Spithead and Nore mutinies
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The Spithead and Nore mutinies were two major mutinies by sailors of the Royal Navy in 1797. There was also discontent and minor incidents on ships in other locations in the same year. The mutinies were potentially dangerous for the United Kingdom because at the time the UK was at war with the Revolutionary government in France. There were also concerns among some members of the British ruling class that the mutinies might be the trigger to a wider uprising similar to the French Revolution.
Spithead
The mutiny at Spithead (an anchorage near Portsmouth) lasted from 16 April to 15 May, 1797. Sailors on 16 ships in the Channel Fleet, commanded by Admiral Lord Bridport, protested at the living conditions aboard Royal Navy vessels and demanded a pay rise.Seamen's pay rates had been established in 1658, and due to the stability of wages and prices, they had still been reasonably competitive as recently as the Seven Years' War, 40 years earlier; however, high inflation during the last decades of the 18th century severely eroded the real value of the pay. At the same time, the practice of coppering the bottoms of hulls, starting in 1761, meant that British warships no longer had to return to port frequently to have their hulls scraped, and the additional time at sea significantly altered the rhythm and difficulty of seamen's work. The Royal Navy had not yet made adjustments for any of these changes, and was slow to understand their effects on its crews. Finally, since it was wartime, impressment meant that some of the seamen were on board ship against their wills.
The mutineers were led by elected delegates and tried to negotiate with the Admiralty for two weeks. The negotiations broke down, and minor violence broke out. When the situation calmed, Admiral Lord Howe intervened to negotiate an agreement that saw a Royal pardon for all crews, together with a pay rise and better living conditions. Afterwards, the mutiny was to become nicknamed "breeze at Spithead".
The Nore
Inspired by the example of their comrades at Spithead, the mutiny at the Nore (an anchorage in the Thames Estuary) began on 12 May when the crew of the Sandwich, notorious for its vile conditions seized control of the ship. The rest of the fleet quickly followed their example. The mutineers had been unable to organise easily due to the fleet being scattered along the Nore but they quickly elected delgates for each ship. Richard Parker, a former naval officer, was elected "President of the Delegates of the Fleet". Demands were formulated and on 20th May a list of 8 demands were presented to Admiral Buckner, which were mainly demands for pardons, issues regarding pay and modification of the Articles of War. These demands infuriated the Admiralty, which offered nothing except a pardon in return for immediate return to duty.The mutineers expanded their initial grievance about living conditions into the beginnings of a social revolution, and blockaded London, preventing merchant vessels from entering the port. After the successful resolution of the Spithead mutiny, the government and the Admiralty were not minded to make further concessions, particular as the Nore mutineers had more political aims.
The mutineers were denied food, many deserted, and mutiny failed. Parker was quickly convicted of treason and piracy and hanged from the yardarm of HMS Sandwich, the vessel where the mutiny started. In the reprisals which followed a total of 29 men were hanged, others sentenced to be flogged, imprisoned or transported to Australia.
Other mutinies and discontent in 1797
In September 1797, the crew of the Hermione mutinied in the West Indies, killing almost all the officers in revenge for the flinging into the sea of two men who had broken their limbs falling from the rigging in a desperate scramble to avoid flogging for being last man down on deck. Other mutinies took place on the coast of Ireland and at the Cape of Good Hope and spread to the fleet under Admiral Jervis off the coast of Spain.Literature and Music
Herman Melville's novel Billy Budd is set immediately after the main mutinies.The Men They Couldn't Hang, an English folk-punk group, commemorated the executed leaders of the mutiny in the ballad "The Colours" [link] (1988).
Mutiny by Julian Stockwin is a fictional account of the Nore mutiny,
External links
References
- Dobree and Manwaring, The Floating Republic, 1935
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