He prayed that Proteus would be ordered back out to sea instanter; to the sea, his final, perfect haven… where a man had a chance to think! Where, it would seem, a man was safe! Where he had no opportunities for stirring up more trouble for himself! Hopefully for a long time to come.
AFTERWORD
I've always liked to open things with a bang, which is why this installment of the Alan Lewrie saga began with the Battle of Cape Saint Vincent on Valentine's Day, 1797-quite apt, that holiday, in light of Lewrie's later troubles with "the Fair Sex."
Saint Vincent was the first great break-out event in the career of Horatio Nelson. His actions were totally unheard of and a reason for a court martial and firing squad at the taffrails, a la Admiral Byng, had he failed. Nelson's solo charge into the teeth of the larger Nor'west part of the Spanish fleet, so they could not shake themselves out in battle order, or close the gap behind Admiral Jervis's fleet, confounded them. He risked their overwhelming fire, yet boarded and captured one, then used her as his famous " Patent Bridge " to cross and board a second, larger line-of-battle ship that had come to aid the first!
Nelson was promoted to Rear Admiral and became a household word, got command of a squadron of his own, and began to apply a unique "all-or-nothing" style of sea-fighting (all three good for his craving for glory!), beginning an unbroken string of lopsided, annihilating victories. That's not to say that I still don't think Nelson was about three hotdogs shy of a picnic, at times.
The economic problems when Lewrie got home were true. Taxes were high, wages had not kept pace, the Industrial Revolution had been jump-started by the need for mountains of war materiel. Almost overnight, a tranquil, pastoral, rural England was ripped from its doldrums into the Steam and Machine Age, and with Enclosure Acts stealing poor crofters' common lands drove a horde of displaced farm workers into the cities and manufacturies. Later, this exodus would give rise to the squalor, wage slavery, oppressive day-labourer poverty, and other evils resulting that Dickens wrote of in his condemning novels of the 1840s and 1850s.
With all this upheaval, following democratic revolutions in the former American Colonies and the republican revolt in France, and now being exported by force-of-arms by French conquests to the rest of Europe (mostly welcomed in the beginning by the Common People who got conquered!) it was no wonder that England and the British Isles looked more than ready for a social explosion from the bottom up!
The only people who could vote were those who earned, or owned property worth, Ј100 per annum. In some "Rotten Boroughs," and in more than a few normal, the number of voters were as few as thirty, perhaps twelve, or a mere three or five! The power-holding voters elected their own kind-the educated, land-holding, well-to-do, even the titled, or the sons and son-in-laws of such, who were easily controlled. The so-called House of Commons was hardly representative of the vast bulk of voteless commoners back then; though there were some progressive New Men who championed commoners' rights, such as Sir Samuel Whitbread, "the Ale King"-who was rumoured to have been seen conferring with some mutineers near the Nore in the beginning!
There was already an uprising in Ireland, without the expected French arms and troops, and Anglo-Irish tenant landlords, overseers for the absentee landlords (such as Proteus's first captain), and Protestants were being burned out or "refugeed" to Dublin. The "Houghers" and the White Boys that Furfy and Desmond mentioned were irregular partisans (pre-IRA) who punished the rich, oppressive, and uncaring; burning, plundering, and ham-stringing (houghing) livestock. British troops and Anglo-Irish militia units quite gleefully returned the favour all over the countryside. The Irish language, music, legends, dances, and the Catholic religion were banned; their bards, priests, teachers, and leaders reduced to being homeless "hedge-folk," liable to arrest, hanging, prison terms, or transportation for life overseas. All while the songs and stories of Ossian and O'Carolan were madly popular with the English! Great stuff for making the British Isles feel special, and different from "feelthy frog-eatin' Frenchies"-but not good enough for their original owners, the Irish and the Scots!
Binns, Thelwall, Place, Priestley, and Thomas Paine (now exiled in France!) were merely a few of the influential men who spoke and wrote for more freedoms, and were harried by the Crown, every meeting broken up by hired government mobs ordered by Tory government ministers like Pitt and Dundas, and prosecuted by the Duke of Portland. Men like the poet Samuel Coleridge, a huge admirer of the American and French Revolutions, saw which way the wind was blowing and ducked for cover- silenced and intimidated. Reformation of politics wasn't fashionable any longer-and was too dangerous for dilettantes.
The real danger came from the many more anonymous writers and printers of penny tracts, of a true rebellious, blood-thirsty nature, who called for real radicalism-even if everything had to go up in flames!
And as industry grew by leaps-and-bounds, so did the first tentative workers' guilds (not owners guilds) and trade unions, although the government had outlawed them. Many a tavern, pub, music hall, coffee house, and printing shop was a forum for dissent and a fertile Petri dish for revolutionary fervour.
In the spring of 1797, therefore, England had never been closer to massive uprisings of the Mob, the Have-Nots, the Voiceless. And the war had just resulted in the introduction of the first-ever income tax! Even middle-class shopowners and tenant farmers could be disaffected!
Which is why books like James Dugan's, The Great Mutiny, and Mr. Johnathon Neale's, The Cutlass And The Lash, which cover the Spithead and Nore mutinies, are not catalogued under Naval History, but can be found under Industrial Relations!
The first mutiny in Channel Fleet at Spithead and later down the coast at Plymouth scared the Be-Jesus out of everybody, though it was, as I wrote of it, a rather respectful and dignified "jack-up," a strike without smashed machinery, punishment for scabs (for the simple reason that no one in his right mind would trade places with sailors, in those days!), or threats against the nation. No one was hanged when it was over, and the principal organiser, speaker, and representative-Valentine Joyce-went on to participate in many battles. There was no talk of revolution. The Duke of Portland's agents sifted and probed all over Portsmouth and could find no sign that it had been sponsored by anyone ashore, or from overseas either.
The Spithead Mutiny was well-organised; the ships involved were united by prior service and contact because they had been based together, sailed together, and worked and fought together for several years.
Admiral Lord Howe-"Black Dick, the Seaman's Friend"-met a respectful, pleasant reception when he went down, at long last, to sit with the delegates and settle things. Whatever sentiments among those (for the most part) worthless Quota Men or the infiltrators from the United Irishmen never arose. It was strictly over conditions, money, shore leave, and such that they'd mutinied, and they were intelligent enough to keep it that way.
By the way, the pay rise wasn't much, a few more shillings per month for all. The Victualling Board still tried to foist off their flour for fresh meat, but the weights and measures were altered, and they got rid of the worst officers-Lord Bridport among them. All officers had been sent ashore at Spithead and Plymouth, and Admiral Howe and the delegates listed officers and mates to be denied a return by the posts they held, not their names. Without formal courts-martial and lower-class common seamen as witnesses against the Quality, their reputations remained intact. And, as I related, it only applied down at Channel Fleet, a thing only to be abided by HM government once!