Cheraw chronicle. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1896-2005, 1921-08-25

food and drink fitment is. They know
how safe we are, and today orders
have come to yield our provisions to
the rest of the fleet. That is, we, who
have taken time by the fOrelock. must
Weld up our good gettingS to bad re-
ceivers am not prepared to do 1t.
THE fleet could not sail now If it
wished; but one ship can sail, and it Is
ours. The fleet hasn't the food TO sail.
On Richard Parker's ship, the Sand
wich, there IS food only for week.
The others are almost as bad. We are
in danger of being attacked. Sir Eras-
mus Cover, of the Neptune, has fleet
of warships, gunboatS, and amateur
armed vessels getting ready to attack
us. The North sea fleet has come to
help us, but that doesn't save US. I'll
say this-we are loyal men in this
fleet, otherwise our ships would have
Joined the enemy in the waters OF
France or Holland. They can't 60 now,
in, any case. The men have lost heart
For the moment we have ma
jority in men and ships; but we can't
renew our food or drink, or ammuni-
ton. The end is sure against US. Our
original agitation was just: our pres
ent obduracy is madness. The ship is
suspected. 1t is believed by the rest
of the fleet-by ships like the lnvinci-
ble-that we're weakened, selfish
and lacking in fidelity to the cause.
That's not true; but we are in this po-
sition-we have either to fight or to
run, and perhaps to do both.
MAKE no mistake. The government
are not towards; the admiralty are
gentlemen of determination. If men
like Admiral Howe support the admir-
alty-Howe, one of the best friends
the seaman ever had-what do you
think the end will be? Hive you heard
what happened at Spithead? The sea-
men chivvied Admiral Alan Gardner
and his colleagues aboard ship. He
caught hold of seaman Delegate by
the collar and shook him. They closed
in on him. They handled him roughly
He sprang on the hammock nettings.
put the moose Of the hanging-rope
round his neck, and said to the men
who advanced menacingly:
off YOU will return to your duty,
YOU may hang me at the yard-arm'
That's the kind Of stuff our ad-
miralS are made of. We have no quar-
rel with the majority Of our officers.
They're straight, they're honest, and
they're true to their game. Our quar-
rel is with parliament and the admir-
atty; our struggle is with the people
of the kingdom, who have not seen to
it that our wrongs are put right, that
we have food TO eat, water to drink
and money to spend"
He waved a hand, as though to
sweep away the criticisms he felt must
be rising against him.
Don't think because I've spent four
Years in prison under the SterneSt dis
cipline the world offers, and have
never been n seaman before, that I'm
not fitted to espouse your cause. BY
Heaven. l ami AMI am! l know
the wrongs you've suffered. I've
smelled the water you drink. I've
tasted the rotten meat. I've seen the
honest seaman who has been for years
upon the main-I've seen the scars
upon his back got from brutal officer
who gave him too big Job to do, and
flogged him for not doing it. | know
of men who, fevered with bad food,
have fallen, from the main masthead,
or have slipped overheard, glad to go,
because of the wrongs they've suffered.
"I'n tell you what our fate will be,
and then I'll put a question to you. We
must either give up our stock of pro-
visions or run for 1t. Parker and the
other Delegates proclaim their COM
radeShip; Yet they have hidden from
uS tba- -kiuSs nrosiaaH