#nore mutiny

[ltwilliammowett]

Drum, HMS St. Fiorenzo, 18th century

Drum said to have used to beat to quarters aboard HMS St Fiorenzo ( a frigate with 40 guns) during the Nore Mutiny, May 1797. The mutineers had ordered St Fiorenzo, anchored off Sheerness, to join the rest of the ships under their control off the Nore.  Her crew remained loyal and her captain - Sir Harry Burrard Neale (1765-1840) was eventually able to get her away into the Channel on the 31st May.

[clove-pinks]

HMS 'Clyde' Arriving at Sheerness After the 'Nore' Mutiny, 30 May 1797, painting by William Joy, 1830 (NMM).

Following the Spithead and Nore mutinies of 1797, which saw British sailors rebel against poor treatment and low pay, aspiring Royal Navy officers required greater diplomacy and tact, even as employment opportunities diminished:

As early as 1800, passed midshipman Edward Baker recognized the limited prospects for gaining a commission: 'It is only by an instant and immediate application that I can hope for success as there are at this time near one thousand young men in my situation'. Young gentlemen also faced a changing social dynamic within the shipboard society which involved them on three distinct levels. The first dealt with quarterdeck authority as it related to a ship's people and the care with which it had to be administered in the aftermath of fleet-wide mutiny. The need for young gentlemen to be sensible of the delicate nature of their authority demanded a degree of personal and professional maturity that had, until then, been without obvious life-or-death consequences.

— S.A. Cavell, Midshipmen and Quarterdeck Boys in the British Navy, 1771-1831

Royal Naval Midshipman with a Globe, British (English) School c. 1800–1815 (Art UK)

[marryat92]

With his father condemned to hang, the child William Peters is tattooed on his left shoulder with the broad arrow, marking him as the King's own.

Late 19th century American edition of The King's Own by Frederick Marryat.

[ltwilliammowett]

Presentation Sword, c. 1798/99

This sword is inscribed: ‘PRESENTED by the Committee of Merchants &c OF LONDON to LIEUT.T FRANCIS DOUGLAS for his Spirited and active conduct on board His Majesty’s Ship the REPULSE. Ja.s Alms Esq.r Commander during the MUTINY at the NORE in 1797. Marine Society Office, May 1o 1798 } Hugh Inglis Esq.r Chairman’

Lieutenant Francis Douglas was rewarded for his role in suppressing a violent mutiny among sailors at the Nore, a Royal Navy anchorage in the Thames Estuary in 1797.

[ltwilliammowett]

Presentation Smallsword of Lieutenant John Burn, by James Morisset 1797/98

This example is inscribed on the underside of the shell: The Committee of Merchants of London presented this sword to Lieutenant John Burn for his active and spirited conduct on board HMS Beaulieu during the late mutiny at the Nore in 1797.

[ltwilliammowett]

Presentation small sword of Lieutenant Francis Douglas, 1798 (Detail)

It is inscribed: ‘Presented by the Committee of Merchants and the city of London to Lieut. T. Francis Douglas for his Spirited and active conduct on board His Majesty’s Ship the Repulse. Ja.s Alms Esq.r Commander during the Mutiny at the Nore in 1797

Francis Douglas was rewarded for his role in suppressing a violent mutiny among sailors at the Nore, a Royal Navy anchorage in the Thames Estuary in 1797. According to an account by an eyewitness, published in The Sheerness Guardian 70 years later, the ship, Repulse, made a 'miraculous' escape from the mutineers reaching shore despite receiving 'as was calculated two hundred shot'.

[ltwilliammowett]

H.M.S. Sandwich laying her mooring at sunset, by Jack Spurling 1932

Built at Chatham by Mr J. Lock and launched on 14 April 1759, Sandwich was registered as a 2nd rate of 1,869 tons originally with 90 guns before a refit in 1779, after which she is recorded as having 98. She measured 176 feet in length with a 49.5 foot beam. Built three years into the Seven Years War, upon completion she was immediately dispatched to Ushant where she joined the Western Squadron under Captain Sir E. Hawke. She was primarily involved with forming a blockade against the French until 1762, when she was returned to Portsmouth to be paid off and refitted.

In 1775, active operations commenced against rebel states of North America and Sandwich was employed to duty under the flag of Admiral Sir J. Douglas. With the recognition of US independence by the French government in 1778, she was then sailed to the channel in preparation for impending war. After a further refit in 1799-80, at the cost of £15,396, Sandwich sailed under Admiral Rodney. Whilst escorting a fleet of supply ships to relieve the Spanish siege of Gibraltar with a fleet of 20 ships of the line they encountered Langara's squadron south of Cape St. Vincent. The ensuing battle lasted from midday to midnight with the British capturing four Spanish ships, including Langara's flagship.

Following this, Sandwich sailed on to St. Lucia and remained there until a journey to New York in August 1780, where she stayed until the October when she sailed to Barbados. Returning to Chatham in 1787, she was commissioned as a guardship under Captain Thomas Tonkin until 1791, when she was sent to the Nore as a guard and receiving ship during more hostility with France. It was at this time that Sandwich was involved in the Mutiny of the Nore where on 12 May 1797, her crew seized control of the ship and elected seaman Richard Parker 'President of the Delegates of the Fleet'. When the mutiny failed, Parker was convicted of treason and piracy and hanged from the ship's yardarm.

Sandwich was paid off in September 1797, and re-commissioned again to resume her duty as a guardship, a duty she continued until April 1810, when she was docked and broken up.

[whereangelsfear]

In memory of Richard Parker, citizen mutineer, executed on board HMS Sandwich, 30th June 1797