officers and men by his
urbane and kind manners whenever he came on board. He used to call us
up, and talk to us, lieutenants, midshipmen, and seamen alike, in the
most familiar manner, taking an interest in our private histories, and
all we had to say for ourselves. No wonder, then, that officers and men
were loyal to the back-bone. Our captain, too, from the day he
commissioned the ship, had, by his justice and kindness, done still more
to make the officers and men love him. Few fathers would have been more
thoughtful of the interests of their children than he was of the welfare
of the men under his charge. On the 14th of April, 1797, the _Saint
Fiorenzo_ lay at Spithead, forming one of a large fleet under Lord
Bridport. It was known that certain complaints had been sent up to the
Admiralty by the ships' companies, but little was thought of the matter
by the officers, when some of the petty officers of the _Saint Fiorenzo_
informed Sir Harry that the men of most of the ships had resolved to
mutiny, if the complaints were not forthwith attended to. It was
supposed that the documents received at the Admiralty were forgeries, or
sent up by a few disaffected men. Sir Harry, however, on
cross-questioning our people, was convinced that the petitions really
did express the opinions of the seamen of the navy, and promising that
he would make the true state of the case known, that very evening sent
up an officer with despatches to London. The next day the mutiny broke
out, and each ship's company was directed to send representatives,
called delegates, on board the _Queen Charlotte_. Sir Harry directed
our ship's company to select two of the most sensible and trustworthy of
our men, Aynsley and Stanley, as their delegates, and they regularly
informed him of all that was taking place. His representations had
great weight at head-quarters; the more reasonable demands of the
mutineers were granted, and the seamen returned to their duty.

"In the meantime we received orders to fit out at Sheerness, to carry
over the Princess Royal to Cuxhaven, after her marriage with the Duke of
Wurtemburg. That no time might be lost, the guns on both sides, from
the cabin door to the break of the poop, were sent down into the hold,
that the carpenters might begin fitting up the cabins, thus crippling
our powers as a fighting ship.

"On our arrival at Sheerness, great was our astonishment at finding the
red flag--the signal of mutiny-