THE UNITED STATES NAVAL WAR COLLEGE

NATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT

Theater Security Decision Making Course

BACKGROUND MATERIALS THE AGE OF SAIL

DURING THE NAPOLEONIC WARS

by Mary Raum, PhD (Ed.)

March 2014

Naval War College faculty reading

TSDM

Leadership 2-2

1

Background Materials the Age of Sail during the Napoleonic Wars

Mary Raum, PhD (Ed.)

March 28, 2014

PART 1. INTRODUCTION

This compendium of information will assist in understanding the incidents relative to the rules and regulations guiding the Royal Navy in particular and other sea powers during the era that will be observed in the film, Master and Commander, Far Side of the World. Covered are a few details about the nature of the time in which the film takes place and some of the strategic events occurring on the European continent and around the globe. Also, there is a brief description of life aboard naval vessels regarding tactics, armaments, inducements and food, provisioning, punishment and the sailors mess.

The story told in the film, Master and Commander, Far Side of the World occurs during the Napoleonic Wars which dates are approximately from 1799 to 1815. Based upon an historical

naval novel by Patrick O’Brian in which two primary characters, naval Captain Jack Aubrey and Irish naval physician Stephen Maturin are described, the tale highlights the real life feats of Lord Cochrane the 10th Earl of Dundonald. Cochrane, nicknamed “the wolf of the seas” by the French for his abilities to stalk enemies and win battles, fought in five major conflicts; the Napoleonic Wars, and wars of Independence for Chile, Peru, Brazil and Greece. He was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and the Order of the Merit of Chile. At seventeen years of age, he joined the British navy as a midshipman serving on a 28 gun sixth-rate frigate and would sail aboard and serve as an officer on a variety of other vessels throughout his career with hundreds of thousands of miles covered at sea. In the Mediterranean, he captured over 50 vessels, making an astounding 75,000 British pounds sterling in prize

money. His biography in the National Maritime Museum of the Royal Observatory in Great Britain, notes that, “During his career, he always strived to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Navy. He invented improvements in gas lighting, convoy lanterns, tubular boilers, steam propulsion and proposed the use of smoke-screens and gas warfare as early as 1812.”1

During his years in the navy, Cochrane participated in a duel with a French Royalist officer, acted as a privateer, and was reprimanded for flippancy toward superiors. He would be

2

dismissed from the service in 1814 for committing fraud on the British Stock Exchange only to be reinstated later with the rank of Rear Admiral of the Blue after organizing the navies of Chile, Brazil and Greece. At 80 years of age, he was disappointed to not have been chosen for command in the War of Crimea. On his death, he held the rank of Admiral of the Red and had become an honorary Rear Admiral of the United Kingdom. A first-hand account of his life as a naval officer is told in his Autobiography of a Sailor.

In The British Navy Rules: Monitoring and Incompatible Incentives in the Age of Fighting Sail by Douglas W. Allen is an insightful description of the leaders and theater in which the British Navy was fighting.

“By 1815, the British Navy was arguably the largest firm in the world—employing tens of thousands of people, and achieving a degree of success allowing the claim ‘Britannia rules the waves.’ For over 150 years between 1670 and 1827—virtually the entire age of fighting sail—the British Navy was successful in fighting the Spanish, Dutch, French, and a host of other smaller European countries. Although the British Navy lost various individual ships and possessions, in the larger picture it dominated the seas and allowed Britain to rise from a fringe country to a world power with major overseas colonies and trade routes… All navies during the age of fighting sail (approximately 1580–1827) faced a serious agency problem. Ships of war were expensive, powerful, and critical for the protection of overseas trade. Yet they were put in the hands of a captain who was sent out with the most general orders: to blockade a port, patrol for pirates and privateers, escort merchant vessels, and in times of war, engage the enemy. The captain had a large informational advantage over the Admiralty in terms of local conditions; in fact, it is hard to imagine a more severe case of asymmetric information. During the age of sail communication was intermittent, slow, and limited; the world was still generally unexplored, with shoals, waterways, and trade winds not mapped, and even finding positions of longitude were only developed towards the end of the eighteenth century. Worse, given that ships were propelled by wind, disasters, losses in battle, and other failures of duty could be blamed on the ill fortunes of nature. Added to the severe information asymmetry was the temptation of a captain or admiral to seek out private wealth and safety rather than engage in more dangerous and less profitable assignments.”2

The time in which the film is set was an interesting one in regards to naval strategy and colonialism. Several European powers, particularly Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, and Britain established colonies by extensive sea travel on the continents of Asia, Africa and the Americas. In W.E. Hall’s 1895, Treatise on International Law, the author describes some of the worldwide players in the period of 1799-1815,

“Historically, many powers attempted to extend command of the sea…imposing taxes or other restrictions on shipping using areas of open sea. For example, Venice claimed the Adriatic, and exacted a heavy toll from vessels navigating its northern waters. Genoa and France each claimed portions of the western Mediterranean. Denmark and Sweden claimed to share the Baltic between them. Spain claimed dominion over the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, and Portugal over the Indian Ocean and all the Atlantic south of Morocco”3

3

Conflicts were exacerbated among these nations due to their confining mercantile policies which were composed of restrictive trading rules and tariffs “designed to strengthen the home economy at the expense of rivals, so colonies were usually allowed to trade only with the mother country.”4 The rise of the Emperor Napoleon and his efforts to control Europe further aggravated the situation. Each of these countries, but the British Royal Navy in particular, held command of the sea for extended periods from the late 18th to early 20th century. Few navies have had the capacity to ‘rule the seas’ as the feat requires an organization strong enough that rivals cannot attack the land of the nation directly and a treasury deep enough to keep a navy operational during war as well as during peacetime. Scottish writer James Thomson’s poem set to music in 1740 entitled Rule Britannia! highlighted the nature of the importance of sea command to a nation surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Irish, Celtic and North Seas. By the late 1700’s, the song’s first stanza was replicating the fervent support of the beliefs of a country that valued its blue water navy and their discontent with the colonization and warmongering of the French: “When Britain first, at Heaven's command, Arose from out the azure main; This was the charter of the land, And guardian angels sang this strain: Rule, Britannia! Rule the waves: Britons never will be slaves."5 These strong patriotic feelings were in full force after Napoleon Bonaparte declared that France “must destroy the English monarchy, or expect itself to be destroyed by these intriguing and enterprising islanders... Let us concentrate all our efforts on the navy and annihilate England. That done, Europe is at our feet.'” 6

Napoleon’s reign kept the British Isles busy as the UK raced across Europe and travelled the globe to offset French invasions. In the West Indies they allied with Portugal and Spain to defeat the French army and navy. They sent their army across Germany to stop the advance of French troops, became involved in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Naples, Italy, aided the Sicilians during a French military invasion, fought the Dutch in South Africa, seized the Danish fleet in Copenhagen to fend off French occupation, supported Austria after their declaration of war with France, and went to the West Indies to clear French privateers from the region. After the French overthrew Spain and Portugal in 1808, Britain commanded troops in over fifteen battles across the two countries in what became known as the Peninsula War. With Napoleon’s eventual exile to an Italian island, it seemed as if the global war between Britain and France had finally ended. But in 1815, the Emperor escaped from Elba Island and raised an army. On the morning of 18 June, the British went forward by striking out with one of their greatest military feats up to that time. The Battle of Waterloo commenced with combined British, Dutch, Belgian, Nassau and German troops in a push against the French. Napoleon would eventually flee the battle. Following the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, the British army was reduced and over several decades various units were added, deleted or reformed to respond to specific needs but never maintained the size it had become from the late 1700’s through 1815. The Royal Navy however, would continue as a global blue water force. Both the British army and navy were one of the few European militaries to not suffer from severe reversals during Bonaparte’s rule of France. Of special importance in this era was the additional growth in the arena of exploration within the fields of the natural sciences. There was great excitement among the educated and wealthy of the world to increase their understanding of natural surroundings. The great age of sail and

4

colonization had brought home many stories of new foods, plants and peoples. Many naval vessels served as scientific collectors of flora, fauna, geologic and paleontological data. The duty of scientific study often fell on ships doctors who were not only medical experts but often naturalists and surgeons. Archibald Menzies serving aboard Prince of Whales was a Scottish surgeon, botanist and naturalist and associated with Captain Vancouver’s late 1700’s journey aboard the USS Discovery and USS Chatham. France’s first navy doctor, Pierre François Keraudren was a surgeon and biologist that served aboard the vessel Le Gographe during an 1800-1804 expedition of Australia and the South Seas. Physician and naturalist Hugh Beil and astronomer John Crosley served aboard the British expedition HMS Investigator in 1801-1803 during a circumnavigation of Australia.7 A description of the ties between science and seafaring was,

“The era of European and American voyages of scientific exploration followed the Age of Discovery and were inspired by a new confidence in science and reason that arose in the Age of Enlightenment. Maritime expeditions in the Age of Discovery were a means of expanding colonial empires, establishing new trade routes and extending diplomatic and trade relations to new territories, but with the Enlightenment scientific curiosity became a new motive for exploration to add to the commercial and political ambitions of the past. The most educated among the crew were often the captains and the doctors and it was these individuals that might often lead scientific expeditions in their global travels.”8

At the time of the sea battles of the Napoleonic Wars, in the United States in 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition was organized. President Thomas Jefferson, a devoted and practicing natural scientist, commissioned the two year-long trek across the continental United States. Because of Jefferson’s forethought, exploration and mapping of newly acquired territories west of the Louisiana Purchase resulted in scientific and economic information as well as offset any attempt by British and other European nations to claim the territory. The Purchase had ties to Napoleon as he had re-obtained the province of Louisiana from Spain in 1800. After Napoleon’s loss of Haiti, the region of Louisiana became strategically less desirable to his attempts at global domination. With war on the horizon with Great Britain, Bonaparte was willing to agree to the sale of the territory to the US in 1803.9 Jefferson’s administration would try to remain neutral during the rise of France under Napoleon but America would become part of the Napoleonic fights when they became embroiled in the War of 1812 after their vessels were subjected to embargoes, were blockaded from allies and had sailors forced into impressment with the Royal Navy. Throughout the timeframe of the film, in France, England and America, great naturalists were emerging. French soldier and botanist, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck brought forward new meaning to the term biology when he began distributing knowledge among what became the fields of chemistry, meteorology, geology, and botany-zoology. Also in France, biologist and zoologist, Antoine Risso began studying marine genera and species, naming nearly six hundred new finds. Briton, Mary Anning, a British fossil collector, dealer, and paleontologist began publishing her important finds of Jurassic marine fossil beds. “Her work contributed to fundamental changes that occurred during her lifetime in scientific thinking about prehistoric life and the history of the Earth.”10 Wealthy, educated British, European and American citizens formed national societies

5

to discuss advances in the natural sciences. Very often among the participants were the officers of the navy. The Geological Society of London opened in 1807 with the aim of “making geologists acquainted with each other, stimulating their zeal, inducing them to adopt one nomenclature, facilitating the communication of new facts and ascertaining what is known in their science and what remains to be discovered.”11 Lord Cochrane, the 10th Earl of Dundonald was among the knowledgeable sea captains with a strong interest in the natural sciences.

PART 2. ABOARD SHIP 12

This section is edited from: Broadside: Describing Life in the Royal Navy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century the Time of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Characters and events found in the film, Master and Commander are fairly accurate in their portrayal of the time, place and events than might have occurred aboard a vessel during the Napoleonic Wars. Warships of this period were rated according to the number of cannon they carried. A first rate ship carried over 100 long guns and had three decks, 32 pounder guns on the lowest deck, 18 pounders on the next deck and then 12 pounders on the weather deck. The ships carronades were not originally counted in the rating of a ship, so it was possible for a 38 gun frigate to in fact be carrying 44 powerful guns. The most important rates of ship were the first, second and third rate ships, ships that were able to sail in the line of battle. The fifth and sixth rate ships were also important; these were the frigates, the eyes of the main battle fleet and useful as commerce raiders.

Sail Layout on a Typical Ship Rigged Vessel.

A Fore royal H Mizzen royal

B Fore topgallant I Mizzen topgallant

C Fore topsail J Mizzen topsail

D Fore mainsail K Driver or Spanker

E Main royal M Flying jib

F Main topgallant N Outer jib

G Main topsail O Inner jib

All the rated ships were ship rigged, that is they were square rigged vessels with three masts. Ship rigged vessels were unable to sail much closer than 67 degrees to the direction of the wind. Fore and aft rigs were used on some smaller vessels, and they could sail much closer to the wind. The sail area of a first rate could be in excess of two acres and the sails would weigh close to 10 tons.

6

SHIPS AND TACTICS

Raking Fire: Attacking Bow or Stern of Enemy

Raking fire was particularly devastating. Ships of this era were weakest at the bow and the stern, if an attacking ship could maneuver to cross the enemy in front or behind then they could fire directly down the length of the ship as the guns came to bear. The round shot bursting through the timbers resulted in a storm of splinters through the deck, in many ways similar to the effect of modern shellfire.

In order to rake the enemy it was necessary to sail through the enemy’s line. This tactic exposed the lead ship of a column to the broadside fire of the enemy, so this position was usually taken by a 1st rate or three-decker. The orthodox method of attack was in line ahead (hence the term line of battle), both fleets running parallel to each other, and firing broadsides at their opposing number. A few battles were fought like this, but they seldom resulted in a decisive victory for either

side, although the casualties could be high. With the introduction of longer range guns and a change in ship construction later in the 19th century the tactic was reversed and the commander aimed to 'cross the T ', maximizing firepower at the expense of an opponent.

French Tactics: Firing on the Up Roll

As a general rule the French felt that the best way to disable an enemy ship was to destroy the means of maneuvering. They therefore concentrated their fire on the masts and rigging, launching their broadsides on the upward roll of their ships. This fire policy often crippled the British ships, preventing them from pressing home their attack, but was less deadly to the crew.

The British used the opposite tactic firing on the down roll into the enemy hulls, causing a storm of flying splinters that killed and maimed the enemy gun crews. These tactics were accentuated by the fact that the British tended to choose the weather gauge (upwind of the other vessel) and the French the lee (the wind blowing toward the vessel), so the tendency was for the French guns to be pointing high and the British low as their ships heeled in the wind.

Although only a very general rule this contrast in tactics goes some way to explaining the difference in casualty figures between the British and enemy sailors. The British percentage of killed to total casualties was just over 25%; three wounded for every one killed. But for the enemy the percentage was 55%; for every four wounded five were killed. The speed with which

7

the guns were loaded and fired by the Royal Navy gun crews was also higher than the French and Spanish, also a factor in the higher casualty figures for the enemy fleets.

The destruction of the enemy ship by gunfire was one of three elements that could lead to death in battle; the other two were fire, and the sea. No British ship was sunk or burnt in any of the great battles, in fact only 8 ships of the line were burnt or blown up throughout the whole war, 17 were wrecked and 3 foundered.

ARMAMENT

Ships of this era were armed with two main weapons; the long cannon and the carronade. Mounted on a slide instead of a carriage the carronade was a short barreled weapon of limited range, typically half to a third the range of a long gun. However its lighter weight allowed it to be mounted on the higher deck. They were manufactured in the usual naval caliber’s 12, 18, 24, 32 pounders, with some smaller and heavier versions.

As with the carronades the long guns took their description from the weight of round shot they fired, from 32 down to 6 pounders. The length of the barrel varied as well, the 24 pounder was manufactured in six different lengths, three of which were in common use. The 32 pounder fired a shot just over six inches in diameter with a full charge of 10lb. 11oz. and could make an extreme range of 2,000 yards.

Different weights of powder were used, 'distance with one shot' was the full 10lb. 11oz. charge, 'full with one shot was an 8lb. charge, 'reduced with two shot' was a 6lb. charge (to avoid bursting the gun), 'exercise and saluting' was 6lb., and 'scaling and blank' which was fired to remove rust or attract attention was 2lb. 12oz. They were fired with a flintlock mechanism. The 32 pounder guns were mounted on the lower gun deck about six feet above the waterline; lighter guns being mounted on succeeding decks. The recoil on these guns was controlled with ropes, a 32 pounder with a standard charge and restrained would recoil approximately eleven feet as it was fired. Unrestrained with a full proof charge (the charge used when the gun was proofed before being used in a ship) the 3 ton gun would recoil over 50 feet.

Extreme ranges were seldom used in battle, a pistol shot or thirty yards was more common. Distances were often described by reference to various of the ships guns, so a pistol shot was 25 to 30 yards, a musket shot about 200 yards and a gunshot about 1000 yards. At such close ranges the power of penetration of round shot was impressive at 30 yards. An 18 pound shot would penetrate four oak planks 32.5 inches thick; hurling a shower of splinters up to thirty yards. At 300 yards range, a 32 pounder firing grapeshot could penetrate 5 inches of fir planking and 4 of oak.

8

INDUCEMENTS

Pay and Prize Money

People were well aware of the poor conditions aboard ships of this period, and a large part of the crew was made up of some less than willing volunteers and 'pressed' men. Poverty no doubt played a large part in encouraging many men to join the Royal Navy. But what induced the better-off to go to sea?

In 1708 the British government enacted the 'Cruizer and Convoys Act'. One of its effects was to formalize the process of prize taking, giving practically all the money gained from the capture of enemy vessels to the captors 'for the better and more effectual encouragement of the Sea Service'. Every prize appeared before the High Court of Admiralty for 'condemnation'. It laid down exact regulations for dividing the proceeds among the various interested parties. The Act was altered in 1808 changing the distribution of prize money.

Distribution of Prize Money

RANK pre1808 SHARE

post1808 SHARE

CAPTAIN 3/8* 2/8**

CAPTAINS of Marines, Lieutenants, Master and Physician, = share in 1/8 1/8

LIEUTENANTS of Marines, Secretary of Admiral, Principal Warrant Officers, Masters Mates, Chaplain, = shares in

1/8 1/8

MIDSHIPMEN, Inferior Warrant Officers, Principal Warrant Officers Mates, Marine Sergeants, = shares in

1/8 4/8

THE REST = shares in 2/8

*Flag Officers to have one of Captain's Eighths. **Flag Officers to have one third of Captain's share.

Appointment to one of the well-known prize money commands would mean an almost automatic fortune. Flag officers could hope to gain sums well in excess of £1,000,000 at today’s values. Sir Hyde Parker was reported to have realized £200,000 (worth many times that now) when he was in command in the West Indies. For the young gentlemen, often 2nd or 3rd sons who inherited nothing from their family, who decided to make a career at sea prize money was a useful bonus. Nelson (Horatio Nelson British flag officer during the Napoleonic Wars) often bemoaned his lack of prize money, being posted to ships away from good prize areas and, in later years, the success of his fleet meant there were precious few prizes to be had.

9

Prize money was handled by Prize Agents, and payment was often not prompt, sometimes taking years to be paid. This caused much frustration to captains and crews but earned the agents large sums in interest.

FOOD, PROVISIONING PUNISHMENT AND THE MESS Supplying the fleets was an immense undertaking, and was controlled by the Victualing Board. The purser on each ship was in charge of supplying the food and consumables; like candles, coal, clothes (or slops as they were known) and tobacco. The food was of variable quality, corruption amongst naval suppliers was not uncommon. To preserve the meat, beef and pork, it was salted and placed in barrels. Most of the other foodstuffs were supplied dried.

Scurvy was largely overcome by the end of the Eighteenth century, although it had taken the better part of two centuries from an effective cure (lemon juice) being discovered to its widespread use in the navy. Even in the official Allowance of Provisions list from 1808 it will be noticed that there is no provision for fresh greens. Part of the twentieth regulation which accompanies it, however, does mention 'greens and roots' but, as a government-ordained issue, only indirectly. It says that:

'some of the eldest Pursers of the Royal Navy' have presented a memorial in which they state that it had been their constant practice to serve out greens and roots whenever they are provided with fresh meat:' and it tells captains and pursers to 'comply with what is contained in the said memorial.'

Allowance of Provisions from Regulations and Instructions, 1808

Day Bisket lbs.

Beer gals.

Beef lbs.

Pork lbs.

Pease pints

Oatmeal pints

Sugar ozs.

Butter ozs.

Cheese ozs.

Sunday 1 1 - 1 0.5 - - - - Monday 1 1 - - - 0.5 2 2 4 Tuesday 1 1 2 - - - - - - Wednesday 1 1 - - 0.5 0.5 2 2 4 Thursday 1 1 - 1 0.5 - - - - Friday 1 1 - - 0.5 0.5 2 2 4 Saturday 1 1 2 - - - - - - Weekly total 7 7 4 2 2 1.5 6 6 12

The men ate in messes, usually consisting of eight men, although the number was not fixed. One of the few privileges granted to the men was the right to change mess, which they did at the start of the month. Food was prepared by the mess cook, each member of a mess taking turns. The

10

mess cook would collect the days ration for all the mess from pursers mate or steward’s mate and, in the case of the meat tie it into a bag, and put the mess number (a small metal tag) on it. He would then deliver it to the cook who boiled all the food in a large copper.

The notorious biscuit, or bread, was kept at the mess table in a bread barge. The biscuit was sometimes so old it would crumble away when tapped on the table. The frequency with which weevils were found in the bread is a subject for debate. It is possible to overstate the poor quality of the food. Compared to his countrymen on land the sailor enjoyed regular, if monotonous, meals. Meal times were considered to be one of the highlights of the day.

The officers were entitled to the same food as the men, but the normal practice was to elect one of their numbers to buy in food and wine for their mess. They paid for this from their own pocket, and it wasn’t compulsory to join this system, although officers who opted out were generally not popular. They messed in the ward room, or the gunroom on a frigate, and were waited on by servants (the servants were crewmen and boys, and not domestic servants. The captain had his own steward, who was a domestic servant). The officers were also supplied with fresh food from the chickens, pigs and sometimes cows housed aboard the ship, again at their own expense. The pigsty was usually placed in the forecastle, in the area that was eventually taken over for the sick berth. The chicken coops were often on the quarter deck. The captain could mess with his officers or dine alone, or he could 'keep a table', which meant that he would invite the officers to come and dine with him at his expense. The captain had his own cook and servants. The midshipmen had their own mess in the cockpit, and by some accounts it was not a place for the timid of spirit. The midshipmen were also entitled to servants, although not as many as the senior officers, as befitted young gentlemen.

Drink

Drunkenness was a big problem in the navy, contributing to a large percentage of the floggings ordered. The men were entitled to a gallon of beer per day, this was small beer and not very alcoholic, in addition to this they received a half pint rum ration per day, with which, along with tobacco, they might hope to alleviate some of the tedium of life at sea. The rum ration was mixed with water to make grog and was issued twice a day. Hoarding your ration was a serious offence, but it was still common. As was smuggling of spirits, especially in home ports, the bum-boatmen who visited the ships could be relied on for a regular supply. It doesn’t take a great leap of imagination to see that the amount of alcohol available to the men must have been a contributory factor to the number of men dying of individual accidents. And the incidence of insanity in the navy was far higher than in the population as a whole. Given the work they did in dangerous conditions, falling, crush injuries and being drowned were almost unavoidable consequences for the unwary.

Crime and Punishment

Discipline in the Royal Navy of the Napoleonic Wars is often seen as a harsh and unbending code of 'starting', flogging and hanging. But to take punishment out of the context of the times is to miss the comparison between life on land and life at sea during the Georgian period. The

11

Georgian code of justice was known, with good reason, as the bloody code. Under this code of justice which was established in the 1600’s in Great Britain, minimal crimes such as theft were punishable as capital offence and resulted in the death penalty. It wasn’t until the Judgement of Death Act in 1823 that the death penalty became discretionary. On land during the Napoleonic era, a man could be given a long jail sentence or transported for life for relatively minor offenses and could be hanged for stealing as little as a handkerchief. Newgate prison (built originally in 1188 by Henry II running for 700 consecutive years) routinely kept its prisoners 20 to a cell measuring twenty feet by fifteen.

At sea, the rules that the men obeyed were known as the Articles of War. A man could only be hanged for mutiny, treason or desertion. At sea discipline was relatively easy to maintain. The sailors knew that their lives depended on working together to stop the ship from foundering or being taken by the enemy. This may partly explain why it was possible for a 20 year old to command a ship of experienced seamen, (Horatio Nelson was not quite 21 when he was made a post captain, and he was not an exception) as long as the captain didn't endanger their safety the crew were willing to work for him. In port the job was harder, and frequently senior officers would think twice before going below decks.

Flogging

In theory a captain could only order a maximum of 12 lashes, any more was supposed to be dealt with by a court martial. This rule was routinely broken quite openly, with captains writing in their journals the number of lashes awarded for each flogging. Up to 72 lashes would be unlikely to attract the attention of the Admiralty. The men accepted this, the punishments handed out by court martial tended to be much more severe, possibly as a deterrent to asking for a court martial. The limit on captains was removed in 1806, the new regulations stated that a captain was not to order punishment 'without sufficient cause, nor even with greater severity than the offence shall really deserve.' As a punishment flogging seems to have been fairly ineffective, even as a deterrent, with the same man frequently being flogged for the same offence time and again.

The flogging began with the order for all hands to muster aft to witness punishment. The offender was generally lashed to an upturned grating. The officers stood to one side in full dress uniform and the marines lined up aft. The captain would read out the Article of War that the offender had broken and then the order would be given to lie on the dozen lashes. If more than a dozen had been ordered then a second bosons’ mate would lay on the next twelve.

ENDNOTES

1. “Thomas Cochrane, The Real ‘Master and Commander’” 2014 National Maritime Museum. www.rmg.co.uk (accessed 03-26-2014)

2. Douglas W. Allen. “The British Navy Rules: Monitoring and Incompatible Incentives in the Age of Fighting Sail,” Explorations in Economic History 39, 204–231 (2002) doi:10.1006/exeh.2002.0783, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com

3. William Edward Hall. A Treatise on International Law, 1890. Available online Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/atreatiseoninte01hallgoog pp. 148-9 (accessed 03-26-2014)

12

4. Margaret Kohn (2006). "Colonialism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University.

5. This version is taken from The Works of James Thomson by James Thomson, Published 1763, Vol II, p. 191.

6. Dann Cruickshank, “Napoleon, Nelson and the French Threat War with France.” BBC website. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/french_threat_01.shtml (accessed 05-26-2014)

7. An excellent list of these expeditions and others from the late 1700’s up until Darwin’s, Voyage of the Beagle can be found on Wikipedia as a starting point for additional information. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration

8. Brosse, Jacques (1983). Great Voyages of Exploration. The Golden Age of Discovery in the Pacific. Transl. Stanley Hochman. Sydney: Doubleday. ISBN 0868241822. And Louis Hackett, The Age of Enlightenment.

9. Hugh Torrens (Department of Geology Keele University Staffordshire, located at website UCMP Berkeley “Mary Anning (1799-1847)” accessed online ucmp.berkeley.edu 03-25-2014.

10. “Milestones: 1801–1829 Napoleonic Wars and the United States, 1803–1815” U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/napoleonic-wars accessed 03-25-2014)

11. Andrew Scott, Stephen Pumfrey, Leucha Veneer (12 April 2012) Early Geology In our time. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved March 2014.

12. This section is edited from Broadside: Describing Life in the Royal Navy in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century the Time of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars a public website of information and can be accessed at http://www.nelsonsnavy.co.uk/broadside2.html