Great Britain -- History -- George III, 1760-1820 -- Juvenile fiction; Great Britain. Royal Navy -- Juvenile fiction
As might have been expected, the demands of the seamen were rejected as
exorbitant and unreasonable. An officer immediately carried down the
refusal of the Lords of the Admiralty to the rebel fleet. Soon after
this was known, several ships attempted to make their escape from the
mutineers. One, the "Leopard," succeeded and got up the Thames.
Another, the "Repulse," unfortunately ran aground, when she was fired on
by the "Monmouth;" and one of the officers lost his leg, and a seaman
was wounded. The "Ardent," the third ship, effected her escape, but
passing the "Monmouth" was fired at, and several of her crew were killed
and wounded. Confusion and discord now pervaded the rebel councils. On
the 10th of June, many other mutinous ships struck the red flag, and the
merchant vessels were allowed to proceed up the river. On the 12th,
most of the other ships also hauled down the rebel flag, only seven
keeping it flying. The next day the remainder intimated an inclination
to submit. However, the crews in all cases were not unanimous, and many
desperate struggles took place on board the ships between the partisans
of the officers and those who still wished to hold out. Happily at this
juncture of affairs an officer arrived on board the "Sandwich," with the
King's proclamations and Acts of Parliament, of which it appeared that
Parker had kept the crews ignorant.
The deception which had been practised on the men by the delegates so
enraged them, that the crew of the "Sandwich" carried the ship under the
guns of the fort of Sheerness. As soon as she anchored, a boat with a
guard of soldiers came off, and making their way on deck, ordered Parker
to deliver himself up. As they appeared, one of the delegates belonging
to the "Standard," who was on board, pointing a pistol at his own head,
shot himself dead. Parker, as soon as he heard that a boat had come
off, placed himself under the protection of four of the ship's crew, the
rest of the seamen threatening forthwith to hang him. He and about
thirty more delegates were immediately handed over to the soldiers, and
they were landed amidst the hisses of the surrounding multitude, and
committed to the prison in the garrison of Sheerness. The first batch
of mutineers having been so easily captured, the rest of the
ringleaders, and all others in any way implicated in the mutiny on board
the various ships, were immediately placed under arrest. In the list of
the unhappy men to be tried for their lives was the name of Andrew
Brown.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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