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148 THE NAVAL MUTINIES OF 1797
to discuss. They sent a letter to Buckner on 24 May, to
say that they would not go, and the letter was sent on to
Parker. 1 Still the mutineers persisted in their determination
to bring some members of the Board to
Sheerness. They pressed the demand upon Sir Harry
Neale, the captain of the San Fiorenzo, when he met
them in the town next day 2
;
and, in answer to the letter
from the Admiralty, Parker repeated to Captain Mosse
that " no accommodation could take place until the
appearance of the Lords of the Admiralty at the Nore." 3
The letter was received in the fleet "with very great
dissatisfaction," and the temper of the mutineers became
more disagreeable. As Buckner said, they appeared
" hourly to assume more confidence and act with more
decision." 4 The situation was not improved by a
message sent by semaphore from the Admiralty, repeating
the statement that order was restored in all the other
fleets. 5 On the contrary, Buckner had every reason to
feel " infinite concern" and to express a "doubt of a
return of order among the seamen and marines at this
port." 6 He found that the delegates had decided to
adopt the plan of blockading the Thames and the
Medway 7
and any hope of security that the public on
shore may have entertained must have been dashed by
the appearance in Long Reach on 24 May of a cutter
from the Sandwich*
and on the 26th of armed boats from
the Iris and the Brilliant. The men in these boats
1. Minutes, 24 May; Ann. Reg., 1797, State Papers, pp. 247, 248.
2. Buckner to Nepean, 25 May (A.S.I. 727, C 339).
3. With Buckner's dispatch (A.S.I. 727, C 339). See also Ann. Beg.,
1797, State Papers, p. 248. It should be observed that the anxiety of
the mutineers to have an audience with the Lords of the Admiralty
might not be altogether due to vanity. There might be some hope of
winning the favour of the authorities by a personal interview. In
London they were at a safe distance, but if they came to Sheerness the
grievances of the seamen might be impressed on them much more
forcibly.
4. Buckner to Nepean, 25 May (C 339).
5. On 26 May.
6. 24 Mav, C 336.
7. 25 May, C 339.
8. Scott's evidence at the trial of Hockless and others (A.S.I. 5486).