o_199m9vaui14ib1cnu10di10pocoj4h.pdf

i;8 THE NAVAL MUTINIES OF 1797
mutinous force," it might not be expedient to try to cut
off the mutineers from all communication with the shore. 1
The Monmouth and the Hound sloop arrived a day
or two later; 2 and at length the rest of the Yarmouth
fleet—the Agamemnon, the Ardent,* the Leopard, the
his, and the Ranger sloop arrived in the early morning
of 6 June.
It has already been shown in general why the seamen
at Yarmouth mutinied and came to the Nore. It would
be interesting to know as well what the individual
seamen, of various persuasions and characters, supposed
to be their object in coming. Some possibly welcomed
the opportunity of mutiny on political grounds; some
lawless persons might be glad simply to break loose from
authority. These two classes would include the prime
movers of the mutiny. Other seamen, a majority on
some ships, were opposed to the enterprise. They had
no desire to desert their Admiral ; and they only allowed
themselves to be taken to the Nore because no leader came
forward to bring them into combination, whereas the
active mutineers were an organized and determined
body. & Probably the greater part of the seamen had only
the vaguest idea of their purpose in joining the mutiny.
They would form a "centre" party, acting on no definite
principle, but spurred on by the novelty of the event,
urged by the example of the zealous mutineers, and
1. C 347, 31 May.
2. The Hound was at the Nore on 2 June. See Captain Wood's
evidence, at Parker's court-martial (A.S.I. 5486).
3. The crew of the Ardent had sent delegates to the Nore on
30 May. The delgates returned on 4 June, and the Ardent sailed on
the 5th (evidence of First Lieutenant Young, A.S.I. 3685).
4. They heard the guns firing at the Serapis as they came near to the
Nore. The Serapis escaped at about midnight 5-6 June. See Brenton,
vol. i, p. 426.
5. E.g., on the Agiamemnon. Brenton (vol. i, p. 283, ed. 1837) says
that the master-at-arms told him that most of the seamen and all the
marines favoured the officers. In all probability the rising could easily
have been suppressed and the ship taken to the Texel if only the
captain had resisted the mutineers. Yet the Agamemnon was allowed
to go to> the Nore, and remained there in a state of mutiny until 13
June.