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238 THE NAVAL MUTINIES OF 1797
the ship two days before they had given him a cold
reception. As the Ardent was moving away there was
some interchange of shot with the Monmouth, but
apparently the firing was not effective. 1
Only the vaguest rumours remain to show what
happened on the next two days (10 and u June). The
authorities at Sheerness were too busy and too anxious
to spend time in writing full reports. But this is clear :
that the revolt was breaking up rapidly, and that the
mutinous faction were making their last stand. On
many ships there was fighting between the two parties.
The red flags were struck on 10 June, and the proper
colours were hoisted 2
: on the i ith, the flags at the Nore
were flying half-mast high. 3 The ships that still
remained at the Nore must have been in the utmost confusion.
All authority was in abeyance : mutineers were
preparing to escape to the open sea, loyalists to escape
up the river. At any moment a quarrel might arise
which would lead to a general melee.
Apparently few ships — possibly none at all—escaped
on 1 1 June, for nearly twenty vessels were still at the
Nore the next morning. But from the few facts that
emerge from the general confusion it may be judged that
the loyal party on several ships tried to take possession.
Buckner reported on the i ith that the crew of the Hound
were trying to escape, and that thirty of them had been
removed to the Sandwich.* It seems to have been on the
1. Cunningham, pp. 76, 77. Buckner mentioned on 11 June (C 370)
that the Ardent had been supplied with food and water. The Ardent
must have escaped at midnight, 9-10 June, for Nepean mentioned the
incident in a letter written at the following midnight (A.S.O. 1352,
p. 131), and he had received news of the escape in a letter from
Buckner written on the 10th (ibid., p. 135). See also Lieut. Young's
evidence, A.S.I. 3685.
2. A.S.O. 1352, p. 131. The colours were probably changed when
Captain Knight set out with the project of terms of surrender (see
above, p. 219).
3. Buckner to Nepean, C 370. It is not easy to understand the reason
of this fresh disposition of the flags ; nor is it clear whether the flags
throughout the fleet were at half-mast.
4. Buckner to Nepean, C 370.