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<DATE>2010-06-04</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B100512.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A81288">
<STC T="W">c988a</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">45097609</BIBNO>
<VID>171218</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD><HI>THE CASE Of &s;everal Thou&s;ands of poor di&s;tre&s;s'd MARINERS IN THE ENGLISH NAVY, KEPT</HI> Out of their Pay upon the Account of <HI>Q</HI>'s and <HI>R</HI>'s put upon their Names in the Navy Books.</HEAD>
<GAP DESC="duplicate" EXTENT="1 page">
<PB REF="2">
<P>IT is the Misfortune of the poor Sailors of the Engli&s;h-Navy to have few or no Friends to take their Part, or repre&s;ent their Grievances to the Parliament, in order to have them Redre&s;s'd: Ju&s;tice indeed carries an equal Ballance, but both the Scales hang over the Earth, without any re&s;pect to the Sea. Tho' our Sailors are as true to their Country as the Needle of their Compa&s;s is to the Cour&s;e they Steer, as faithful as the Steel to the Load&s;tone; yet are they little minded, by tho&s;e in who&s;e Power it is to do them Ju&s;tice, as if their Generation were Mon&s;terous, becau&s;e their lives are Amphibious; are born on the Land, and do Service on the Water, yet have common Ju&s;tice on neither: They are <HI>Engli&s;h-men</HI> but till they are 16 or 18 Years of Age, and then arriv'd to the <HI>Ne plus ultra</HI> of their Liberty, their Freedom being in perpetual dan|ger, liable to be invaded by every Pre&s;s-Ma&s;ter; and tho&s;e which were born to the Rights and Immunities of <HI>Engli&s;h-men,</HI> all have their Property knock'd on the Head at once, and are hawl'd away and con&s;train'd on Board-Ship, an Honourable &s;ort of Va&s;&s;alage. Thus Wives have their Husbands torn from their Arms, Mothers the only hopes of their Families forc'd into Confinement more durable and unea&s;y than that of their Wombs, Fathers and Sons im|pri&s;on'd in one Wooden Goal. But were this all, the Bondage would &s;eem more ea&s;y; the Mariners never think their Service to their Country too much, they Plough the wide Ocean, contend with the raging Billows of the deep; and with a Bravery peculier to the Sons of the Sea, meet and fight their Ene|my with a wonderful Contentment and Alacrity, in defence of their Country, and tho&s;e Rights and Priviledges of which they have &s;o &s;mall a &s;hare. Indeed their Country has not been backward in making a Generous Allowance, &s;uit|able to the Bravery of Men engag'd in &s;uch dangerous Enterprizes; but their ill Stars have laid them under &s;uch di&s;mal Circum&s;tances, under &s;uch a mon|&s;trous and unparallel'd Conduct, that in the mid&s;t of the Plenty provided for them, they have been in the greate&s;t Wants. It is commonly ob&s;erv'd in deal|ings among&s;t Mankind, that the Service of Labourers requires pre&s;ent Money, and the Laws of the Realm have a great re&s;pect to the Wages of Servants, al|lowing them to be fir&s;t paid, even before Bonds, or any previous Obligations of a contrary Nature: But &s;ome would have every Sailor an Exlex, and would make us believe that the &s;ame decorum of Ju&s;tice is not to be us'd in States and
<PB REF="3">Governments, as is practi&s;ed among&s;t Men of inferiour Ranks and Qualities: However, as the Debts to the Sailors are National, it ought to be a National con|cern; and Grievances of this kind boing unredre&s;s'd, may procure a National Judgment.</P>
<P>That the <HI>Q</HI>'s and <HI>R</HI>'s upon the Navy-Books, are a common Grievance, the poor Widows of Sailors, and their Attorneys, will loudly ju&s;tify to their great Grief and Lo&s;s.</P>
<P>The <HI>R</HI>'s upon the Navy-Books is an immoveable Letter, very &s;ignificant of Inju&s;tice, and &s;erves there as a Period in other Books, puting a full &s;top to the Sailors Pay; and tho' the Per&s;on that &s;ets the permanent <HI>R</HI> may be but a Cypher him&s;elf in the account of Ju&s;tice and true Worth, yet his Letter <HI>R,</HI> is productive of va&s;t Sums of Money, into the Pocket of &s;ome Body or other, to the Ruin of the Seamen. This <HI>R,</HI> in Navy Language or Cha|racter (which you plea&s;e) &s;ignifies <HI>Run,</HI> and this Run is of different Mean|ing and Signification too, it is Crambo'd and tortur'd mo&s;t damnably, forc'd to expre&s;s the meaning of any thing the Commanders of the Navy plea&s;e.</P>
<P>If a poor Man be &s;et &s;ick a Shore, &s;o that he cannot get a-board his Ship before &s;he Sails, then he is made run upon the Books: If he be a Shore by the Captains Order, about the Ships Bu&s;ine&s;s, and &s;ome Orders from Above force the Ship out of Harbour before he can get a-board, the Ship runs away from him, and he from the Ship at the &s;ame Time: If he go imme|diately on Board another Ship, yet he is Run &s;till. The immovable <HI>R,</HI> of the Navy, is as fixt as the Law of the <HI>Medes</HI> and <HI>Per&s;ians.</HI> If he make Intere&s;t at the Admiralty to get the <HI>R</HI> taken off. (for 'tis in the Power of tho&s;e Men you know to do mighty Wonders) why then his Petition comes out with this pretty Device at the bottom, read the 11th of <HI>February,</HI> refus'd, <HI>J. Burchett.</HI></P>
<P>But farther to di&s;cover the meaning of this &s;ignificant Letter <HI>R,</HI> I &s;hall. give an Account how it is apply'd to the poor Sailors upon the Navy-Books.</P>
<P N="1">I. Such as never de&s;ign'd to de&s;ert the Service, but being return'd from long Voyages, and their Ships being either in Port or Dock, have adventur'd to vi&s;it their Friends, in order to provide them&s;elves with Apparel and other Nece&s;&s;aries, and perhaps have met with Pre&s;s-Gangs belonging to other Ships, and forc'd on Board; this has been e&s;teemed by the Navy a De&s;ertion, and they have made &s;uch Sailors <HI>Run,</HI> upon their Books.</P>
<P N="2">II. Tho&s;e that have been turn'd over from one Ship to another, and after having &s;erv'd &s;ome time in the latter, their Tickets for their Service in the former Ships have been delivered them and after having &s;erv'd on Board &s;e|veral
<PB REF="4"><GAP DESC="duplicate" EXTENT="1 page"> other Ships, perhaps two or three Years, after being &s;et &s;ick on Shore, the fir&s;t Tickets with the re&s;t, have been made <HI>Quaeri'd</HI> or <HI>Run,</HI> and their Wages forfeited.</P>
<P>Now, that &s;uch Practices as the&s;e are contrary to all the Law, Ju&s;tice, and Rea&s;on in the World, is demon&s;trable.</P>
<P N="1">I. Such as have their Tickets given them, are &s;uppo&s;ed to be guilty of no Crime at that juncture; and &s;uch Tickets are, and have been e&s;teemed as the Kihg's Bonds and Bills of Exchange, and were formerly Paid upon &s;ight. Now, it is very hard, that a Sailor tran&s;gre&s;&s;ing in one Ship, &s;hould become &s;o guilty, as by that Crime to forfeit all his Wages in former Ships: So that good and bad Service, according to Navy-Ju&s;tice, are alike Puni&s;hable.</P>
<P N="2">II. Many well-effected People to his Maje&s;ties Service, and out of Charity
<PB REF="5">to their di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Neighbours, have &s;upplied many Sailors with Money, to the full value of their Tickets, and when they come to the Navy to be Paid, receive nothing but an <HI>R</HI> for their Money,</P>
<P N="3">III. The <HI>Quaerying</HI> and <HI>Running</HI> of &s;uch Tickets, have abominably le&s;&s;en'd the Credit of the Navy, in re&s;pect of Wages, and made the mo&s;t glorious Navy in the World the mo&s;t &s;candalous, by &s;uch Barbarous abu&s;es, in&s;o|much that Tickets formerly &s;old at 2<HI>s.</HI> 6<HI>d. per</HI> Pound, are now &s;old for &s;e|ven, eight, ten, and twelve Shillings lo&s;s.</P>
<P>The next thing to be Con&s;idered, is the Letter <HI>Q</HI> upon the Navy-Books, which &s;tands there as near Inju&s;tice, as it does to the Letter <HI>R</HI> in the Alpha|bet. This <HI>Q</HI> is generally put upon &s;uch as are &s;et &s;ick a Shoar; and then the poor Sailor is to Quaery for Ju&s;tice, which he may do till he is Blind, and never find it. That this Practice is Barbarous and Inhumane, is very evident.</P>
<P N="1">I. It &s;inks the Labourers Hire into private Pockets, deprives di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Families of their Bread, purcha&s;ed by the hazard of humane Life, and brings unnece&s;&s;ary Charge upon Pari&s;hes.</P>
<P N="2">II. This <HI>Q</HI> is a new Letter in the Navy-Books, <HI>Quaeries</HI> being never heard of, till the Year 1690, before which time, every Man &s;et &s;ick a Shore had his Wages paid him, and was di&s;charged from the Service.</P>
<P N="3">III. The great Sickne&s;s, which at and &s;ince that time happened in the Fleet, was the Foundation of the&s;e <HI>Quaeries;</HI> a very hard Ca&s;e, that a Sail|or mu&s;t lo&s;e his Money becau&s;e he has lo&s;t his Health in the Service; mu&s;t have bad Pay, becau&s;e he has been poy&s;oned with bad Provi&s;ions.</P>
<P N="4">IV. Many, if not mo&s;t of tho&s;e, who have been &s;et &s;ick a Shore, have thought them&s;elves Di&s;charged, according to former Cu&s;tom, being alto|gether ignorant of the new Practice of the Navy.</P>
<P N="5">V. Many that have been long Voyages, and &s;ick for many Months to|gether, &s;eeing the Major part of the Ships-Crew Buryed, have been thereby de&s;heartened to go a-board Ship again; Di&s;ea&s;es being more dreadful to Sailors than Battle or Storm.</P>
<P N="6">VI. Nor can it be rationally expected, that &s;uch as have contracted In|di&s;po&s;itions and Di&s;tempers, by unwhol&s;ome Provi&s;ions, or a contagious Air, &s;hould after a Months Refre&s;hment in &s;ick Quarters, or labouring 6 or 12 Months under their Maladies in an Ho&s;pital, be fit to return a-board Ship, or be capable of doing his Maje&s;ty Service; but the contrary is evident, by the va&s;t numbers that died &s;oon after their return on Board, as well as
<PB REF="6"><GAP DESC="duplicate" EXTENT="1 page"> tho&s;e that were &s;et &s;ick a Shore.</P>
<P>And wou'd it not now be ju&s;t to pay &s;uch Men their Wages? Wou'd it not be for the Honour of his Maje&s;ty, for the Reputation and Credit of the Nation to con&s;ider their Ca&s;es, and pay the Debts due from the Nation to &s;uch?</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>As have been &s;et &s;ick on Shore &s;ince the conclu&s;ion of the Peace.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>To the Executors and Attorneys of &s;uch as died in Sick-Quarters, Ho&s;pitals, Ho&s;pital-Ships.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>To &s;uch as after Recovery entred on Board any of his Maje&s;ties Ships.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. <HI>To &s;uch as have been Wounded or hurt, and receiv'd Pen&s;ions, or Smart-Money for the &s;ame.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>5. <HI>To &s;uch as continued Six Months, or upwards, in Sick Quarters or Ho&s;pitals, or have been di&s;charged from thence as Incurable.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><PB REF="7">
6. <HI>To &s;uch as the Captains of Ships have di&s;charged by Tickets, as un&s;erviceable, as being either Sick, Lame or Blind,</HI> &amp;c.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>This U&s;age of free born Engli&s;h, might move Compa&s;&s;ion in any but in tho&s;e who&s;e Bu&s;ine&s;s it is to cheat them, and rai&s;e their own Fortunes out of their Ruins. This indeed is a mi&s;erable Scene of humane Cruelty, unknown to the Heathen Nations, and yet practi&s;ed in a Chri&s;tian Country, built on the Pillars of good and whol&s;ome Laws, and under a Government &s;et up (for no other rea&s;on that I know) but on purpo&s;e to di&s;troy &s;uch Arbitrary Proceed|ings, and to di&s;pence common Ju&s;tice to all Men. There is little more diffe|rence betwixt a Gally Slave and an Engli&s;h Sailor, than that one &s;erves in ex|pectation of Pay, and the other without it, yet one is &s;ometimes as well paid as the other. This barbarous u&s;age of Mariners, have made them in&s;tead of de&s;erting our Ships of War, and taking Merchants Service, for&s;ake their Country, and Sail with Foreigners in hopes of better Ju&s;tice and U&s;age abroad, than they have met with at home. This barbarious U&s;age has made many Thou&s;ands of them turn Pirates during the la&s;t War; and tho&s;e that turn Free|booters are generally the Flower and Youth of the Seamen, &s;o that in time our Ships &s;hall be Man'd only with decrepid old Age, and the refuge of the Sea, to the weakning of the Nation and Government; for every Sailor lo&s;t is a Stone taken out of our National Walls, which &s;uffering &s;uch continual Dila|pidations, will at la&s;t tumble down, and leave us expo&s;ed to the In&s;ults of any Invader.</P>
<P>And after all, Pray what is become of the Money that was ordered to pay the Seamen, upon whom the <HI>R</HI>'s and <HI>Q</HI>'s have been put? If it remains &s;till in the King's Hands, there is yet &s;ome hopes of relief left to the mi&s;erable Sailors; but if it be otherwi&s;e di&s;po&s;ed of, their Di&s;ea&s;e &s;eems Incurable. When we look into the Pay-Office and &s;ee there &s;ome Clearks at 30<HI>l. per Annum</HI> purcha|&s;ing E&s;tates, others turning Merchants, and employing va&s;t Sums of Money in Trade, we may give a &s;hrewd Gue&s;s what is become of the poor Sailors Money. And how &s;hall their Creditors be paid? How &s;hall their Widows and nume|rous Fatherle&s;s Children be provided for? Will not the charge to the &s;everal Pari&s;hes, upon this account, be havier upon the Subject than the Taxes during the War.</P>
<P>And now they apply them&s;elves to you the Honorable Members of the Hou&s;e of Commons, as the la&s;t re&s;ort of Di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Engli&s;h-men, they have born you better fruit then &s;ome that have been better Paid, you have found the Navy to be your chief Support but your Ships without Mariners are
<PB REF="8"><GAP DESC="duplicate" EXTENT="1 page"> but floating Ca&s;tles, meer Machines of War, altogether u&s;ele&s;s, and &s;uch your Ships will be, if the Grievances of the Sailors are unredre&s;s'd.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>G. B</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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