Mutiny (35 page)
He looked idly about:
there were few he knew — one or two Achilles, a Sandwich or three. The Chequers
was known as the rendezvous of the delegates, and Kydd could think of many who
would be too apprehensive to enter. The buzz of talk and Parker's high voice
droned on, and Kydd started to nod off. A noise outside did not register, and a
young seaman burst into the room shouting: 'It's true, I swear it! It's all
over, mates, an' we got what we want!' The room broke into a babble of
excitement.
'Gangway, yer
mundungo-built beggar! Let's see what it's all about.'
The crowd about Parker
deserted him instantly and surrounded the ecstatic sailor. 'Spithead - they got
it all setded! They gets pay. 'n' all - an' a full pardon, damn me eyes! Black
Dick Howe 'imself signed the paper.'
A
rising elation swept away Kydd's weariness.
'Where did you hear
this?' Parker called, above the uproar. If it was true, and it was a victory,
their own mutiny had lost its purpose.
'I got it straight fr'm th' telegraph
office. They just got word fr'm Spithead, an' the Admiralty sends it on t'
here.' By a miracle of the clacking shutters spaced out between Sheerness and
the roof of the Admiralty in London, apparently word of the settlement had been
relayed to them over the long miles.
'Clap
a stopper on yer jabber, Joe, let's hear it all.'
The young sailor
paused. 'Well, t' tell the truth, Mr Wells it was tol' me. He works f'r Admiral
Buckner.'
The room grew quiet.
'So it could be a rumour, like?' someone piped up.
'No, can't be!' the
sailor said scornfully. 'He showed me th' signal 'n' said I was t' find Mr
Parker an' tell him.'
The room fell silent as
the enormity of the event sank in. Kydd glanced over to Parker, who was shaking
his head slowly, a weary smile on his face. 'What's t' do, Dick?' he said.
Parker didn't answer at
first, then looked about the room, catching the eye of this one and that.
'Yair,
what next, then, Dick?' came a call.
Levering himself to his
feet, Parker stood before them. His hands grasped the lapels of his coat.
'Brothers,' he began softly, 'can I ask you one question? Just the one! And if
you can answer it to satisfaction, then I'll sit down again and be silent.'
Uncertain
smiles showed, men glanced at one another.
'This I ask, then. If
you were in power — at the highest — and your entire fleet was in the hands of
those who have embarrassed you with the exposing of your perfidy, and you are
desperate, would it not be a rattling good plan to win back control by a very
simple contrivance? You tell the Nore that the Spithead matter is resolved, and
to Spithead you say that the Nore is reconciled. In this way, you get both to
return to duty, and having dropped their defences you are then at liberty to
seek whatever vengeance ...' The words hung in the silence. "Then, this I
ask, shipmates, is this an impossible plan?'
'Be
damned! They wouldn't—'
'The
slivey fucksters! Once they got us t' sea—'
'They
lied at th' Culloden trials. My mate—'
The room broke into
angry shouts, but Parker held up his arms for order. 'I say then, we hold fast.
We keep the faith. Only when we have proof— solid evidence - will we even begin
to consider the situation.' He sat down to shouts and gusts of applause,
accepting a large glass as he did so. But when Kydd next saw him, he was
looking distracted.
'Why, Tom, m' darlin'!' Kitty laughed.
'Such a surprise!' She kissed him soundly. Then she gazed at him earnesdy, and
hugged him tight. 'Do take care of y'rself, m' dear Tom,' she whispered. 'In m'
bones, I have a dreadful feelin' this is all goin' to end wi' blood an' weepin'
-there's been nothin' like it this age.' She let her arms drop, but when she
looked up again, a smile adorned her face. 'Dick Parker, y' knows him now. What's
he like — I mean, as a man?'
Kydd laughed. 'Well, he's a swell cove,
right enough, his beaver hat 'n' all. But a great one f'r thinkin' and
plannin'. None o' this would've happened but f'r him, an' I'm proud t' call him
m' friend. An' has a wife in Leith, who he's very partial of,' he added.
They laughed together,
but it died quickly and she looked him in the eyes again. 'Tom, there's
somethin' on y'r mind.'
'Just worries — 't
would oblige me if we could talk a while, Kitty.'
She caught something in
his voice. 'We will, love. But not here - jus' wait for me to fetch m' bonnet
an' we'll take a walk.'
Arm in arm, they stood on Minster Hill,
looking down on Sheerness and the dockyard. At this distance, a couple of miles
away, they were close enough for details, but removed from the noise and
distraction. The walk had cleared Kydd's mind, and the sparkling air was
invigorating.
'I jus' feel — well, it's such a - an
awful thing that I did, Kitty,' he muttered. 'Here am I, master's mate, an' I
turned an officer out of his own ship. It has t' be said, I'm a mutineer.'
She looked at him
shrewdly. 'It's a big thing ye did, Tom, that's f'r sure. But that's not all,
is it?'
'No.'
In a low voice he went on, 'It's my particular frien', a shipmate o' mine since
I was pressed. We — we had many a rare time together, been aroun' the world b'
Cape Horn, been at hazard wi' the enemy so many times I can't count.'
He stared at the cold
hard line of the sea horizon. 'We had hard words together, Kitty. He doesn't
see that sometimes ye've got to — to follow y'r heart an' do what y' need to.
Nicholas is a taut hand at logic, 'n' it's hard to keep with him at times. Says
that th' gov'ment won't stand a second mutiny, an' will be down on us like thunder,
an' we're going at it the wrong way — don't say what the right way is.'
Kitty squeezed his arm.
'I knows how ye feels, but there's sailors not born yet who'll bless ye.'
'They say th' telegraph has news o'
Spithead, that th' mutiny is over.'
'I
heard that. What d' you think?'
'Dick Parker thinks it's lies 'n'
treachery by th' Admiralty, that they want t' get us back under discipline an'
take revenge.'
'I
asked what you think, Tom.'
Kydd looked down at the
disorderly revelry around Blue Town, and nearer, the streets of Mile Town clear
of honest folk. Out at sea clustered the ships at the Great Nore, a broad
cordon of open water around them. 'Fine view,' he said, taking it all in.
'Gives ye a perspective, as y' might say.' He turned to Kitty. 'What do I think?
We wait 'n' see. Dick's right, we don't give up an inch until we c'n see proper
proof, real things th' government can't deny after. We stand fast, m' love.'
*
* *
As days passed, the rumpus ashore
subsided, as much from satiation as from a shortage of means to continue, and
the men stayed aboard. The people of Sheerness began to appear on the streets,
believing that Spithead was on the point of settlement and that the Nore would
soon follow.
But without proof, the
Nore did not drop its guard. Routines were maintained, watch was kept. Parker
held apart. A lonely figure, he rose regularly at dawn and paced slowly along
the decks, his face remote and troubled.
Kydd became increasingly impatient. With
the Royal Navy idle in port and a government set to defiance, a resolution must
come soon. At the back of his mind, but as menacing as a caged beast, was the
question: would the rumoured pardon be general enough to cover each and every
one, no matter what their actions?
He returned to his
work. The business of victualling was in actuality no real difficulty: the
pursers were in the main detested and had been sent ashore but their stewards
were quite capable of making out demands on stores, which although signed by
delegates were duly honoured by the dockyard.
Even the press-gang was
accommodated. New-pressed hands were processed in the usual way aboard Sandwich:
the seamen and able-bodied were sent out to the fleet, the quota men and
broken-down sailors kept aboard.
Kydd lifted his pen. It was all very necessary,
but quill-driving was no work for a seaman. His eyes glazed, but then a round
of shouting and cheers broke in.
'Dick!' called McCarthy, one of the
delegates sent to Spithead to get the true lay.
Parker emerged from an
inner cabin. Kydd was puzzled that he did not appear more enthusiastic.
More men crowded in.
'We done it! 'S all over!' Their elation was unrestrained. 'Got th' pardon an'
all, the lot! Th' fuckin' telegraph was right, Black Dick did it f'r us!'
The deck above
resounded with the thump of feet as the news spread. A wave of relief spread
over Kydd, until he remembered the pardon - the wording would be critical.
'Have
you any proof with you?' Parker said edgily.
McCarthy lifted a sea-bag and emptied a
pile of printed matter on the desk, some still smeared with printer's ink. 'An'
we have one th't Black Dick hisself clapped his scratch on.' Evidently pleased
with himself, he added, 'S' now I goes below an' I lays claim ter a week's grog.'
Parker sifted quickly
through the papers, and straightened. 'It does seem we have something, I
believe,' he said, but the intensity of his expression did not relax. 'The
Parliament committee meets here in this cabin this afternoon.'
'No, it don't!' chortled a seaman. 'We
meets at th' Chequers, an' after, we kicks up a bobs-a-dyin' as will have 'em
talkin' fer ever.'
'Meetin' comes ter order!' bawled
Davis, a broad grin belying his ferocity. Red faces and loud talk around the
table showed that perhaps the celebration had been a litde early in starting.
Parker had the
papers in a neat pile before him, and waited with impatience. The meeting
settled down and, with a frosty look to each side, he began: 'You elected me
president of the delegates because you trusted me to see through the knavish
tricks of the Admiralty. I have to tell you today, I mean to honour that
trust.' He picked up a paper. 'This,' he said, dangling it as though it were
soiled, 'is what they intend for us. It's all here, and plain to any who have
any schooling in law whatsoever. They've been forced to agree on certain
points, only by the steadfast courage of our brothers in Spithead, but it's
trickery.'
'Why
so?' came a shout.
Parker smiled
wolfishly. 'For anything to have any meaning, a rise in wages, a full pardon,
everything, it has to have the force of Parliament, evidence to the world that
for a surety things are to be changed. This means an Act of Parliament! Now, if
you inspect this document carefully, you will see that the instrument they
choose to promulgate these concessions is an order-in-council, which as you may
recollect retains its force for only a year and a day. So, at the end of this
time?'
An angry muttering
swelled. 'Show us th' paper!' snarled Hulme, the delegate from Director, who
had no patience with his more moderate colleagues. Parker ignored him, and
placed it neatly out of sight under the pile.
'But the worst is to
come.' He paused dramatically. 'I'm speaking of the pardon.' Kydd went cold.
'Our precious pardon! Without this to protect us, then everyone here seated
today stands to dance at the yardarm within the month. Agreed?'
His words were met with a stony
silence. 'Very well.
See here ...' he tapped a column in
a printed broadsheet. "'... George R" - that's the King -
"Whereas, upon the representation of our Lords-commissioners of our
Admiralty, respecting the proceedings of the seamen ..." It goes on, but
we are interested in one thing only — the date. This pardon is dated the
eleventh of May. Therefore, it cannot possibly cover any actions after that
date — and our rising was. We're not covered in any whit by this pardon. It's a
scrap of paper only, and we must prepare for—'