Spithead and Nore Mutinies

Background. Discontent among naval seamen had been building before the outbreak. In December 1796, Captain Thomas Pakenham wrote to the Admiralty warning of growing sentiment among the seamen and calling for their pay to be raised, but no action was taken. Naval lieutenants had received a pay increase in 1796, and an increase for captains was planned for 1797. One interpretation of the mutineers' grievances suggests that the sailors were not aggrieved by the specific rate of naval pay so much as by the fact that they alone seemed neglected and forgotten, in spite of their key role in the nation's defence.

Mutiny at Spithead. The mutiny at Spithead, an anchorage near Portsmouth, lasted from 16 April to 15 May 1797. The mutineers were led by elected delegates and spent two weeks trying to negotiate with the Admiralty. Their demands centred on better pay, the abolition of the 14-ounce "purser's pound" — under which the purser kept one eighth of every 16-ounce true pound as a perquisite — and the removal of a handful of unpopular officers.

Mutiny at the Nore. Inspired by the example of their comrades at Spithead, sailors at the Nore, an anchorage in the Thames Estuary, also mutinied on 12 May 1797, when the crew of Sandwich seized control of the ship. A list of eight demands was formulated on 20 May 1797 and presented to Admiral Charles Buckner. Despite their temporal proximity, the two mutinies differed in character.

Interpretation of Grievances. One interpretation holds that the grievances driving the sailors to mutiny were not dissatisfaction with the absolute form of naval conditions themselves, but a perception that elements of those conditions were unjust or unfair relative to the treatment received by other groups or to customary expectations. The mutinies were the first in an increasing series of outbreaks of maritime radicalism in the Atlantic World.