Naval discipline in the Georgian era

Discipline & Punishment

Man in irons waiting punishment Discipline and punishment in the Navy seems harsh by today's standards but punishment on land was even harsher. A thief may have been hanged for stealing a loaf of bread and deportation to colonies far across the world was always a threat. Prison sentences were long and conditions were very poor, with overcrowding and disease causing many illnesses and death. At least in the Navy a punishment was carried out quickly. It was also made a public spectacle to act as a deterrent to others. The important point about punishment in the Royal Navy is that it was intended to be a rough and ready and swift justice that fitted the crime.

Amongst the crew theft was considered to be the worst crime. The men had little of their own and to steal from another crew member was judged harshly by all.

For minor offences a thief was made to run the gauntlet (probably from the Dutch gantlope: gant, all; loopen , to run) although they were not actually allowed to run. To adminster this punishment the crew were given rope yarns which they plaited into knittles, with a half hitch knot in the end. They then stood in two rows, facing each other leaving a corridor between them. The thief then had to strip off his shirt and pass between the two rows of his shipmates - not running but walking. The master-at-arms walked slowly backwards holding a cutlass at the thief's chest and a ship's corporal followed with another cutlass to ensure he progressed slowly whilst the men thrashed the thief with the knittles as he passed.

Major theft was punished by flogging. The seriousness with which it was treated on board a Royal Navy ship is shown by the fact that only for theft was the cat of nine tails knotted. Knots at three inch intervals were put in the 'tail'. (For all other offences, including desertion and mutiny, the tails were not altered.)

Flogged man After flogging a man would be taken to the ship's surgeon to have his wounds treated. Salt could be rubbed into the wounds or the man washed down with salt water (brine). Although this may seem cruel and to make the punishment worse it was done for a very good reason. Salt and salt water are good for cleaning wounds and acted as an antiseptic to help the wounds heal cleanly. Salt was also the cheapest antiseptic available and you must remember the men had to pay for their own medicine and treatment.

It seems that between 12 and 48 lashes was usual sentence although records show some men received 500 or more lashes.

The men accepted flogging and their attitude towards it showed they thought it was often necessary. Even in the Great Mutiny flogging was not mentioned once in the mutineers' list of complaints and demands. While the fleet at the Nore and Spithead were under the command of the mutineers, they ordered floggings - in some cased more severely than would have been given under usual circumstances.

A ship's Captain could award 12 lashes for an offence committed. If the man had committed several offences he would get 12 lashed for each. If the man's crime merited a Court Marshal he would be brought before the court, which consisted of between 5 and 13 Captains and Admirals and the most senior officer would be the president of the court. A Court Marshal was empowered to award the death penalty. However, because the Navy was short of skilled men the death penalty was meted out only rarely.

A Starter 'Starting' was when a man was hit across the shoulders by a rattan cane wielded by a bosun's mate and was not regarded as punishment in the same way as flogging. Usually, an officer would order a bosun's mate 'to start that man' because he was slow following orders or doing his job. Most captains had stopped it by the time the Admiralty forbade it entirely after the court martial of Captain Robert Corbett in 1809, commenting that it was 'extremely disgusting to the feeling of British seamen'.

A man could be punished for swearing although this was very much determined by the Captain. Some Naval captains used foul language themselves so they would not see swearing by the crew as such a crime - some would voice an ocassional oath when stressed. If, however, the captain used no foul language (many of them were very religious and forbade any swearing at all) they would be likely to punish any crewman who swore. The most usual form of punishment was to make the offender wear the cangue, a wooden collar made of two pieces of plank three inches thick and with a nine - or twelve-pound shot fixed to it. The man had to wear it - performing his usual duties - for a set time. You can imagine how heavy and difficult this would have been - enough to make the offender swear again!

A man could be punished for being dirty. The men worked, lived and rested very closely together so a dirty man would be offensive to everyone. One punishment for such a crime would be to have the man stand in a tub of seawater and be scrubbed with stiff brooms by some of his crewmates, or even given a ducking over the side by being lashed to a board weighted down with lead and dipped into the sea a few times suspended from the yardarm.

A man could be punished for excessive noise and would be gagged and put in the weather mizzen shrouds for an hour or so, facing windward. Very uncomfortable, cold and miserable indeed!

The ship's boys, the 'nippers' and officers' servants, were sometimes caught getting into some mischief or other, not of a really serious nature, but enough to warrant punishment and they would be 'put to the hoop'. Each boy would be tied by his left hand to a hoop (often from a cask but occasionally a large grommet of rope) and given a 'knittle' or piece of light cord, which he held in his right hand. When the word was given the boys had to run round in a circle, flogging the one in front with the knittle until punishment was considered done. This punishment brought laughter to watching seamen and tears and embarassment to the boys.

Liars on board ship were almost as unpopular as thieves, and a particularly bad one was usually hoisted up to the mainstay by one of the forebraces with a broom and shovel lashed to his back whilst the ship's company shouted 'A liar! A liar!' at him. When he was lowered to the deck again he spent the next week or so cleaning the seats in the heads (toilets).

Punishment could be given for many more reasons like drunkenness, disobedience, desertion or attempted desertion and mutiny but very often it depended on the captain how severe the punishment was despite there being rules and regulations to govern it.

Read a longer account of punishment from this link