Die schwimmende Republik. [‘The Floating Republic’] Eine Erzählung des Aufstandes der brittischen [sic] Seeleute auf der Themse im Jahr 1797. Nebst Richard Parkers Vertheidigung vor dem Kriegsgerichte und einem Anhang über das Seewesen, beschrieben von einem Augenzeugen. [The german title translates: “‘The Floating Republic’ – A narrative of the uprising / mutiny of the british sailors on the Thames in 1797. Along with Richard Parker’s defense before the court martial and an appendix on maritime affairs, described by an eyewitness”].
Erste Deutsche Ausgabe / First and only german Edition. Fürth, Bureau für Litteratur, 1803. Duodecimo (10 cm x 15.3 cm). Portrait-Frontispiz (Portrait – Engraving of Richard Parker by J.F.Volkart), 120 Seiten. Hardcover / Originaler, wunderbarer Halblederband mit reicher Verzierung und Rueckenschildchen. Außergewöhnlich gut erhalten mit zwei ganz kleinen Wurmgängen am unteren Kapital. Ganz blasses Anzeichen eines alten Bibliotheksstempelchen auf dem Titelblatt. Portrait und Text in exzellenter Erhaltung. Eine Publikation von grosser Seltenheit !
Extremely scarce german publication discussing one of the most important mutinies of the Atlantic Revolutions, a revolutionary wave in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries which were all precursors to Independence movements in the New World and led to highlighting of poor living conditions of sailors for the Royal Navy.
Richard Parker (16 April 1767 – 30 June 1797) was an English sailor executed for his role as president of the so-called “Floating Republic”, a naval mutiny in the Royal Navy which took place at the Nore between 12 May and 16 June 1797.
The Spithead and Nore mutinies were two major mutinies by sailors of the Royal Navy in 1797. They were the first in an increasing series of outbreaks of maritime radicalism in the Atlantic World. Despite their temporal proximity, the mutinies differed in character. The Spithead mutiny was a simple, peaceful, successful strike action to address economic grievances, while the Nore mutiny was a more radical action, articulating political ideals as well, which failed. The mutinies were extremely concerning for Britain, because at the time the country was at war with Revolutionary France, and the Navy was the main component of the war effort. There were also concerns among the government that the mutinies might be part of wider attempts at revolutionary sedition instigated by societies such as the London Corresponding Society and the United Irishmen.
Inspired by the example of their comrades at Spithead, the 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. Several other ships in the same location followed this example, though others slipped away and continued to slip away during the mutiny, despite gunfire from the ships that remained (which attempted to use force to hold the mutiny together). The mutineers had been unable to organise easily because the ships were scattered along the Nore (and were not all part of a unified fleet, as at Spithead), but quickly elected delegates for each ship.
Richard Parker was elected “President of the Delegates of the Fleet”. According to him, he was nominated and elected without his knowledge. Parker was a former master’s mate who was dis-rated and court-martialed in December 1793 and re-enlisted in the Navy as a seaman in early 1797, where he came to serve aboard the brig-sloop Hound. Demands were formulated and on 20 May 1797, a list of eight demands was presented to Admiral Charles Buckner, which mainly involved pardons, increased pay and modification of the Articles of War, eventually expanding to a demand that the King dissolve Parliament and make immediate peace with France. These demands infuriated the Admiralty, which offered nothing except a pardon (and the concessions already made at Spithead) in return for an immediate return to duty.
Captain Sir Erasmus Gower commissioned HMS Neptune (98 guns) in the upper Thames and put together a flotilla of fifty loyal ships to prevent the mutineers moving on the city of London. It was largely fear of this blockade moving down river which made the mutineers reconsider their actions and begin to waver.
The mutineers expanded their initial grievances and blockaded London, preventing merchant vessels from entering the port, and the principals made plans to sail their ships to France, alienating the regular English sailors and losing more and more ships as the mutiny progressed. On 5 June Parker issued an order that merchant ships be allowed to pass the blockade, and only Royal Navy victualling (i.e., supply) ships be detained; the ostensible reason provided in the order was that “the release of the merchant vessels would create a favourable impression on shore”, although this decision may actually have been perhaps more due to the complexities involved in such a wide undertaking as interdicting all the merchant traffic on the busy Thames.After the successful resolution of the Spithead mutiny, the government and the Admiralty were not inclined to make further concessions, particularly as they felt some leaders of the Nore mutiny had political aims beyond improving pay and living conditions.
Meanwhile, Captain Charles Cunningham of HMS Clyde, which was there for a refit, persuaded his crew to return to duty and slipped off to Sheerness. This was seen as a signal to others to do likewise, and eventually, most ships slipped their anchors and deserted (some under fire from the mutineers), and the mutiny failed. Parker was quickly convicted of treason and piracy and hanged from the yardarm of Sandwich, the vessel where the mutiny had started. In the reprisals which followed, 29 were hanged, 29 were imprisoned, and nine were flogged, while others were sentenced to transportation to Australia. One such was surgeon’s mate William Redfern who became a respected surgeon and landowner in New South Wales. The majority of men involved in the mutiny were not punished at all, which was lenient by the standards of the time. (Wikipedia)
EUR 1.800,--
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