from this lawless combination. Happily, however, the firmness evinced by the constituted authorities removed the
tunately ran a-ground, and in that helpless situation was pursued and fired upon in a most brutal manner by the Monmouth and Director; happily no lives were lost; Lieutenant Delanoe lost his leg, and a seaman was wounded. At night the Ardent effected her escape, but not without loss, having several of her crew killed and wounded by the Monmouth’s fire. Confusion and discord now pervaded the rebel councils; and it was evident that the combination was falling to pieces. On the 10th several other ships struck the red flag, and the trade was allowed to pass up the Thames. On the 12th, most of the ships followed their example, and signified a desire of returning to obedience; only seven having then the flag of defiance flying.
The next morning the Agamemnon, Standard, Nassau, Iris, and Vestal, deserted the rebels, and went up the Thames, or under the guns at Sheerness; the crews however of these vessels were far from being unanimous, as several men were killed or wounded in the struggles which took place on board them, between the partisans of the officers and those of the delegates.
The following day the crews of all the ships intimated an inclination to submit, provided a general pardon should be granted. The crew of the Sandwich was particularly desirous, and Parker did not oppose this spirit a spirit greatly accelerated by the arrival on board of Lieutenant Mott, with the proclamations, acts of parliament, &c. of which the men complained they had been kept in ignorance till that period. In the course of the evening they resolved to submit and accept of the King’s mercy, conceiving, no doubt, that it would be extended to those who had not known to what extent they had offended. In this state the crew of the Sandwich carried the ship to the Little Nore the next morning; upon which the Port-Admiral sent his boat with a guard of soldiers to arrest Parker, and bring him on shore; as soon as he had heard that a boat was come alongside for him, he surrendered himself to four of the ship’s crew to protect him from the outrages of the rest of the seamen, whose vengeance he feared; upon this the officers of the Sandwich delivered him and a delegate by the name of Davies, who had acted as captain under him, with about 30 more of the ringleaders, into the hands of the soldiers; these were landed amidst the hisses of the surrounding multitude, and committed to the Black Hole in the garrison of Sheerness. On the first appearance of the soldiers, one of the delegates, Wallace, shot himself dead, and was afterwards buried in the highway.
On the 22d of the same month, Richard Parker was tried by a Court-Martial, assembled on board the Neptune, off Greenhithe; and on the fourth day of the trial the following sentence was pronounced. “That the whole of the charges are fully proved; that the crime is as unprecedented as wicked; as ruinous to the navy, as to the peace and prosperity of the country: the Court doth therefore adjudge him to death; and he is
