section sixth.

In the last section I pretended to no kind of accuracy as to the average number of men punished. Now, it is probable, the side of the question I have taken, and the well known passions of our nature, may have led me to mistakes. However, the proportion of men punished in the navy is much greater than in civil society. Those who wish to make accurate calculations on the subject, may have recourse to the punishment lists now transmitted to the admiralty; but it is to be observed, that this transmission is a late regulation, and it is probable the number of punishments may have considerably decreased since the captains have known their superiors would see their works; and since corporeal punishment has been lately much an object of public conversation, public execration, and parliamentary enquiry. Besides the punishments stated in these public Edition: current; Page: [62] returns, there are other customs on board ship of punishing seamen, other more heart-breaking modes of compelling obedience. These modes and customs are only partially countenanced; the admiralty, I believe, disapprove of them, but courts martial do not punish them.

The most prominent of these customs is what is called starting, that is one man beating another with a piece of rope as hard as he can hit him; the other being perfectly defenceless, and forbid even to look displeased, as that is contempt or disrespect. No register is kept of this as of the floggings at the gangway; no account is rendered to any superior, the captain being responsible for his inflicting this punishment to nothing but a naval captain’s conscience.

I am aware that this punishment is so dreadful, so hostile to the feelings and ideas of every Briton, unpolluted by naval discipline, that it is going fast out of practice; but I have seen it administered in 1812, and heard the captain alledge, for doing it, he should be ashamed of transmitting his punishment list, it would be so crouded was he to flog every man whom he thought deserved it. As one, design of this essay is to explain the effects of discipline on the minds of the community at large, in deterring them from serving their country, it cannot be improper to mention this mode of punishment, as the knowledge that it is growing into disuse Edition: current; Page: [63] cannot yet have travelled far into the community; neither can it be wrong to state, that though now totally in disuse, it formerly was the custom for every lieutenant, and even for the boatswain and his mates, to have recourse to starting, to quicken men’s efforts.

Starting is more generally used for want of alacrity than for any other crime. I have witnessed its being practised in the following manner:

In hoisting the topsails to the mast-head, hoisting boats in and out, hoisting in beer and water, and such like duties, when they were not done with smartness, the captain stationed the boatswain’s mates at different parts of the deck, each with a rope’s end, with orders to beat every man as he passed them. The proportion of boatswain’s mates to ships is two to the first hundred men, and one to every hundred afterwards. In performing all these little pieces of duty, every man almost, as he ran and pulled upon the rope, had to pass these boatswain’s mates, who, of course, according to the captain’s orders, beat them. Thus, whether good or bad, whether old or young, whether sailor or marine, whether exerting himself or not, nearly every man in the ship got a beating. This depended upon the time they were performing their duty. Sometimes these evolutions were frequently repeated for the sake of exercise and order; and I have seen them last so long, that, when done, the Edition: current; Page: [64] whole ship’s company were lying about the decks like so many hard-hunted greyhounds: let me observe, that the men were not started at every time of performing their task, but only at those times when the captain might deem them particularly slow. These modes of starting have been sanctioned by custom, and have been, from their temporary beneficial effects, denominated, by courts martial, praise-worthy and honourable.

The other modes of punishing seamen, sanctioned by custom, consist in stopping their grog, confining them in irons, making them stay hours in the rigging, walk the decks with crow-bars on their shoulders, perform extra work, &c. and when work is thus made a punishment, instead of being made honourable, captains feel angry with their men because they take no pleasure in doing work (alias being punished). Here they bring a virtue into disrepute, than which none is more necessary to the existence of society, whether on board ship or on shore, forgetting, that though the Almighty has condemned the human race, for their sins, to eat bread by the sweat of their brow, he has made labour the means of bringing happiness, subsistence, and health to all; it is, therefore, as impolitic as it is unwise to make so necessary a virtue a disgrace. The end proposed, by all these punishments, is to produce simultaneous exertion. From this results the execution of a greater given quantity Edition: current; Page: [65] of work in a given time, by which means, at the end of days, weeks, or months, the ship’s company have, probably, some idle time; and, as reflection might hurt his majesty’s service, it gives occasion to the inventive genius of the captain to find them employment: this employment is, probably, similar exercises.

Having now stated the most prominent features of naval discipline, or the means used on board ship to accomplish order, I shall endeavour to point out some of their effects on the officers, seamen, and on the community.

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