'.undoubtedly there was, at the end of last year, grave unrest in the Navy. The extent of these mutinies can be measured by reference to the following comment made in the House of Commons by G. It proved ineffective, but this ineffectiveness had less to do with the efforts of the Bolsheviks than with the unwillingness of the British seamen to fight. Following a series of mutinies in 1919 pay increases of over two hundred per cent were granted.Īfter the Russian Revolution the British Navy was sent into action against the Russians. MUTINY MACHINE PLUSAnother twopence a day was granted in 1917, plus a miserable separation allowance of ten shillings and six pence a week, for wives. Wartime inflation had reduced the sailors' nineteen pence a day to a mere pittance. Between 18 there had only been one pay increase, amounting to a penny a day, in 1912. The material conditions of the sailors certainly justified a mutiny. Agitation for trade union representation was spreading throughout the Navy. Demands for 'lower deck' organisation were taken seriously. This was only averted by immediate improvements in pay and conditions. The threat was serious enough for Lionel Yexley, an admiralty agent, to write a report warning the Admiralty of impending trouble. There was, however, considerable talk of mutiny at Portsmouth, in the summer of 1918. Whilst the mutinies in the German and French Navies in the First World War have been well documented little information is available concerning the British Royal Navy.
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