25 August
‘All ships in port are boarded and de-rigged, making them unable to sail and money is levied from local merchants. When several demonstrators are killed at the Liverpool Exchange, the sailors raid warehouses and gunsmiths for arms and seize two cannon from a whaling vessel.’
Today in 1775, 3,000 Liverpool sailors marched on Liverpool’s prison in defiance of the Riot Act demanding the release of fellow sailors who had been imprisoned for unrigging a ship that had short changed them over wages. When the sailors realised the last of their nine comrades was still detained, they marched back to the jail and secured his release too.
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365 days is co-authored by Steve Platt and Fiona Osler
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