During February and early March 1797 various petitions had been sent to the Admiralty Board, asking for improvements in pay similar to those awarded to the Army and Militia two years earlier. When these had been ignored similar petitions had been sent to the nominal Commander in Chief, Lord Howe, who was living in semi retirement in Bath. Lord Howe had shown the petitions he had received to the First Lord, Earl Spencer, but no further action had been taken.
On the 30th March the Channel Fleet returned to Spithead. When the sailors discovered that there had been no acknowledgement of their previous petitions, a further petition was drafted and circulated around the Fleet. This time it was addressed to members of the House of Commons, with copies to the Admiralty and the liberal politician, James Fox.
On Wednesday 12th April , the Port Admiral, Sir Peter Parker, having received information of what was happening, had sent a member of his staff to inform the de facto Commander in Chief, Lord Bridport (Alexander Hood) of what he had learnt. The news came as a complete surprise to the Admiral, who had not been informed by the Admiralty of the petitions that they, and Lord Howe, had received. The next day he wrote a firm letter asking what action Their Lordships were taking. He received a reply on Saturday morning, which included eleven of the anonymous petitions that had been sent. On Saturday evening he answered this letter, which although couched in polite terms, barely concealed his fury at the incompetence of the Admiralty. Most importantly he warned them that it would be exceedingly unwise to order the Fleet to proceed to sea until an answer had been given to the petitions they had received. Unfortunately this letter did not arrive in London until after the Admiralty had sent further instructions ordering Admiral Gardner’s squadron to proceed immediately to St Helens Bay. These instructions, which arrived on Easter Sunday, 16th April, were ignored. As forecast by Lord Bridport, the crews of the ships involved refused to take their ships to sea. The mutiny had started. That evening two Delegates from the 16 ships of the line met in the state cabin of Queen Charlotte to discuss the next steps to be taken. Reassuringly they spent more time on discussing how to control their fellow mutineers, than how to put further pressure on the Admiralty. The fleet might be under new management, but it was under surprisingly responsible management.
After the events of the morning Lord Bridport had sent Admiral Sir Charles Pole with another message to the First Lord. Arriving at midnight on Easter Sunday he spent until 2.30 am with Lord Spencer and Sir Evan Nepean, First Secretary to the Admiralty, trying to convince them that positive action was required. He appears to have been successful. The next day, after conferring with Pitt, the Prime Minister, Lord Spencer, with a party from the Admiralty had set off by coach for Portsmouth, where they arrived at noon on Tuesday 18th.
Negotiations started immediately and after a slow start, the Admiralty Board conceded most of the Delegates demands and by Friday agreement appeared to have been reached. However at the last moment the nature of the form of pardon was raised. The Delegates insisted that it should be a King’s pardon. Faced with this last minute hitch Lord Spencer acted with remarkable energy. At midnight on Friday 21st he set off for London arriving at 9 am. During the Saturday he saw Pitt and insisted upon a Cabinet council being called, with the whole Admiralty Board being present. At 5 pm he drove off, with the Lord Chancellor, to see the King at Windsor, where a council was called at 9 pm. After the King had signed and sealed the proclamation of pardon, the document was rushed up to London where one hundred copies were printed by midnight. These copies were delivered to Sir Peter Parker in Portsmouth at 6.45 am the next morning, Sunday 23rd April.
During the day the pardon was shown to the fleet by their Captains. After some initial suspicions the delegates decided that their demands had been met. For the time being the mutiny was over, only one week after it had started. During the following week most of the fleet moved down to St Helens Bay.
Unfortunately the administrative dynamism that had been shown on the previous Saturday did not continue. The next step was that the proclamation had to be ratified by Parliament before it could be put into effect. There were several ways this could be done and unfortunately the slowest procedure was chosen. This decision resulted in the necessary estimates not coming before Parliament until May 8th.
While the parliamentary process moved slowly forward, the centre of naval activity moved a few miles south to St Helens Bay, where the fleet could wait for a favourable wind to occur before sailing. This period of inactivity was unfortunate. By the beginning of May rumours were beginning to spread that the Admiralty was about to go back on its promises and steps began to be taken to revive the plans for a disciplined mutiny. Matters came to head on Monday the 8th May when the wind turned to the East and it became possible to sail the Fleet. However by now Lord Bridport realised it was too late as the men would not be prepared to sail until the Bill had been passed by Parliament. His judgement was confirmed by demonstrations in a number of ships. By 11 am the Fleet was back where it had been on the Easter Sunday, the men in control and the Delegates in conference in the state cabin of Queen Charlotte.
We must now return to Spithead. When most of the fleet moved down to St Helens, the crews of three ships refused to do so because of their detestation of some of their officers. These ships were the ships of the line, Marlborough, Minotaur, with Thomas Miller and his son John Francis on board, and the frigate Nymphe. The London, flying the flag of Admiral Colpoy, also remained at Spithead to keep an eye on the other ships.
When the Delegates had completed their meeting in the state cabin, they set off to Spithead to inform the ships there of the latest developments. On learning of their approach Admiral Colpoy decided to take firm action. Having spoken to his ships company, and unwisely assuming that he had their support, he ordered most of them below and with armed officers and marines prepared to prevent the Delegates boarding the London. Unfortunately the Admiral had misjudged the feelings of his crew and when the Delegates, after an uncontested visit to Marlborough, approached to board the London, the crew forced their way onto the upper deck. In the ensuing struggle a number of lives were lost on both sides. The crew threatened to hang an officer who had shot one of their number, and the Admiral who accepted responsibility for this death, was threatened. Fortunately calmer minds on both sides prevailed and a situation, which might have ended with a massacre of all the officers, was contained. It was during this period that the wholesale expulsion of officers was carried out. Those sent ashore included Admiral Gardner and a number of Captains. Their treatment varied. In some cases they were sent ashore honourably in the Captain’s barge. In others they were unceremoniously sent ashore without notice or respect. In one case, Glory, every officer was removed.
On 8th May, the Bill was rushed through Parliament and a copy of the resolution was sent to Portsmouth where, although it was received with satisfaction, the men were not prepared to return to duty until a further Royal Pardon was received. It was realised in London that special measures were required if the matter was to be finally settled. The solution decided upon was to send Lord Howe to speak to the sailors and persuade them that the Admiralty’s intentions were honest. Lord Howe left London, with his wife, on Wednesday 10th. He spent the rest of the week being rowed from one ship to another where he spoke to the ship’s companies and listened to their complaints. On Saturday 13th he concluded his work by meeting all the Delegates on board the Royal William, where he conceded all their demands on pay, food, leave and redress of grievances. The only point left was the King’s Pardon which, having arrived a few hours late, was presented at a formal meeting held the next day.
Sunday 14th saw the ending of the mutiny, with many of the officers returning to their ships. The decision was celebrated with great enthusiasm throughout Portsmouth. The last event of the day was a dinner at which Lord Howe entertained the Delegates. After the party, the Delegates rowed back to St Helens to take up their former duties. Two days later the Fleet sailed to continue the war with the French.
We will now look in a little more detail at the part played by Minotaur during this period. When the mutiny broke out Minotaur, like the other ships of the line, elected two delegates. The two men chosen were an Irishman from Co Kildare named Denis Lawler and an Able Seaman called George Crossland. Both men were in their early thirties. What is of particular interest to us is that Denis Lawler was a 2nd or Quarter Gunner and therefore an immediate subordinate of Thomas Miller. As the general atmosphere during the mutiny seems to have been reasonably friendly it seems likely that Thomas may well have had a good idea of what was going on during the various stages of the mutiny.
The reader will remember that on Sun 23rd April when the King’s Pardon was received, the majority of ships were satisfied that their demands had been met agreed to sail their ships down to St Helens Bay. However there were three ships who decided to remain at Spithead, one of which was Minotaur. On the 24th April Minotaur’s ship’s company submitted their Grievances [PAGE1514] to their Commanding Officer, Captain Louis, who the same day forwarded them to the Commander-in-Chief who in turn immediately forwarded them to the Admiralty. In their Grievances the ships company asked that three officers be changed. The officers named were Lieutenant William Compton, Surgeon Bell and Masters Mate Nicholas Hole. The reasons for the unpopularity of these three officers are described in more detail in the Grievances, but can be summed up by saying that Lieutenant Compton was excessively brutal, the professional competence and bedside manner of Surgeon Bell left a great deal to be desired, and that Masters Mate Hole short changed the crew over the issue of water and beer. The Grievances also raised the question of the late payment of Pay.
The Minotaur spent the next week at Spithead, but on the following Sunday 30th moved down to St Helens Bay. In doing so she seems to have left Marlborough as the only ship of the line which was still technically in a state of mutiny. This is not perhaps surprising as the Grievances of this ship were of a more serious nature and included complaints against the Captain, two Lieutenants, Captain of Marines, the Surgeon and his mate.
It is probably at about this time that the three unpopular officers left the ship. Records show that Master’s Mate Hole was discharged on the 1st May, Surgeon Bell on the 2nd and Lieutenant Compton on the 5th. We have one further glimpse of the surreal atmosphere on a board the ship during the Mutiny. On the 4th May, in the middle of the period when the unpopular officers were being sent ashore and the settlement of the mutiny was at a most delicate stage, Captain Louis received a letter from his Captain of Marines, Dan Danvers. This letter asked him to forward a request to the Commander in Chief that a Court martial be held on a Wm Dobbins who had twice struck and tripped up Thomas Whiting, Sergeant of Marines. Captain Louis solemnly forwarded this letter to the Commander in Chief, who in turn forwarded it to Sir Evan Nepean, Secretary of the Admiralty. In Whitehall common sense at last seems to have prevailed. In his reply Sir Evan minuted 'acquaint his Lordship that orders will be given accordingly as the state of things will admit of its being done.'