IT is the Misfortune of the poor Sailors of the English-Navy to have few or no Friends to take their Part, or represent their Grievances to the Parliament, in order to have them Redress'd: Justice indeed carries an equal Ballance, but both the Scales hang over the Earth, without any respect to the Sea. Tho' our Sailors are as true to their Country as the Needle of their Compass is to the Course they Steer, as faithful as the Steel to the Loadstone; yet are they little minded, by those in whose Power it is to do them Justice, as if their Generation were Monsterous, because their lives are Amphibious; are born on the Land, and do Service on the Water, yet have common Justice on neither: They are English-men but till they are 16 or 18 Years of Age, and then arriv'd to the Ne plus ultra of their Liberty, their Freedom being in perpetual dan­ger, liable to be invaded by every Press-Master; and those which were born to the Rights and Immunities of English-men, all have their Property knock'd on the Head at once, and are hawl'd away and constrain'd on Board-Ship, an Honourable sort of Vassalage. Thus Wives have their Husbands torn from their Arms, Mothers the only hopes of their Families forc'd into Confinement more durable and uneasy than that of their Wombs, Fathers and Sons im­prison'd in one Wooden Goal. But were this all, the Bondage would seem more easy; the Mariners never think their Service to their Country too much, they Plough the wide Ocean, contend with the raging Billows of the deep; and with a Bravery peculier to the Sons of the Sea, meet and fight their Ene­my with a wonderful Contentment and Alacrity, in defence of their Country, and those Rights and Priviledges of which they have so small a share. Indeed their Country has not been backward in making a Generous Allowance, suit­able to the Bravery of Men engag'd in such dangerous Enterprizes; but their ill Stars have laid them under such dismal Circumstances, under such a mon­strous and unparallel'd Conduct, that in the midst of the Plenty provided for them, they have been in the greatest Wants. It is commonly observ'd in deal­ings amongst Mankind, that the Service of Labourers requires present Money, and the Laws of the Realm have a great respect to the Wages of Servants, al­lowing them to be first paid, even before Bonds, or any previous Obligations of a contrary Nature: But some would have every Sailor an Exlex, and would make us believe that the same decorum of Justice is not to be us'd in States and [Page]Governments, as is practised amongst Men of inferiour Ranks and Qualities: However, as the Debts to the Sailors are National, it ought to be a National con­cern; and Grievances of this kind boing unredress'd, may procure a National Judgment.

That the Q's and R's upon the Navy-Books, are a common Grievance, the poor Widows of Sailors, and their Attorneys, will loudly justify to their great Grief and Loss.

The R's upon the Navy-Books is an immoveable Letter, very significant of Injustice, and serves there as a Period in other Books, puting a full stop to the Sailors Pay; and tho' the Person that sets the permanent R may be but a Cypher himself in the account of Justice and true Worth, yet his Letter R, is productive of vast Sums of Money, into the Pocket of some Body or other, to the Ruin of the Seamen. This R, in Navy Language or Cha­racter (which you please) signifies Run, and this Run is of different Mean­ing and Signification too, it is Crambo'd and tortur'd most damnably, forc'd to express the meaning of any thing the Commanders of the Navy please.

If a poor Man be set sick a Shore, so that he cannot get a-board his Ship before she Sails, then he is made run upon the Books: If he be a Shore by the Captains Order, about the Ships Business, and some Orders from Above force the Ship out of Harbour before he can get a-board, the Ship runs away from him, and he from the Ship at the same Time: If he go imme­diately on Board another Ship, yet he is Run still. The immovable R, of the Navy, is as fixt as the Law of the Medes and Persians. If he make Interest at the Admiralty to get the R taken off. (for 'tis in the Power of those Men you know to do mighty Wonders) why then his Petition comes out with this pretty Device at the bottom, read the 11th of February, refus'd, J. Burchett.

But farther to discover the meaning of this significant Letter R, I shall. give an Account how it is apply'd to the poor Sailors upon the Navy-Books.

I. Such as never design'd to desert the Service, but being return'd from long Voyages, and their Ships being either in Port or Dock, have adventur'd to visit their Friends, in order to provide themselves with Apparel and other Necessaries, and perhaps have met with Press-Gangs belonging to other Ships, and forc'd on Board; this has been esteemed by the Navy a Desertion, and they have made such Sailors Run, upon their Books.

II. Those that have been turn'd over from one Ship to another, and after having serv'd some time in the latter, their Tickets for their Service in the former Ships have been delivered them and after having serv'd on Board se­veral [Page] [...] other Ships, perhaps two or three Years, after being set sick on Shore, the first Tickets with the rest, have been made Quaeri'd or Run, and their Wages forfeited.

Now, that such Practices as these are contrary to all the Law, Justice, and Reason in the World, is demonstrable.

I. Such as have their Tickets given them, are supposed to be guilty of no Crime at that juncture; and such Tickets are, and have been esteemed as the Kihg's Bonds and Bills of Exchange, and were formerly Paid upon sight. Now, it is very hard, that a Sailor transgressing in one Ship, should become so guilty, as by that Crime to forfeit all his Wages in former Ships: So that good and bad Service, according to Navy-Justice, are alike Punishable.

II. Many well-effected People to his Majesties Service, and out of Charity [Page]to their distressed Neighbours, have supplied many Sailors with Money, to the full value of their Tickets, and when they come to the Navy to be Paid, receive nothing but an R for their Money,

III. The Quaerying and Running of such Tickets, have abominably lessen'd the Credit of the Navy, in respect of Wages, and made the most glorious Navy in the World the most scandalous, by such Barbarous abuses, inso­much that Tickets formerly sold at 2 s. 6 d. per Pound, are now sold for se­ven, eight, ten, and twelve Shillings loss.

The next thing to be Considered, is the Letter Q upon the Navy-Books, which stands there as near Injustice, as it does to the Letter R in the Alpha­bet. This Q is generally put upon such as are set sick a Shoar; and then the poor Sailor is to Quaery for Justice, which he may do till he is Blind, and never find it. That this Practice is Barbarous and Inhumane, is very evident.

I. It sinks the Labourers Hire into private Pockets, deprives distressed Families of their Bread, purchased by the hazard of humane Life, and brings unnecessary Charge upon Parishes.

II. This Q is a new Letter in the Navy-Books, Quaeries being never heard of, till the Year 1690, before which time, every Man set sick a Shore had his Wages paid him, and was discharged from the Service.

III. The great Sickness, which at and since that time happened in the Fleet, was the Foundation of these Quaeries; a very hard Case, that a Sail­or must lose his Money because he has lost his Health in the Service; must have bad Pay, because he has been poysoned with bad Provisions.

IV. Many, if not most of those, who have been set sick a Shore, have thought themselves Discharged, according to former Custom, being alto­gether ignorant of the new Practice of the Navy.

V. Many that have been long Voyages, and sick for many Months to­gether, seeing the Major part of the Ships-Crew Buryed, have been thereby desheartened to go a-board Ship again; Diseases being more dreadful to Sailors than Battle or Storm.

VI. Nor can it be rationally expected, that such as have contracted In­dispositions and Distempers, by unwholsome Provisions, or a contagious Air, should after a Months Refreshment in sick Quarters, or labouring 6 or 12 Months under their Maladies in an Hospital, be fit to return a-board Ship, or be capable of doing his Majesty Service; but the contrary is evident, by the vast numbers that died soon after their return on Board, as well as [Page] [...] those that were set sick a Shore.

And wou'd it not now be just to pay such Men their Wages? Wou'd it not be for the Honour of his Majesty, for the Reputation and Credit of the Nation to consider their Cases, and pay the Debts due from the Nation to such?

• 1. As have been set sick on Shore since the conclusion of the Peace.
• 2. To the Executors and Attorneys of such as died in Sick-Quarters, Hospitals, Hospital-Ships.
• 3. To such as after Recovery entred on Board any of his Majesties Ships.
• 4. To such as have been Wounded or hurt, and receiv'd Pensions, or Smart-Money for the same.
• 5. To such as continued Six Months, or upwards, in Sick Quarters or Hospitals, or have been discharged from thence as Incurable.
• [Page] 6. To such as the Captains of Ships have discharged by Tickets, as unserviceable, as being either Sick, Lame or Blind, &c.

This Usage of free born English, might move Compassion in any but in those whose Business it is to cheat them, and raise their own Fortunes out of their Ruins. This indeed is a miserable Scene of humane Cruelty, unknown to the Heathen Nations, and yet practised in a Christian Country, built on the Pillars of good and wholsome Laws, and under a Government set up (for no other reason that I know) but on purpose to distroy such Arbitrary Proceed­ings, and to dispence common Justice to all Men. There is little more diffe­rence betwixt a Gally Slave and an English Sailor, than that one serves in ex­pectation of Pay, and the other without it, yet one is sometimes as well paid as the other. This barbarous usage of Mariners, have made them instead of deserting our Ships of War, and taking Merchants Service, forsake their Country, and Sail with Foreigners in hopes of better Justice and Usage abroad, than they have met with at home. This barbarious Usage has made many Thousands of them turn Pirates during the last War; and those that turn Free­booters are generally the Flower and Youth of the Seamen, so that in time our Ships shall be Man'd only with decrepid old Age, and the refuge of the Sea, to the weakning of the Nation and Government; for every Sailor lost is a Stone taken out of our National Walls, which suffering such continual Dila­pidations, will at last tumble down, and leave us exposed to the Insults of any Invader.

And after all, Pray what is become of the Money that was ordered to pay the Seamen, upon whom the R's and Q's have been put? If it remains still in the King's Hands, there is yet some hopes of relief left to the miserable Sailors; but if it be otherwise disposed of, their Disease seems Incurable. When we look into the Pay-Office and see there some Clearks at 30 l. per Annum purcha­sing Estates, others turning Merchants, and employing vast Sums of Money in Trade, we may give a shrewd Guess what is become of the poor Sailors Money. And how shall their Creditors be paid? How shall their Widows and nume­rous Fatherless Children be provided for? Will not the charge to the several Parishes, upon this account, be havier upon the Subject than the Taxes during the War.

And now they apply themselves to you the Honorable Members of the House of Commons, as the last resort of Distressed English-men, they have born you better fruit then some that have been better Paid, you have found the Navy to be your chief Support but your Ships without Mariners are [Page] [...] but floating Castles, meer Machines of War, altogether useless, and such your Ships will be, if the Grievances of the Sailors are unredress'd.