seaman in the fleet, even including the admiral's
body-servants, was sworn to support the cause.
They reeved ropes from the yard-arms, as a
warning and terror to all traitors, and they sent on
shore all objectionable officers. Military honours
were paid to the delegates. Corporal punishment
was inflicted on drunkards, and more than
usually strict discipline preserved. Frigates
with convoys were allowed to sail.

The Board of Admiralty came down to Portsmouth
on the 17th, and finding the sailors'
demands reasonable, agreed to advance their
pay, four shillings a month to the able, three
shillings to the ordinary, and two shillings to
landsmen. The men refused to give an
immediate consent, which so exasperated Admiral
Gardner, a choleric man, that he shook one delegate
by the collar, and swore he would have
every fifth man in the fleet hanged. This so
maddened the mutineers, that it was with difficulty
the admiral escaped from the ship with his life.
Lord Bridport's flag was then struck, in spite of the
entreaties of many of the officers, a red flag hoisted,
every gun in the fleet loaded, and matches kept
ready lighted. On the 23rd, Lord Bridport, whom
the sailors called "their father and friend,"
returned to his ship, and rehoisted his flag; but
the mutineers still refused to lift an anchor till
the king had granted them a pardon under his
sign manual; also

Until the rise in their pay was sanctioned by
act of parliament;

Until the supply of vegetables was increased;

Until the grievances of private ships were
redressed.

The mutineers also demanded more leave on
shore, more attention to the sick on board ship,
and that pay should be continued to men
wounded in action, until they were either cured
or discharged. They moreover demanded that
the marines' pay should be increased, that the
pensions at Greenwich Hospital should be raised
to ten pounds per annum, also that the daily
bread and meat should be augmented to sixteen
ounces; and they expressed a wish that the East
India Company's fleet should share in these
reforms.

On these demands being acceded to, and the
king's pardon being given, the fleet returned to
its duty, and some of the vessels sailed at once
for St. Helen's. An unwise delay in passing the act
of parliament, and an injudicious order from the
Admiralty to captains to keep the marines'
arms in good order, and to repress disturbances,
alarmed the naturally suspicious sailors, and on
the 7th of May fresh mutinies broke out at St.
Helen's and at Spithead, and delegates were again
appointed. Admiral Colpoys refusing to allow
the delegates on board the London, and ordering
his men below, one man began to unlash a
foremost gun, threatening to point it aft and
sweep the quarter-deck. A lieutenant, having
warned this man, on his persistence, fired and
shot him dead. The dead man's comrades,
joined by the marines, instantly rushed to arms,
disarmed the officers, proposed to hang the
lieutenant, and even to kill the admiral. But,
by the generous courage of the admiral, who
took the blame entirely upon himself, and by
the fervent intercession of the chaplain and the
surgeon, the offender's life was spared.

It was a curious trait of sailors' character,
in the midst of all this violence, that the men
threatened to throw overboard a mutineer, for
calling the admiral "a bloody rascal."

One of the ships' companies talking openly
of carrying their vessel into a French harbour,
the delegates threatened them with instant
destruction if the language was repeated; and,
believing that they were infected by revolutionary
agents from the shore, kept guard, boats rowing
round the treasonable vessel night and
day.

The objectionable officers being again sent on
land, Lord Howe, though old, infirm, and
gouty, was requested by the king to visit
the fleet, and try conciliatory measures. On
the 11th of May, the brave old sailor visited the
line of battle ships, and received the
delegates on board the Royal William. He insisted,
however, that, before a pardon by royal proclamation
was issued, they should express
contrition. This they did, but declared they would
never receive again the officers sent ashore.
Lord Howe consented to this, much to the
disgust of all martinets. By this agreement,
one admiral, four captains, twenty-nine
lieutenants, and twenty-five midshipmen were
superseded.

But the fleet at the Nore remained still
mutinous and dissatisfied. The seamen of the
Sandwich even went so far as to fire on the San
Fiorenza, which was passing by them on its way
to Yarmouth roads to receive the Prince of
Wurtemberg and his bride. Then the Admiralty
Board went down to Sheerness, and there was
an attempt at a rising on board Lord Duncan's
vessel, the Venerable. Towards the end of the
month, when the admiral ordered the fleet to
weigh and proceed from Yarmouth to the
Texel, two of the squadron refused, on pretence
of being in course of payment; and the next
day the whole North Sea fleet deserted, and
joined Parker and other mutineers at the Nore.
A few ships, however, at Portsmouth, refused
to help Parker, and expressed themselves
satisfied with the concessions already made.
On the 6th of June, the Serapis made her
escape from the rebels, but was fired at and
damaged by the mutineers' shot; and the Clyde
was also injured on the 7th of June. On the
15th of June, the mutineers quarrelled, and
several vessels left the fleet. The departure of
the Nassau was, however, prevented, and the
Repulse, running aground, was fired into, and
several men killed. Parker himself, not satisfied
with nine-pound shot, fired a crowbar from one
of the guns. The Ardent, passing in the dark,
fired at the Monmouth, and killed and wounded
several of her crew.

Soon after this the mutineers broke up in
despair. The red flags were struck, and traders
allowed to pass up the Thames. That same
night, many of the vessels sailed in under the
guns of Sheerness, with a flag of truce flying,
and Parker, in the Sandwich, soon after