Sheerness Guardian
The Mutiny At The Nore
The following
interesting account of the Mutiny at the Nore was
written by an eye-witness of the events described, then a workman in the
Sheerness Dockyard. We have been permitted
to publish it by the kindness of Mr. Thomas Bastard, who possesses the original
M.S., the writer being Mr. Bastard’s father. The account has not only the merit
of being genuine matter of fact narration, but it displays, in several
passages, “touches of nature,” which will enable the reader, seventy-two years
after the event, to place himself, with a small exercise of imagination, in the
position of the writer, when, from hour to hour, the dweller in Sheerness
listened for the “alarm,” and the common fear was that the mutineers would
storm the fort and destroy the town.
What ever the real danger was, the fear of some “deeds of violence”
towards the inhabitants was, at the time, evidently a very lively feeling of
impending evil. Another value this narrative has is the fact that the writer
saw the events of the time from another point of view, from that occupied by
Captain Cunningham, of whose full and precise history we completed the
publication last week. Captain Cunningham appears to attribute the mutiny to
over indulgence of the men, and ignores or undervalues the grievances which
certainly did exist in the then treatment of the navy. Mr. Bastard, without at
all showing sympathy with the cause of the mutineers, by some of the facts he
sets down, maybe considered to admit that the discontent of which Parker made
capital was not an entirely unreasonable feeling. Bad as the course taken by
the mutineers was, it was not an “effect” without “cause,” and Captain
Cunningham’s suggested influence of “foreigners” and the “corresponding
societies” were not the only causes. The
numerous reforms of the last seventy years, and the improved circumstances
surrounding our “Hearts of Oak” of the present day, have happily made the state
of navel affairs which obtained before the mutiny, “a matter of history,” and
nothing more.
“May 12th, 1797.- Loving brother and sister, we are happy the hear of the
welfare of yourselves and family, and I am to announce that these few lines
leave us all in as good a state of health as possibly we could wish to be,
considering the distress of mind we have laboured
under from the 12th of May to the present time, June 14th,
when things begin to wear a more favourable aspect.
2,
“Dear Brother, I
cannot help hinting to you that the poorest person in the place could find
asylum, but your sister and family. I may say with safety there were not twenty
women left in the place. We had the good
fortune to have a friend at
“I now proceed to give you a
short sketch of the proceedings of the mutineers, as near the truth as I could
possibly get at it, as for newspaper accounts you must not credit them. On
“First I should have told you how they treated
their officers on board the
3,
Ships Guns Ships Guns
Sandwich 90 Inflexible
64
Grampus 54 Brilliant 36
Phaeton 36 Champion 32
Director 64
Tisiphone 24 Iris 32
Le Epsion 24
Swan 18
On May 31st
the following ships joined:-
Standard 64 Montague 74
Monmouth 64 Repulse 64
Lion 64
On June 5th
the following also joined:-
Agamemnon 64 Ranger 18
Leopard 50 Belligneux
64
Ardent 64 Palades
18
“On the 13th May all the delegates
came on shore, with a large red flag flying. In that manner they paraded the
Blue Houses and Garrison, with a band of music and their colours
flying every day. On the 14th May they went to the sick quarters to
enquire how the sick were treated. (The sick quarters were in the buildings
known as the “Old Swan,” which were pulled down before
On
the same day (14th) the whole body of delegates went up to the harbour to inspect the
4,
They much approved of the treatment
on board the
“On the 14th the ships
of the fleet then in port all began to turn their officers on shore, some more
and some less of them, accordingly as they were liked or disliked by the ship’s
company. The command of the ships then devolved on the delegates. They came on shore every day in a manner
sufficiently threatening to try the stoutest hearts, armed as they all were
with pistols and cutlasses.
“About the 22nd, Admiral
Buckner left shore to go to the Sandwich, all the delegates following him in
boats to the number of twenty-three, to try and settle their grievances if
possible, but did not succeed. On the 28th Lord Spencer (First Lord
of the Admiralty), Lord Harden, and another lord came to Sheerness.
At
5,
“I believe, about
the 30th, in the evening, the
“June 2nd.-
The Garrison and the shipping in the harbour kept a
very strict look-out, and would suffer nothing to pass by the fort, not even a
fishing boat.
“June 5th.-
Between eleven and
harbour. The drums beat to arms; what
few women there were and the inhabitants were very much alarmed from the time
of night. However, some hundreds of people gathered in the dockyard and on the
battery, and gave three cheers as the slips past the fort, the crews answering
them with loud cheers.
“June 6th.-
We are and have been for some days as we may say in a state of siege. On this day
the delegates on board the Montegue ordered their
midshipman to be severely ducked, then flogged and turned ashore. All their
lieutenants they put on shore, and the doctor of the ship they tar and feathered., and then ordered him on shore.
“June 7th.-
The delegates of the Inflexible sent some of their lieutenants on shore; they
flogged the sergeant of marines and another man; the sergeant’s head was first
shave, and then both were sent ashore.
June 8th.- About five o’clock
in the afternoon the Leopard slipped her cables, and ran up the London river
away from the fleet; they fired at her, but did no hurt. We are informed that the men onboard divided,
and had a desperate engagement with one another, and that several were killed
on both sides. At the same time the Repulse slipped her cable to run in, but a
mile and a half from the fleet she got on shore, and lay there for upwards of
an hour.
6,
Several ships fired
on her and she received, as was calculated two hundred shot, one of which cut
off the second lieutenants leg. It was miraculous that the ship was not
destroyed, from the number of shot fired. This took place in the presence of
some thousands of people, and had you been there you would have been troubled
to get a place on the battery to get a site of the ship, although the batteries
are so extensive. About
“June 9th.-
The wind strong from the East. About two hours before high water the whole
fleet their topsails loose, and some guns were fired,
which caused us to be very much alarmed. The drums beat to arms and both
soldiers and sailors were at their quarters all in readiness for action.
“June 10th.-
Things appeared much more favourable. A great number of merchantmen got
under weigh; it was supposed there were about one hundred and fifty sail that
had been stopped by the fleet. That morning a great number of ships in the
fleet did not hoist the red flag, but hoisted up the union jack instead.
“June 11th.-
nothing particular occurred, but the delegates and their president ordered a
brig-cutter to be ready to take them onboard, that they might go round the
fleet, as the sea often ran so high they could not go in an open boat. This
scheme introduced a feeling of jelousy among the men
on board the fleet, from their suspicion that the president and delegates meant
to take the brig and make their escape to
“Richard Parker hung on His
Majesty’s ship
“Brother, I will thank you when you
have perused this journal to return it, as I have nothing to refer to. ****.”
Re-typed verbatim
by Vic Basten 30th
September 2003
Hi Colin.
I am attaching for your interest a copy of a journal
written by one of my ancestors.( I Think?) My
Great Great Grand-father, Thomas Bastard, sent the
original journal to The Sheerness Guardian, in 1869. it was published on June the 12th of that year.
The journal was written by his father, John Bastard, while onboard The
Sandwich, during the Mutiny at the Nore in
1797. It makes for very interesting reading and I thought that you might
like to include it on your Website.
I have one concern, according to my records, my direct
ancestor John Bastard, had two brothers, but they both died as
children, and as you will see he writes,
I hope you enjoy "The Mutiny At
The Nore".
Kind Regards
Vic Basten
( My Grandfather changed his name to Basten from Bastard just before he married)