penalties on the mutineers
and on all who aided them.

This had the desired effect, and early in June the fleets at Portsmouth
and Plymouth disavowed all complicity with Parker, and two ships--the
_Leopard_ and _Repulse_--hauled down the red flag and retreated up the
Thames, being fired on by the rest of the fleet. The example was, however,
contagious, and ship after ship deserted until, on the 14th, the crew of
the _Sandwich_ handed over Parker to the authorities.

He was tried, convicted, and hanged on board that ship on the 29th of
June. Some of the other leaders were also hanged, some were flogged
through the fleet, and some sent to prison.

The mutiny was not confined to the ships on the home stations, but it
never became serious at any point, and a display of timely severity soon
brought matters back to their usual condition of discipline and obedience
to orders.

A mutiny of a different character, as it was caused by the tyranny of the
captain, and had very different results, took place in the West Indies.

On the night of the 21st of September the thirty-two-gun frigate
_Hermione_ was cruising off Porto Rico. Its captain, Pigot, was known to
be one of the most harsh and brutal officers in the navy. On the previous
day, while the crew were reefing topsails, he had called out that he would
flog the last man down. The poor fellows, knowing well that he would keep
his word, hurried down; and two of them, in trying to jump over those
below them, missed their footing and were killed. When this was reported
to the captain he simply said: "Throw the lubbers overboard." All the
other men were severely reprimanded. The result of this, the last of a
succession of similar acts of tyranny, was that the crew broke into
mutiny. The first lieutenant went to enquire into the disturbance, but he
was killed and thrown overboard. The captain, hearing the tumult, ran on
deck, but he suffered the same fate as his second in command. The
mutineers then proceeded to murder eight other officers, two lieutenants,
the purser, the surgeon, the captain's clerk, one midshipman, the
boatswain, and the lieutenant of marines. The master, a midshipman, and
the gunner were the only officers spared. They then carried the ship into
the port of La Guayra, representing to the Spanish governor that they had
turned their officers adrift. The real circumstances of the case were
explained to the governor by the British admiral, but he insisted upon
d