o_199m9vaui14ib1cnu10di10pocoj4h.pdf

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ORIGIN OF THE MUTINY 173
The furnishing of their minds was actually done by
the four delegates who "succeeded to their expectations,
and the advice of the god was carried out by the occupants
of the Cygnet cutter.
Another writer contends that Neptune himself went on
the mission to
the North Sea fleet
In Yarmouth next old Neptune reared his head,
" Awake, my sons," the watery monarch said,
" The torpid vapours from your souls remove;
Inspire yourselves with true fraternal love.
Unto the Nore repair without delay
There join your brothers with a loud Huzza." 1
Whether the seamen at the Nore were incited by
members of the Yarmouth fleet, or, as seems more
probable, the defection of Duncan's squadron was due
to appeals from the Nore mutineers for support in
their
undertaking, it is at least clear that there was collusion
between the two fleets during the latter half of May, and
that as a result of the negotiations the ships stationed at
Yarmouth, instead of sailing with Duncan to the Texel,
threw in their lot with the mutinous fleet at the Nore.
The familiar story of the outbreak need not be repeated
here in detail. 2 The essential facts are that Duncan was
left with only one ship, the Adamant, beside his own
flagship; and that the rest of the fleet which should have
accompanied him to the Texel went instead to add fresh
vigour to the mutiny at the Nore. It was apparently on
1. Papers of the Repulse, no. 35.
2. The standard authority for the mutiny in the North Sea fleet is
Brenton, who was at the time a lieutenant on the Agamemnon.
Duncan's dispatches contain very little news of the event. In fact he
did not see much of the mutiny, for nearly all his ships deserted him ;
and he probably refrained from reporting all that he did see because he
underestimated the seriousness of the outbreak. Perhaps a proper sense
of humility prevented him from describing his own remarkable efforts
in opposition to the mutineers. There is a good account of the mutiny
at Yarmouth in Lord Camperdown's Life of Admiral Duncan. Lord
Camperdown's information is taken very largely from the original
letters.