Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- Preface
- About the Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction, Analysis and Interpretation
- 1 Spithead Mutiny: Introduction
- 2 The Delegates: A Radical Tradition
- 3 What Really Happened On Board HMS London?
- 4 The Spirit of Kempenfeldt
- 5 Voices from the Lower Deck: Petitions on the Conduct of Naval Officers during the 1797 Mutinies
- 6 Crew Management and Mutiny: The Case of Minerve, 1796–1802
- 7 The 1797 Mutinies in the Channel Fleet: A Foreign–Inspired Revolutionary Movement?
- 8 The Nore Mutiny: Introduction
- 9 The East Coast Mutinies: May–June 1797
- 10 Reporting the Mutinies in the Provincial Press
- 11 A Floating Republic? Conspiracy Theory and the Nore Mutiny of 1797
- 12 Lower Deck Life in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
- 13 ‘Launched into Eternity’ Admiralty Retribution or the Restoration of Discipline?
- 14 Discipline, Desertion and Death: HMS Trent 1796–1803
- 15 ‘We went out with Admiral Duncan, we came back without him’: Mutiny and the North Sea Squadron
- 16 The Influence of 1797 upon the Nereide Mutiny of 1809
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Tables
- Preface
- About the Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction, Analysis and Interpretation
- 1 Spithead Mutiny: Introduction
- 2 The Delegates: A Radical Tradition
- 3 What Really Happened On Board HMS London?
- 4 The Spirit of Kempenfeldt
- 5 Voices from the Lower Deck: Petitions on the Conduct of Naval Officers during the 1797 Mutinies
- 6 Crew Management and Mutiny: The Case of Minerve, 1796–1802
- 7 The 1797 Mutinies in the Channel Fleet: A Foreign–Inspired Revolutionary Movement?
- 8 The Nore Mutiny: Introduction
- 9 The East Coast Mutinies: May–June 1797
- 10 Reporting the Mutinies in the Provincial Press
- 11 A Floating Republic? Conspiracy Theory and the Nore Mutiny of 1797
- 12 Lower Deck Life in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
- 13 ‘Launched into Eternity’ Admiralty Retribution or the Restoration of Discipline?
- 14 Discipline, Desertion and Death: HMS Trent 1796–1803
- 15 ‘We went out with Admiral Duncan, we came back without him’: Mutiny and the North Sea Squadron
- 16 The Influence of 1797 upon the Nereide Mutiny of 1809
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The Naval Mutinies of 1797: Unity and Perseverance does not aim to replace Conrad Gill's definitive work on the mutinies of 1797, but to complement his scholarship and re-examine some of his conclusions. His extensive range of sources has been mined by subsequent historians, but The Naval Mutinies of 1797 is a meticulous exploration of documentation and nuance. While this multi-authored work lacks a single author's unity of theme, research method and interpretation, multiple specialist authors offer wider searches and insight. Each chapter explores a separate area of debate. Were the mutinies a struggle over ‘arrears of pay’ or a ‘revolutionary movement’; were there one, four or more mutinies? Emphasis is placed on documentary evidence, especially from the lower deck. What emerges predominantly is a desire for peace and unity on the part of the majority, together with a fundamental loyalty and internal discipline. After the mutinies the Admiralty aimed to restore peaceful relations to a status quo ante Spithead, but some writers indicate that it prompted an examination of officer discipline. A scrutiny of leadership as such is not central to this volume, but is demonstrated to be relevant to overall discipline. The original spelling and punctuation of quoted documents has been retained throughout except where noted to the contrary, to convey an authentic voice.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Naval Mutinies of 1797Unity and Perseverance, pp. xi - xiiiPublisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2011