admiralty, which was the fullest, prayed, that the wages of the seamen should be increased ; that their provisions should be raised to the weight of 16 ounces to the pound,* and be of a better quality ; that their measures should be the same as those used in the commercial trade ; that vegetables, instead of flour, should be served with fresh beef ; that the sick should be better attended to, and their necessaries not be embezzled ; and that the men might have, on returning from sea, a short leave to visit their families.

On the 18th a committee of the board of admiralty, consisting of Lord Spencer and Lord Arden, Rear-admiral Young, and Mr. Marsden, the second secretary, arrived at Portsmouth ; and, in answer to the petition of the seamen, declared, that the board would recommend the king to propose to parliament an increase of their wages in the following proportions : four shillings per month, in addition, to the wages of petty-officers and seamen, three, to the wages of ordinary seamen, and two, to the wages of landmen ; and that the board had resolved, that seamen, wounded in action, should be continued in pay until their wounds were healed, or, until, being declared unserviceable, they should be pensioned, or received into Greenwich hospital.

To this, on the following day, the seamen, through their delegates, transmitted a reply, urging, that there never existed more than two orders of men in the navy, able and ordinary, and that, therefore, the distinction between ordinary and landmen was new ; and humbly proposing, that the old regulations should be adhered to, that the wages of able seamen should be raised to one shilling a day, and the wages of petty-officers and ordinary seamen in the same proportion, and that the marines, while serving on board, should have their pay augmented in the same proportion as that of ordinary seamen ; and further, that the Greenwich pension should be raised to ten pounds per annum ; that, to maintain the additional fund, every merchant-seaman should thereafter pay one shilling instead of sixpence a month, and that the regulation should extend to the seamen of the East India company. The seamen then repeated their former demands, for an increased weight and measure, and an improved quality, of provisions, and for a supply of vegetables, instead of flour, with fresh beef ; concluding with a declaration that, until their grievances, including those of particular ships, should be redressed, and an act of indemnity passed, they were determined not to lift an anchor.

On the next day, the 20th, the admiralty-committee sent, through Lord Bridport, a letter to the seamen, agreeing to the increase of wages demanded, and to the full weight and measure

* The seaman's pound, according to a government regulation, was not more than 14 ounces, the remaining two being retained by the purser, to allow for waste, leakage, &c. A similar reduction occurred in the measures ; and the purser received no other pay than the difference, if any, between the real and the assumed loss by waste, leakage, &c.

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