THE LIEUTENANT LOTON INCEDENT

“Yesterday evening as Lieut. Loten, of the impress service in this town, was going home from the house of rendezvous, he met a sailor armed with a large knife, such as used in Greenland, with which he instantly struck the Lieutenant, and cut him in the hand, and would have done further injury had he not been prevented by a person passing, who luckily gave him an opportunity of seizing him by the collar, and in the scuffle the man got hurt: Lieut. L. took him immediately to the rendezvous, and had him sent on board the Nonsuch. A large mob of idle and disorderly persons collected about the house, and broke all the windows of that, and some of the adjoining one. Their disposition to commit further acts of riot was so evident, that it was judged prudent to call out the military, which was not done till every effort to convince the mob of their error was used by W. Osborne, W.W. Bolton and John Bateman, Esqrs. Aldermen, but in vain; every conciliatory measure, and advice that prudence dictated then as proper, was used to make the mob disperse, but without the desired effect; for instead of taking the good advice offered to them, they proceeded to insult the Magistrates. It was then thought prudent to call out the 4 th and 5 th West York Supplementary Militia, who, with the Armed Association, several companies of Volunteers, and Yeoman Cavalry, were soon under arms, and continued so for three hours, till the mob had left the streets, and peace restored. It is a pleasing circumstance to observe the readiness of all the Military and Armed Association on this occasion, and must convince the disorderly, that any future attempts to riot must prove abortive. We are happy to say that Lieut. Loten and the seaman did not receive any material injury; their wounds, fortunately, are of such a nature that they will soon be healed. We think it right and just to observe, that a better officer, or one more humane than Lieut. Loten, never was employed on any service.”

The above poses a few questions, not least the mentioned H.M.S. Nonsuch. She was the Hull guard-ship and a floating battery at that time, variously under the commands of Captain Henry Blackwood (later of Trafalgar fame), 1795, and Captain R. D. Oliver, 1796. Early in 1794, she had been refitted at Spithead with twenty sixty-eight pounder carronades, her history was not one of great glory, rather more a navy work-horse, built in 1774, launched 17 December, Plymouth Dockyard as a 64 gun Third Rate; she was broken up at Sheerness July 1802, her life was brief and mainly unglamorous. She, while at Hull, also served as the Impressment Tender where those unfortunates were initially taken after being caught by the press.

[http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/NO.htm (currently inactive)]

Of the goodly Lieutenant Loten, little is known other than his first name was James, and he was commissioned into that rank in the year 1784.

[http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Univ_Dir_of_GB/Lieutenants_L-Z.html]

Concerning the conditions on board Impressment Tenders like the Nonsuch, a later description in acerbic terms was contained within a letter to the Right Honourable Lord Althorp from Sir Charles Napier, in which he states his opinion thus:

“……… I shall now point out to your Lordship, our system. On the first breaking out of war, and when it is decided to grant press-warrants, the ships of war, fit for sea, are ordered to proceed on the tracks of the homeward-bound trade, and lay violent hands on all men fit for service, leaving a bare sufficiency to take the ships into port. Many of these men are returning from long voyages, in hoped of seeing their wives and families, and sharing with them their hard earned wages. Some captains endeavour to get notes for their pay, which the generality of Masters are unwilling to give; and others make as many deductions as they can, well knowing that there is not much chance of hearing any further about them. Other Captains are either too thoughtless or too impatient, to wait for settlements or a strange sail may heave in sight, which they are anxious to chase, and the men are hurried away, and must trust to chance to recover their wages hereafter.

When the ship is full, she comes into port, completes her crew, and then turns the rest over to the flag-ship, from whence they are drafted to different ships, and sent to the East or West Indies, Mediterranean, or elsewhere. Those who have received notes for their wages, dispose of them to the Jews for half their value, and those who have been hurried away without settlement, leave their wives and families to starve. Sailors are made of rough materials it is true, but still they have some feeling and their families still more; and your Lordship can easily conceive how those feelings are outraged by such shameful treatment. On the arrival of the ship in port, the remainder make their escape to avoid the pressgang, leaving their wages behind; those who remain, if good for any thing, are hurried onboard the Tender, and the vessel is left to be taken care of by the Master, Mate, and apprentices.

All this, I have no doubt, will appear very hard to your Lordship, but it is nothing to what takes place in our seaports on the first issuing out of press-warrants; then a general sweep of everybody takes place – seamen, landsmen, tradesmen, &c., it matters not - all are hurried indiscriminately on board the Tender, and confined like slaves in the press-room: if a wife wants to get rid of her husband, a father of his son, or a son of his father, the pressgang are always at hand to accomplish it. The men fit for service are pushed off as fast as possible to the different ports, to preclude the possibility of obtaining their discharge, and nothing but an Admiralty order, or writ of Habeas Corpus, can release them. The more men pressed by the gang, the more credit they get; and no kidnapping of slaves on the coast of Africa is more infamous than the system followed in the seaports of England. ……

I have the honour to be, your Lordship’s obedient servant, Charles Napier, Rowland Castle, May 1827.

[The Navy, It’s Past and Present State by Sir Charles Napier. 1851; pp. 35-36]

Not only were naval Tenders employed when there had been a particularly large catch of men by the Press. Remarkably, even their own kind were reluctant to help them once taken, particularly if there was hard cash in the offing:

“At ports such as Liverpool, Dublin and Hull, where His Majesty's ships made frequent calls, the readiest means of disposing of pressed men was of course to put them immediately on ship-hoard; but when no ship was thus available, or when, though available, she was bound foreign or on other prohibitive service, there was nothing for it, in the case of rendezvous lying so far afield as to render land transport impracticable, but to forward the harvest of the gangs by water. In this way there grew up a system of sea transport that centred from many distant and widely separated points of the kingdom upon those great entrepôts [Freeport RGH] for pressed men, the Hamoaze [Devonport RGH], Spithead and the Nore.

Now and then, for reasons of economy or expediency, men were shipped to these destinations as “passengers” on colliers and merchant vessels, their escort consisting of a petty officer and one or more gangs-men, according to the number to be safeguarded. Occasionally they had no escort at all, the masters being simply bound over to make good all losses arising from any cause save death, capture by an enemy's ship or the act of God. From King's Lynn to the Nore the rate per head, by this means of transport, was £2, 15s including victualling; from Hull, £2 12s 6d.; from Newcastle, 10s. 6d. The lower rates for the longer runs are explained by the fact that, shipping Facilities being so much more numerous on the Humber and the Tyne, competition reduced the cost of carriage in proportion to its activity .”

[The Press-gang Afloat and Ashore by J. R. Hutchinson, New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1914 (Ad. I. 579-Admiral Phillip, 3 and 11 Aug. 1801; Admiral Pringle, 2 April 1795) Page 293-4]

An Order in Council dated 14 May, 1798 enabled the Royal Navy to raise a force of volunteer seamen under the title of Sea Fencibles, to operate in coastal waters around the British Isles.

“The formation of the Sea Fencibles on the Humber and along the coast of the Riding was carried out by Captain Edwards, R.N., who recruited his force from sailors, fishermen, pilots and bargees. Its members were exempt from the activities of the press gang, so that recruiting was brisk and a sizeable force was soon available to man a sloop with two long 9-pounder guns and one 32-pounder carronade.”

[Militia, Yeomanry and Volunteer Forces of the East Riding 1689 – 1908 by R.W.S. Norfolk, East Yorkshire Local History Society, 1965, p. 19]

In 1795, when the newly knighted Sir William Standidge, then Mayor of Hull, was returning to that town by way of the Barton (upon Humber) ferry-boat in some ceremony from the capital after his be-knighting, the ferry was flying the Mayoral prerogative, the pennant of the Admiral of the Humber. Nonsuch, then commanded by Captain Blackwood, was stationed in the Humber opposite the river Hull, by the Garrison at her usual station, when for some reason or cause, Captain Blackwood struck the Mayor’s pennant. Because of this actual or perceived insult, Nonsuch was removed to Whitebooth Roads, and Captain Blackwood replaced by Captain Woolley. This latter gentleman it was who was to become infamous in the area soon after, as the pages of Sheahan describe.

www.yorkshirehsitory.com can confirm that the location of Whitebooth Roads was and remains off the south bank of the Humber from Immingham going west past Kilingholme. This is courtesy of Dave Steenvoorden, the Spurn Coxswain (RNLI), when asked by Pete and Jan Crowther on our behalf. Sincere thanks to all three for this, it establishes the location of Whitebooth from the most impeccable source.

Designed by Richard Hayton 2008
email richard@yorkshirehistory.com