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12/18/1690:
The trial of the sailors of the Suffolk mutiny.
Some were
executed, some given worse - they were returned to duty. The actual
mutinous action, it seems, was a request for back salaries due. The
singing of this song [c1692] became, in itself, the crime of incitement to
mutiny.
Our Seamen are the onely Men
That o'er the French did Vic'try gain,
They kept the Foe from landing here,
Which would have cost the Court full dear;
And when they for their Pay did hope,
They were rewarded with a Rope.
"The Sea-Martyrs," A Ballad History of England, Roy Palmer
© Abby Sale - all rights reserved
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