o_199m9vaui14ib1cnu10di10pocoj4h.pdf

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LIST OF DEMANDS 139
The third clause, providing for a more equitable
distribution of prize-money, was perfectly reasonable,
although it was not allowed by the Admiralty. Even in
the unfriendly columns of the Annual Register the justice
of this claim is admitted, and it is surprising that the
Spithead mutineers did not make a serious effort to win
the concession. 1
Another financial demand, added later
and never communicated to the Admiralty, 2 was that
marines should be allowed iod. a day, clear of all
deductions. Presumably it was not understood at the
Nore that the wages of the marines had already been
raised virtually to this level.
Of the other proposals for reform, one—for leave to go
ashore when the ships were in port—seems quite fair,
and is a repetition of one of the demands made at
Spithead ; another, for the revision and modification of
the Articles of War, was also justifiable, but it was not
to be expected that such a change would be brought
about at the instance of the seamen. Two proposals,
however, were so aggressive and preposterous that they
might well poison the minds of the Admiralty against
the more moderate demands. It was suggested in the
first place that officers who were evicted for undue severity
should not be allowed to return to the ship from which
they were expelled, without the consent of the crew
and secondly, that men who deserted and afterwards
returned to the navy should receive a free pardon. If
through some unimaginable folly or weakness the
1. Ann. Reg., p. 219. Probably they were wise enough to understand
that in trying to grasp too many benefits all at once they might run a
risk of losing the advantages that they had already secured. The Nore
mutineers were not so well balanced in their judgement. There are
signs, however, that the seamen of the Channel fleet had not abandoned
their intention of working a reform in the distribution of prize-money.
Graham, the magistrate, wrote from Portsmouth on 22 May " : I believe
to a man almost they are resolved to continue the disturbance on the
fleet's return to Spithead upon the ground of prize-money" (A.S.I.
4172). Probably the fate of the ringleaders at the Nore and on the
Pompee dissuaded them from the attempt.
2. It was one of the additional demands made by the North Sea
fleet at the beginning of June. This fleet also demanded the prompt
payment of bounties to volunteers.