Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp1.djvu/437

 “It is impossible to describe the heat and irritation of the seamen at the Nore, at the time of the arrival and the accession of the four ships of the line to their cause: the insolence of the leaders was raised to such a height that it was difficult to say where their excesses might end; and it was intimated, by some of the delegates who came to visit the Agamemnon, that violence might be offered to the officers and their adherents. Under these melancholy circumstances, – into which they had been betrayed by the want of resolution and firmness in the captains of the four ships, and not by their tyranny, – the officers prepared for the worst, went to their cabins, put their pistols by their sides, and lay down in their clothes: a seaman was placed as sentinel at the ward-room door with three loaded pistols, two of which were stuck in his belt, and the third he held in his hand; but no incivility was offered to any one. At day-light the next morning the report of guns and small arms awoke them, and they saw, what they supposed to be, the execution of officers and men at the yard-arms of some of the ships, as they were run up in the smoke of the guns; and while hanging, volleys of musketry were fired at them; they now concluded that they should very soon share the same fate; nor was it till two or three hours afterward that they were undeceived, and informed that the figures suspended were only effigies meant to represent the Right Hon. William Pitt.

“* * * * * About ten o’clock Richard Parker came on board the Agamemnon in his barge, with a band of music playing ‘God save the King’ and ‘Rule Britannia’; the corps of marines maintained its good character to the last, and, had they been supported, would infallibly have quelled the mutiny in the North Sea fleet * * * * *.

(P. 432) – “The desertion of the Clyde, St. Fiorenzo, and Serapis, had thrown a damp over the spirits of the ringleaders; and however they might have affected to despise the act, or to rejoice at the accession of the four ships, it had very important consequences; it spread distrust among them, and led to doubt the firmness of each other; and every one sought by indirect means, to make his peace and secure his own safety; this was the secret feeling and principle of action among all except Parker and his most guilty adherents; * * * * *. The leading men on board the Agamemnon, not choosing to resign the situation of delegate, got drunk purposely, and were consequently dismissed by a vote of the ship’s company.

(P. 434) – “The Leopard of 60 guns, under the command of Lieutenant Robb (the Captain having been sent on shore), had the distinguished honor of being the first to abandon the cause, after the infamous proposal of going over to the enemy was made known. * * * * *

(P. 436 et seq.) – “The example of the Leopard was soon followed by the Repulse of 64 guns. * * * * * From this time the cause of mutiny rapidly declined; the ships deserted, one after the other, in quick succession. On the 13th June, the Agamemnon left the Nore, and went up to Tilbury fort, with the Standard, Nassau, Iris, and Vestal .” 