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516 
‘ment took place, the admiral command- 
ing, at Portsmouth, had given him an 
acting commission for the same ship. 
These circumstances seem to inferacon- 
fidence at thaf time placed in his profes- 
sional qualifications, But the reviewer 
does not mentian an important occur- 
rence which took place on this occasion, 
When at sea, the crew of this ninety gun 
ship actually mutinied. Capt. Patton 
took the instant means to quell this mu- 
tiny, had the ringleaders secured, sum- 
moned the ship’s company upon deck, 
explained his orders, the nature of 
their crime, and the tendency of their 
disobedience, and then ordered ex- 
emplary punishment to be inflicted. 
Discipline was hereby completely esta- 
blished ; and before he quitted his com- 
mand, he received strong marks of ate 
tachment from the ship’s company. 
About this time (the close of the Ame- 
rican war) several matinies took place in 
line of battle ships: Jet the reviewer en- 
quire the result of those mutinies, and 
whether discipline or mutiny was trium- 
phant! 
There was an obvious cause for this 
tendency to mutiny in the navy‘at that 
time, traced by Capt. Patton to the pe- 
culiar hardships in the situation of the 
first order of seamen in the king’s ships. 
Upon the renewal of the war, the same 
causes produced the same effects, or ra- 
ther the causes and the effects were aggra- 
vated. Thedifference between complete 
and incomplete seamen is unknown to 
landmen, and not always sufficiently 
attended to by professional men. 
Upon this subject Lord Nelson seems 
to acknowledge the acquisition of expe- 
rience, 1 a voyage he made to the West 
Indies in a trading ship*. Tt is in the 
merchawt service that the merits of a 
Can Rta an, aaa atl 
* The following is an extract from his own 
Memoir of his Services, in his Life lately pub- 
lished. ‘¢ But this business with Spain being 
accommodated, J was sent in a West India 
ship, &c. with Mr. John Rathbone, who had 
formerly been in the navy in the Dread- 
nought wilh Capt. Suckling.—From_ this 
voyage I returned to the Triumph at Chat- 
ham, in July 1772, and if I did not improve 
in my education, | came back a practical sea- 
man, witha horror of the Royal Navy, and 
with a saying then constant with the seamen: 
* After the most honour, forward the better 
man!” he better man meant the: better 
seaman. , His lordship adds, *¢ It was many 
weeks before I got in the least reconciled to a 
man of war, so deep was the prejudice rooted.” 
This illystratea the ideas of practical seamen. 
» Facts relating to Admiral Patton. 
[July 1, 
complete seaman are fully recompensed 
in time of war: besides very high wages, 
if he be sober he is almost certain of 
attaining the station of a mate; and if 
otherwise qualified, that of a master. 
From receiving very high wages, and the 
prospect of these advantages, such men 
are forcibly taken by the impress (they 
never enter voluntarily) into the navy, 
to be put upon a footing with inferior 
seamen. Thesé were the circumstances 
that influenced the opinion of Capt. Pat- 
ton, who apprehended, from what he 
knew and observed, that the common 
sufferings of so many men, wrested from 
better situations, debarred from higher 
prospects, confined to ships under mili- 
tary discipline, aad withheld from ever 
seeing their families or relations, might 
produce some shock disastrous to the 
British fleet. Strongly impressed with 
this apprehensiou, he drew up a memo- 
rial upon the subject, pointed out the 
danger, and suggested the remedy; which 
was to give complete or prime seamen 
encouragement in the navy fully equal to 
what they received in the merchant ser- 
vice, by adequately raising the wages of 
such stations and situations as complete 
seamen alone could fill, and which could 
not. be occupied by inferior seamen. 
This and other indulgencies, which would 
attach them to the service, would remove 
all cause for discontent in them, and 
prove an absolute security against mutiny 
in his majesty’s ships, because the ‘prime 
seamen are always the leading characters 
on ship-board, 
This memorial was presented to the 
first lord of the admiralty, and to the mi- 
nister, two years before the general mu- 
tiny took place: but it was disregarded ;— 
and no wonder, for there was not ano 
ther professional man who had the same 
view of the subject. In the language of 
the reviewer, Capt. Patton was then 
held, as Admiral Patton is now cone 
sidered by him, to be acroaker, Times 
however, brought forth the dreadful 
event he had predicted, which his dis- 
cernment, or his attention to circums 
stances overlooked by other professional 
men, enabled him to foresee. Jt was 
then acknowledged that his rejected mes 
morial had proved prophetic, Had that 
memorial been attended to, and the 
means ‘used which were there pointed 
out for attaching prime seamen to the 
service, how much would the nation have 
gained? what a waste of money would 
have been saved, which has been use- 
lessly, because indiscriminately, pele 
