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WAS PARKER A REVOLUTIONARY? 127
accept the offer of a handsome bounty and the comparative
freedom of the life on a ship of war. Parker was
released from Perth gaol ; received ^20 as bounty-money
—an amount that covered his debt with a considerable
surplus—and was enlisted as a quota-man. On 31 March
1797 he was taken on board a tender at Leith, and a few
days later he was entered as a supernumerary on the
Sandwich at Sheerness. Within six weeks from his
departure from Leith he became President of the fleet.
The fact that the mutiny broke out soon after the
arrival of its official leader might suggest a causal relation
between the two events. And if Parker enlisted in order
to produce a mutiny, he must have been the agent of
conspirators on land who were working in conjunction
with seditious seamen ; for it is inconceivable that a
single individual who represented no party and had no
longer a personal interest in the navy should set himself
the task of organizing a revolt in the fleet. But from
this conclusion it would follow that the mutiny was in its
origin a political contrivance ; whereas it admits of a
simpler explanation, as an extension of the Spithead
mutiny. And reasons can be found for Parker's election
that do not involve him in political conspiracy. In the first
place, although the original suggestion of a mutiny had
possibly come from the Inflexible l it was natural that the
president should be chosen from the crew of the
Sandwich. It was the flagship ; it had a predominating
influence in the fleet ; and the meetings of the delegates
were regularly held there.
The prospect of a mutiny would be altogether agreeable
to Parker's restless and violent disposition, and
1. Parker himself said in his defence at the court-martial that the
mutiny began on the Inflexible, and it is quite likely that he spoke the
truth. Many of the Inflexible' s company were among the most violent
of the mutineers, and several of them escaped, or tried to escape,
to the Continent in preference to submitting to the constituted authorities.
(See below, pp. 243, 244). Spencer wrote on 29 May, (A.S.M.
137) that the crews of the smaller vessels were held in terror by the
large ships, " particularly the Sandwich and Inflexible, the latter of
these two being the most violent and desperate."