HMS Hermione (1782)

HMS "Hermione" was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the British Royal Navy, launched in 1782 at Teast's of Bristol, and notorious for the mutiny which took place aboard her.

In the French Revolutionary Wars, she served in the West Indies, and in 1797 — the year of the Spithead and Nore mutinies — Captain Hugh Pigot was posted to command her. Pigot was a ruthless disciplinarian who meted out severe and arbitrary punishment. On 21 September 1797, Pigot ordered the topsails to be reefed, and, dissatisfied with the speed of the operation, gave the order that the last men off the yard should be flogged. "These would be the yard-arm men, the most skilful topmen." [Dressed to Kill: British Naval Uniform, Masculinity and Contemporary Fashions 1748-1857; Miller, Amy; National Maritime Museum, 2007, p. 80] In their haste to get down, three young sailors fell to their deaths. Pigot immediately ordered their bodies thrown overboard with the words "'throw the lubbers overboard' ... the worst insult in the seaman's vocabulary". [Dressed to Kill: British Naval Uniform, Masculinity and Contemporary Fashions 1748-1857; Miller, Amy; National Maritime Museum, 2007, p. 80] When other sailors complained, Pigot ordered them flogged.

The crew mutinied that night, killing Pigot and eight other officers. Pigot was run through with his own sword and thrown overboard into shark infested waters. It was one of the most violent mutinies in Royal Navy history.

The mutineers sailed for La Guaira, Venezuela, where on 27 September 1797 they handed the ship over to the Spanish. At first the mutineers claimed that they had set the officers adrift in the ship's boat (as in the mutiny on the "Bounty" eight years previously), but the true story soon got out and Sir Hyde Parker, commander of the West Indies station, ordered the mutineers to be hunted down. In all, 33 of the mutineers were captured and court-martialled and 24 were hanged.

"Hermione", renamed "Santa Cecilia" by the Spanish, remained at Puerto Caballo until 25 October 1799, when 100 men from HMS "Surprise" led by Captain Edward Hamilton cut her out, killing 119. "Hermione" was renamed "Retaliation", then renamed again in 1802 to "Retribution". She was broken up in 1805.

ee also

* See HMS "Hermione" for other ships of this name.

References

* Leonard F. Guttridge, "Mutiny: A History of Naval Insurrection," United States Naval Institute Press, 1992, ISBN 0-87021-281-8
* Lincoln P. Paine, "Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia", Houghton Mifflin, 1997, ISBN 0-395-71556-3.
* Dudley Pope, "The Black Ship", Secker and Warburg, 1988, ISBN 0-436-37753-5.