, accompanied by his majesty’s pardon for their offence. These offers were cheerfully accepted, and every man returned to his duty. There was reason for believing that all cause of dissatisfaction was removed; but there was still mischief lurking behind. On the 7th of May, when Lord Bridport again made the signal to put to sea, every ship at St. Helen’s refused to obey, the seamen being under the impression that government would not fulfil its promises. A meeting of delegates was convened to be held on board the “London;” but Vice-admiral Colpoys, having determined to prevent the illegal assembly from being held on board his ship, ordered the marines to fire upon the boats as they approached; and five seamen were killed. Irritated by this resistance on the part of the admiral, the crew of the “London” now turned their guns towards the stern, and threatened to blow all aft into the water, unless the commander submitted; and Admiral Colpoys and Captain Griffiths were both taken into custody by their crew, and confined for several hours in separate cabins. Such was the state of affairs on the 14th of May, when Lord Howe arrived from the admiralty with plenary powers to settle all differences; and as his lordship was the bearer of an act of parliament, which had passed on the 9th, granting an additional allowance of pay to the seamen, and also of his majesty’s proclamation of pardon, the flag of insurrection was struck, and the fleet prepared to put out to sea. The dangerous spirit of disaffection, however, was not yet subdued. While these things were transacting at Portsmouth, a fresh mutiny broke out at Sheerness. This gave little alarm at first, it being supposed that the terms which had been offered Lord Bridport’s ships, and which were to be extended to all ships and fleets whatsoever, would satisfy those fresh mutineers. It was not so. On the 20th of May, many of the ships lying at the Nore, and soon afterwards nearly all those belonging to the North Sea fleet, hoisted the red flag, chose two delegates from every ship, and elected a president, who styled himself “President of the floating republic.” The demands made by these mutineers were a greater freedom of absence from ships in harbour; a more punctual discharge of arrears of pay; a more equal distribution of prize-money; and a general abatement of the rigours of discipline. Compliance to these concessions was demanded as the only condition upon which they would return to their duty. The admiralty, however, gave a decided negative to their demands; and, with a promise of pardon, insisted that they should return to their duty and proceed to sea in search of the enemy. The delegates now demanded that some of the board of admiralty should come down to Sheerness to negociate with them; and the mutineers of the “Sandwich,” of ninety guns, Vice-admiral Buckner’s ship, in which “President Parker” was serving, struck the admiral’s flag, and hoisted the red flag in its stead; and then all the ships of war which lay near Sheerness dropped down to the great Nore. Pardon was again offered them and again rejected on the 24th; and on the 29th a committee of the admiralty went down to Sheerness, and sent for the delegates, and tried to conciliate them without yielding to any of their new demands. But all their endeavours were fruitless. The delegates behaved with great insolence to the commissioners; and as soon as they returned to the fleet, the mutineers moored their ships in a line across the river, and detained every merchant vessel bound up or down the Thames. This was in effect blockading the port of London; and two vessels, laden with stores and provisions, were seized and appropriated to the use of the mutineers. On the 4th of June the whole fleet celebrated the king’s birthday by a royal salute; and on the 6th they were joined by four ships of the line from Admiral Duncan’s squadron, making in the whole twenty-four sail, consisting of eleven ships of the line and thirteen frigates in a state of mutiny.
In the meantime government was not inattentive to the perilous state of the country. His majesty’s pardon was offered to such of the mutineers as should immediatety return to their duty; two acts of parliament were passed for restraining the intercourse between the revolted crews and the shore, and for the punishment of any attempt to seduce seamen or soldiers into mutinous conduct; all the buoys at the mouth of the Thames were removed; and batteries were erected along shore for firing red-hot shot. Government was assisted in their efforts to quell the rebellion by the two divisions of the fleet lying at Portsmouth and Plymouth, each of which addressed an exhortation to the mutineers, urging them to be content with the indulgences granted, and to return to their duty. But their warnings were all ineffectual. The mutineers sent Lord Northesk, who had been confined on board his ship, the “Monmouth,” with conditions to his majesty, on which alone, they said, they were willing to surrender the ships. The terms they demanded were submitted to the king in council, and were instantly rejected; and all hopes of accommodation being thus at an end, preparations were made to enforce obedience to the laws. The bold tone which government assumed, being seconded by the voice of the people, at length had its effect. Several of the ships deserted the rebels; in those that remained the well-disposed rose upon the refractory, and some lives were lost; and by the 13th of June every red flag had disappeared. President Parker and some of the delegates were executed, some were flogged through the fleet, and others left under sentence on board prison-ships, while the mass received his majesty’s free pardon. This general pardon was proclaimed in October, after Admiral Duncan’s victory off Camperdown, which will be noticed in a subsequent article.