BLIGH AT THE NORE

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4011, 4 August 1931, Page 7

BLIGH AT THE NORE

HIS SHARE IN THE MUTINY

(By J. H. M. Ar.r.oTT, in the ‘ Sydney Morning Herald.’)

So "Tcatlv have the two most famous episodes of Admiral Bligii’s adventurous life overshadowed all else mi tliat it is onlv with effort we can think of him as having been anything other than the victim of two remarkable rebellions. The affair of the Bounty and the trouble that nearly overwhelmed 1,1 New South Wales, when he was deposed from the governorship ot the colony, loom up against ail () “ 1C aspects of his stirring life in such a fashion as almost to eclipse them altogether. But quite apart from those two misfortunes, William Ehgh s eaieei was in every way a notable one, lull of colour and incident, and well worth living. Ho was a arcat soaman mtt.

davs of seamen whose like the woua had not seen before and will not see ar»ain, and a maritime explorer whose w'ork is conspicuous. His conduct in the mutiny of 1,707 amongst that part of the British fleet stationed in the estuary of the Thames marks him out as a naval officer entirely worthy of the hi-di reliance placed in him by Ins official superiors, and as being—it has often been denied him —a man with a kll \t l '\he L end of the eighteenth century the British Navy was seething with discontent—and for very good reasons Si‘Mis of impending trouble were not wantin'!. There had been a mutiny in H VI.S. Culloden in ’O4 tor which five men had been executed, and a little later there was trouble m the Ckcsar and the Windsor Castle. But by 1707 the seamen’s grievances had become so unbearable that an outbreak might have been looked tor at any time. Those which gave the men most concern wore about half a dozen m number, but they were not new ones, and had been rankling lor years. Raturns were wretchedly paid, and received HO more money in George the 1 bird s time than they had been getting during tire reign of Charles lE. whom Mi Secretarv Repys was not unmindful of its inadequacy by way of reward tor the services of the ailors to the country An ordinary seaman received IJs a month and an A.B 22s Gd with sundry more or less unfair deductions, whilst the cost of the necessaries ot life whs 80 per cent, higher than it had been in the previous century. Ihe armv bad bad a rise in pay. and so had naval lieutenants, but the lower deck was no better off. The ration scale was insufficient, and the provisions supplied were of poor quality and generally under weight. M ith all tins discipline was cruelly and unnecessarily severe, as administered by some officers AN ANXfOIS FORTNIGHT.

It was in May, 134 years ago, that the mutinous imirmuriugs pi tlve beet came to a head at the Note, and tom a fortnight at least the existence ot Britain as a world Power trembled in the balance. Had it not been for the efforts of Admirals Duncan and Buckner, seconded by those of some of the captains in a fashion exemplified by Bligh, the critical situation brought about by live paralysis of the naval arm of her forces might have resulted in •almost incalculable disaster lor England, then engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the enormous ambitions of Napoleon. „ , . H.M.S. Director, Bligh s first important command, was a (34-gun ship, carrying a complement of about 500 officers and men. and was classed as a fourth-rater under the system of the period. He had transferred into her. with the ship’s company, from H.M.S. Calcutta at the beginning of the previous vear, and had been serving in the Channel Elect commanded by Admiral Duncan. On the 25th ol April the Director returned to the Thames from the blockading squadron off the Texel, to undergo a refit. Up to about a fortnight before Bligli's crow had appeared to be burly content, and had behaved very well in every respect; but on the 19th ol the month some disquieting symptoms manifested themselves. Hall a dozen men were*concerned in what looked like premeditated insubordination, and were promptly punished by the captain in the usual—a grating at the gangway , and a strong-armed boatswain’s mate j with a cat-o’-nine tails. Ibis had on lx i scotched the trouble, for during the next week several more Hoggings are recorded in the ship’s log, and on May 2 and 3 the “ eat ” was again in evidence on the upper deck. On the (3th the Director was moved to the Novo to be overhauled. Everything was quiet.

ami the work aboard went on in the usual course lor a week. But on the 12th symptoms of organised insubordination became noticeable, and lot another week Captain Bligh had a troublesome time ot it. 1 lie assertion that be was the first commanding officer in the fleet to he sent ashore is untrue; it was Captain John Bligh, of the Catena, who aciiievcd tliat distinction. At the end ot the week the blow fell, and under date of ‘‘Sheerness, May ]'J, 1797,” the Director’s captain wrote to Evan Nepean. Secretary to the Admiralty :—“ You will please to inform my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty that this morning about 9 o’clock, soon after the return of the delegates from Spithead, they canto on board and declared to me they had seen Earl Howe, who bad told them all officers were to be removed from their ships who they disapproved ot ; they were in

consequence to inform me in the name of the shill’s company that i was to quit the command of the ship, and ior it to devolve, on the first lieutenant, who they in the same breath ordered to supersede me. Being without any resources, I was obliged to quit the ship. Mr Purdue, Mr Maguire, and Mr Eld-J-idge niidm., are also turned on shore for" being too much noticed by their captain, and Mr Purdue particularly because lie did his duty like a spiiited voium officer. 1 know of nothing dishonourable they can be accused ot. employ Captain llligh as a confident ml a'mnt in their dealings with the outbreak, and on May 20 he was sent to confer with Admiral Duncan at the Note, where he remained in consultation with the commander-m-chicf lor three or four days. Dor Ins share in these duties, which included going amongst the men and exhorting them towards a return to their allegiance, he was afterwards warmly thanked by the Admiralty. HUGH FAVOURS CLEMENCY. By the middle of June the mutiny had died out, and Bligh set himself to do what he could for the men of Ins snip, many of whom he believed to have

been entirely loyal, but not strong enough to resist their more disaffected comrades. Admiral Lord Keith had gone aboard the Director on the Loth and had ordered the first lieutenant — the captain not having yet returned to ,y 1.0 pick nut ten ol the ringleaders and send them ashore in custody, tins was dune, and if was assumed .Uii by liligh and the ship’s .company that these men were to he the scapegoats. But, owing to some confusion, the first lieutenant had mentioned others in his report to Lord Keith, who on June 22 requested Captain liligh to let him have details concerning" “ the situation of the twenty-nine men represented to have been the most violent,” so that the worst ot them might he conrt-martialled. liligh immediately scented an injustice to his crow, and begged Lord Keith to regard the ten men first arrested as a sufficient example to the rest. However, when the pardons were issued in July Bligh felt compelled to orotest against a breach of faith regarding his own ship, since thirty-one men had been excepted from the general amnesty. He wrote a strong letter to the Admiralty, concluding as follows On the whole, my statement is with an intent to represent to you that the ship’s company have a faith that they will receive His Majesty’s pardon from the assurance given to them, and that those only in the list [ who were selected by Lord Keith, with . the opinion of the officers during my absence (and two others, John Hulmc and Peter Henry, who worn detained by the Civil power), will be brought to trial. I, nevertheless, do not mean to plead in favour of them, as they are certainly a very dangerous set of men.”

Bligh’s plea for his men was given attention, and lie succeeded in obtaining pardons for all of them, with the exceptions mentioned above. The whole incident is significant of the fact that Ins sense of justice and fair play was a very strong one. There is another thing also that is something ot a leather in Bligh’s cap over the mutiny at the Nore. After the suppression of the outbreak the seamen, having been promised that officers who were obnoxious to them would be removed, a list of about 100 was submitted to the authorities. Captain Bligh’s name, though he had a reputation as a disciplinarian that had been widely advertised during the trial ot the Bounty mutineers five years before, was not included in the list, and ho was confirmed in his command of the Duector.