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a lead weight on the end of a rope over the side of a ship. It was necessary to twirl the line and shoot it ahead so that by the time the lead had sunk to the bottom the ship’s headway would have brought the line perpendicular and the correct depth could be seen. Some seamen would make a great display of twirling the lead around their heads, pretending to be active rather than doing the job properly.
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‘B LACK DICK’ TO THE RESCUE
    Richard Howe was one of the larger-than-life figures in British maritime history. He spent 60 years as a professional sea officer, serving with great distinction in many of the famous fleet actions of the age. Howe was officially Lord Richard Howe of Langar Hall, but to the sailors of the fleet he was always just ‘Black Dick’. There have been a number of explanations offered for this, his swarthy complexion being one. The fact that he was said never to smile unless a battle was about to begin may also have earned him his nickname!
    On 16 April 1797, a mutiny began at Spithead, the chief naval anchorage near Portsmouth. Sixteen ships in the Channel Fleet raised the red flag of insurrection: their principal demands were for a rise in pay (which had not been changed for 150 years), a more equitable distribution of prize money and better victuals. The mutineers elected delegates from each ship to represent them.
    When negotiations broke down between the two sides, George III personally requested Howe, who was held in very high regard by British seamen, to go down and talk to the mutineers. Although over 70 and suffering from gout and other ailments, he agreed. When First Lord Spencer asked the admiral who he wished to accompany him he replied simply, ‘Lady Howe.’
    They set out on 10 May on a wild and stormy night and arrived at Portsmouth the following morning. Howe left his wife at the governor’s house and immediately set out by barge for Spithead. He came alongside HMS Royal George , the headquarters of the insurrection, and despite his infirmities he rejected all offers to help him come aboard and clambered up unaided. He called the ship’s company to the quarterdeck and started to talk to them man to man, neither reproaching their conduct nor standing on his dignity. Several hours later he went to HMS Queen Charlotte . For three days he went from ship to ship – talking, listening, heaving his rheumaticky knees and gouty feet up and down ladders until he was so tired he had to be lifted in and out of his boat. But by the end he had achieved reconciliation on both sides, with a Royal pardon for all the mutineers, a reassignment of some of the most unpopular officers and a pay rise and better victualling for the seamen.
    On 15 May there was a grand celebration in Portsmouth, and the mutineers’ delegates marched in procession up to the governor’s house accompanied by bands playing ‘God Save the King’ and ‘Rule, Britannia’. The delegates were invited inside for refreshments, then appeared on the balcony with the Howes to huzzahs from the multitude, after which they set out together for the anchorage. On board Royal George Howe was given three cheers and the red flag of mutiny was pulled down; the other ships quickly followed. Later that day Lord and Lady Howe hosted a special meal for the delegates before they returned to their ships and reported for duty.

Nelson called Howe ‘our great master in tactics and bravery ’.
A WOMAN’S TEARS SAVED VICTORY
    England’s most iconic ship already had a long and proud history before her most famous role as Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Although she was well over 40 years old, considerably past the normal life span of a ship of the line, she went on to further service in the Baltic and other areas. Her career as a fighting ship effectively ended in 1812. She was 47 years old, the same age Nelson had been when he died.
    In 1831 she was listed for disposal, but when the First Sea Lord Thomas Hardy told