WHEN THE NAVY DISPLAYS DISCONTENT

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 139, 13 June 1936, Page 7 (Supplement)

WHEN THE NAVY DISPLAYS DISCONTENT

Sabotage Incidents On British Warships.

STORIES OF PAST "MUTINIES."

CABLE messages a few weeks ago stated that there had been some displays of discontent on board British warships. These displays took the form of sabotage. Among tiie ships on which sabotage occurred were the battleships Repulse and Royal Oak, the cruiser Cumberland and submarine H2S.

middle of a war, in one part, at least, it was ordered with regard to discip line and respect for officers and unswerving loyalty to the King. If throughout its course it was sensationally dramatic, marked by swift changes halts and rebounds, and in many way? mysterious, in its chief manifestation it never overstepped the bounds it had set itself in the beginning. Moreover, it was so rationally grounded that : t not only achieved its immediate end, the betterment of the sailor's lot, but also began a new and lasting epoch in njjva? administration."

It is seldom tliat there has been anv ■widespread discontent in the British navy. When in September, 1931, the crews of the Atlantic fleet defied their officers to the extent of refusing dntv, the incident created world-wide interest, and in some foreign countries not friendly disposed towards Great Britain it was magnified into a mutiny. Technically it was a mutiny, for under naval law the word mutiny covers a wide range, from minor offences, such as refusing duty or threatening to strike an officer up to the seizure of a ship or fleet of ships. The discontent displayed by the crews of the Atlantic fleet was the result of resentment at hardship inflicted on some ratings, by the reductions in pay made by the Admiralty a3 part of the national scheme of retrenchment rendered necessary by the financial crisis of 1931. The crews resumed duty as soon as the Admiralty promised to look into their grievances.

When the crews of British warship" mutinied in April, 1797, England had been at war with the newly established French Republic for four years. France had overthrown her monarchy, beheaded her King and Queen, and was being governed by a directorate. Holland, Spain, Portugal, Tuscany, Naples and the Holy Roman Empire had joined With England in declaring war on France, but some of these allies soon fell away and the brunt of the military and naval operations was shouldered by England In 1797 England was war weary; negotiations for*peace had failed and the people were suffering from crushing taxation. On April 1G the Channel Fleet was ordered to put to sea, and the crew.refused to obey orders. There was immediate consternation in official circles in London. Lord Arden, a Civil Lord of the Admiralty, described it as "the most awful crisis these kingdom? ever saw." The nation was stunned by the refusal of the sailors to carry out orders; it looked as if the country was defenceless against an attack by the enemy.

For more than a hundred years there ihas been no serious mutiny in the British navy, but this fact is largely the result of the improvements in the conditions of the service which followed the widespread mutinies of 1797, when the men serving in the British fleets at Spithcad,. the Nore, Plymouth, the south of Ireland and the Cape of Good Hope all mutinied during the war with France. These outbreaks of mutiny were not simultaneous, but spread from one fleet to another in the course of a few months. Mr. David Hannay, in his book "Navjjl Courts-Martial," states that in former times "the navy was always in a state of latent or ' acute rebellion against authority," and refers to Admiral Fat» ton's statement that during his service at sea he had witnessed no fewer than forty mutinies. But although an almost continuous state of rebellion existed in the lower decks, a conspiracy to overpower the officers and seize a ship (such as was carried out by the mutineers of the Bounty) w"as comparatively rare. The rebellious seamen deserted as soon as they had the opportunity, instead of breaking into open mutiny. The number of desertions prior to 1797, which ■ushered in a general improvement in the conditions of the naval service, was enormous. Few of the ships ever carried a full complement. Service in the navy was so unpopular that the men of the merchant marine could not be induced to join, although the conditions in the merchant service were extremely

Disgraceful Conditions. Two months earlier respectful petitions had been sent to the Admiralty by the crews of ships, drawing attention to their grievances, particularly their low rates of pay. Able seamen received 24/ a lunar month, and ordinary seamen 19/. Their pay was subject to reductions which reduced the real amount to about 10/ a month. The men had to buy their clothing and bedding from the slop chests controlled by the pursers who charged them extortionate prices. They supplemented their meagre rations with food bought from their pay. They did not receive their pay as it fell due; they were paid at the termination of a ship's commission, provided the ship had been away from home for at least a ydar. But six months' pay was kept back as a precaution against desertion. Men serving on ships on foreign stations were transferred time after time from ships that were homeward bound to other ships on the station, without receiving any pay in hard cash over a

tad in the fo'c'sle. Press agents who raided the public houses and picked lip outcasts from the streets were the chief means of recruiting men for the navy. Homeward-bound merchant ships were !boarded in the Channel by the press gangs, and members of their crews were removed by force and compelled to join the navy. .When such means of recruiting failed to man the ships of the British navy, each county in England ■was compelled to supply a quota of Tecruits on a basis of population. The county authorities adopted the practice of combing the prisons a!nd workhouses (to supply their quota. A Model Mutiny. The widespread mutinies of 1797 ■would be regarded in these days as justifiable strikes against intolerable conditions, but, as they occurred during a protracted war with France, they ■endangered the safety of the country. Mr. G. E. Manwaring and Mr. Bonamy Dobree, the joint authors of a recent *book, "The Floating Republic," in which 'these mutinies are described, state: — "The naval mutiny of 1797 is the most astonishing recorded in our, or perhaps any history; astonishing by its management rather than its results, for other mutinies have been successful. Though a thorough-going and alarming anutiny which shook the country from end to end since it occurred in the

) period of years. Mr. J. H. Hutchinson, > the author of "The Press Gang," states F that at the time of the Nore mutiny (which followed the refusal of duty by ' the crews of the Channel Fleet) there were ships then in the fleet which had not been paid off for eight, ten and 12 years, and in one case for 15 years. The ' men were paid not in cash, but by ' tickets which were convertible into cash f at the port of commission only. If they ! serit these tickets to their wives, the latter had to journey to the port of commission to get the money. The sailors ' were in the habit of disposing of thoir ' tickets at fantastic discount to parasites at the ports, who lived by robbing them. Food Responsible for Foul Diseases. The food supplied to the crews was usually of the worst quality. The victualling of the ships was done by contractors, who bribed persons in authority to accept supplies that were so rotten as to be an offence to sight, smell and taste. In 1701, William Thompson published "An Appeal to the Public to Prevent the Navy of England Being Supplied with Pernicious Provisions," in which he gave a description of the appalling quality of the food served to the sailors. He stated that the men made buttons for their jackets and trousers "with the cheese they were supplied with, having preferred it by reason of

its tough and endurable quality, to buttons made of common metal." The flour was full of weevils, and was often "cemented into such hflrd rocks that the men had to use implements to break and pulverise it before it could be used." The bread was "so full of black-headed maggots that the men had to shut their eyes to confine that sense from being offended, before they could bring their minds into a resolution of consuming it." The beer "stank as abominably as the foul stagnant water which is pumped out of many cellars in London at the midnight hour," and the men had to shut their eyes and hold their noses "before they could conquer the aversion, so as to prevail upon themselves in their extreme necessities to drink it." The pork was so rotten that when boiled "it wasted away to mere rags and crumbs, and had to be eaten with a spoon." The vile food and beer were responsible for the outbreak of foul diseases among the men, and a high death rate.

The men were seldom given shore leave, because the officers knew from experience that men allowed on shore would desert. The quarters of the men

, on board ship were abominable, and the • atmosphere was foetid. They were subject to brutal punishment by their officers, some of whom delighted in having their men flogged. For petty offences a hundred lashes were often given; and it was by no means unknown for a man to be flogged to death. A Bloodless Victory. Tlie Admiralty took no no tree of the respectful petitions sent by the crews of the ships of ths Channel fleet, and after waiting patiently for two months the men refused duty when ordered to take the ships to sea. A committee of 32 delegates (two from each of the 16 line-of-battle ships) was appointed, and it took charge of the situation. It drew up an exemplary set of rules providing for the continuance of the ordinary routine duties and for strict discipline. Watches were kept with all the usual strictness. Any man who failed to show proper' respect to his officers or to carry out an order given by an officer (apart from those concerned with taking the fleet to sea) was to be severely punished. Any man i who got drunk or attempted to bring liquor on board was to be punished. Yard ropes were wove at every fore yard as a warning to rebellious members of the crew that capital punishment would be enforced if necessary. It was a model mutiny and a thoroughly effective one. The Admiralty

realised that with the country at war there was no time to be wasted in parleying with the men. An immediate promise was given to bring the pay of able seamen up to 29/0 a month, and that of ordinary seamen to 28/. A severe limitation was placed 011 the deductions that could be made from a man's pay. These small increases were received by the mutineers with "the utmost satisfaction and hearts full of gratitude."

A Serious Mutirfy. The mutiny'among tlie ships at the Xore (the mouth of the Thames), which began a month after the men of the Channel iitet had resume! duty, was far more serious, though there was less justification for it, os the men of these ships had their pay increased as a result of the discontent displayed in the Channel fleet. The leader of the Nore mutiny was a man named Richard Parker, the son of a baker at Exeter. He had been to sefj in his youth on a merchant ship, and had subsequently been a village school master in Scotland. He was imprisoned for debt, and when the prisons were combed for men to man the ships cf the navy he was put on board the Sandwich at Slieerness. The Sandwich was an old ship whose complement was about 400, but she had 1500 men on board, including many recruits of various kinds and sailors who had been paid off from other ships. The discomfort caused by the overcrowding on board created a favourable soil for mutiny. Parker was appointed leader, and took up his quarters ill the admiral's cabin on the Sandwich, hauled down the admiral's flag, and ran up the red flag of rebellion. The committee of delegates held its meeting 011 board the Sandwich, with a barrel of beer on the table.

The mutineers imprisoned their officers, seized thirteen ships of the line, and a number of frigates, sloops and gunboats, and retained possession of them for three weeks. They seized merchant vessels entering and leaving the Thames, looted their cargoes and created panic in the commercial world of London.

The Admiralty sent three commissioners to treat the Nore mutineers, hut the demands presented were so arrogant that they could not be entertained. Gradually dissension set in among the mutineers, and some of them, fearing the consequences of their conduct in seizing the ships, handed them back to the control of their officers. Filially, the Sandwich, with Parker on hoards surrendered. The mutineers were court-martiallcd, and 59 were sentenced to death, but only 29 were executed. Among those, who were hanged at the yardarni were six of the crew of the Sandwich, including Richard Parker.