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232 THE NAVAL MUTINIES OF 1797
The delegates met with similar rebuffs on other ships.
Parker had a cold reception on the Ardent. He was
reproved by Lieutenant Young for misrepresenting the
proclamations, and the Lieutenant was supported by the
crew. The proclamations only made the crew more
anxious to surrender, and within two days the Ardent
had deserted the mutinous fleet. 1 In one account of
Parker's life it is said that even on the Sandwich
the proposal to go to Holland was rejected, and
that the crew of the Nassau, when they heard the
suggestion, "one and all said, 'No, we'll be damned if
we leave Old England whatever happen to us.' " 2 This
saying, whether it be accurately reported or not, may be
taken as an expression, in nautical language, of the
general feeling of the fleet. 3 The delegates had done
their utmost to persuade their followers that the only
hope of safety for any one of them lay in an escape to
sea. But they failed. The seamen realized that after
their surrender only the ringleaders would be punished
and for themselves, since there was no longer any hope
of gaining anything by a continuance of the mutiny,
their whole desire was to make their peace with the
nation. The delegates may have succeeded in mystifying
the crews of some ships, and in arousing a vague feeling
of suspicion ; but they could not win any support for their
wild project of escape.
The seamen were unwilling to abandon themselves, for
the sake of a few ringleaders, to a doubtful and hazardous
voyage. In the crisis the majority at last had an opportunity
of asserting their wishes, and Parker and the
1. Lieutenant Young's evidence before the magistrates, A.S.I. 3685.
2. Trial, Life and Anecdotes, p. 78. Cunningham (p. 74) says the
crew of the Sandwich were already chafing against the authority of the
delegates.
3. I think that Mr. Hannay is right in observing that " the dislike
of all Englishmen for an upstart was beginning to tell against the
mutineer leader." Even before the end of May, Parker's popularity was
apparently declining, for Marsden wrote (on 29 May) " : I shall not be
much surprised to hear that they have hanged him by one of his own
yard-ropes, for his assumed importance begins to give considerable
umbrage" (A.S.M. 137).