Women Sailors & Sailors' Women Read Online Free PDF

and the removal of the harshest of the Articles of War. The mutiny at the Nore began on May 12. At half past nine in the morning, the sailors climbed out on to the booms of the
Sandwich
and gave three cheers, which were at once answered by the crew of the nearest ship, the
Director,
commanded by William Bligh, who had already experienced a mutiny on his ship the
Bounty
eight years before. The men of the
Sandwich
trained the forecastle guns on the quarterdeck, and the officers had little option but to surrender the ship. Later that day the seamen unanimously chose Parker as their leader. There followed several days of confusion. Most of the other ships joined the mutiny. Parker held a number of meetings in the Chequers, a public house in Sheerness, and he and his committee of mutineers drew up a set of nine demands that they presented to the port admiral. Parker seems to have done his best to keep a check on the wilder actions of the rebellious seamen, but although there was no bloodshed, he could not prevent a certain amount of looting and other excesses. The seamen stole sheep from the Isle of Grain, robbed fishing boats of their catches, and so alarmed the local inhabitants that many respectable families sent their women away with their valuables for safety.
    On June 4, the day when the fleet normally celebrated the King’s birthday, some sailors took the opportunity to avenge themselves on their most unpopular officers. A mock trial was held on board HMS
Monmouth,
and four petty officers and a midshipman were subsequently flogged. Several officers were tarred and feathered and rowed in boats among the anchored ships. Effigies of William Pitt, the prime minister, were hoisted at the yardarms of some ships, and the seamen took potshots at them with guns and pistols, which inevitably led to rumors that real executions were taking place. The mutineers also began intercepting shipping on the Thames with the aim of blockading London. But soon the seamen began to have second thoughts. The Spithead mutineers had already won some major concessions, and it soon became clear that the authorities were not inclined to agree to the additional demands. The Admiralty brought up ships to surround the fleet at the Nore, and the mutiny began to collapse. Officers resumed command of their ships, and the crew of the
Sandwich
delivered up Parker as a prisoner. He was sent at once to Maidstone jail. On June 22, he found himself before a court-martial on board HMS
Neptune,
moored in the Thames off Greenhithe. There could be only one verdict for the ringleader of a mutiny, and he was duly sentenced to death. Parker, who had conducted his own defense, heard the verdict “with a degree of fortitude and undismayed composure which excited the astonishment and admiration of everyone.” 3
    When Ann Parker learned that her husband had taken the bounty and rejoined the navy, she hurried to Leith, but when she arrived she discovered that the ship with the pressed men and volunteers aboard had already left the harbor and was sailing south to the Thames. She waited for further news, and when she heard of the mutiny at the Nore and Parker’s imprisonment, she set off on the long journey from Scotland to London. By the time she arrived in the capital, her husband had been tried and convicted. The day before the execution was due to take place she made her way to St. James’s Palace. There she handed a petition to the Earl of Morton for delivery to the Queen. Observers noted that she behaved in a manner appropriate to her unhappy situation. She waited until five o’clock in the afternoon, but with no response forthcoming from the palace, she abandoned all hope of a reprieve and set off to see her husband.
    It was thirty-five miles from St. James’s to the River Medway where the fleet was anchored. She managed to get a place on a coach that rattled east along the southern shores of the Thames through Dartford and Northfleet and