SUGGESTIONS TOWARDS DIMINISHING THE NUMBER AND SEVERITY OF NAVAL
PUNISHMENTS.
I trust that most of my brother-officers who have commanded ships can
lay their hands upon their hearts and conscientiously declare they
have never inflicted an unjust punishment. I can only confess with
much sorrow, that I, unfortunately, am not of that number. But as mere
regret on such occasions contributes nothing towards remedying the
evils committed, I have long employed my thoughts in devising some
plan which might lessen the number of punishments at sea, and thus,
perhaps, save others from the remorse I have felt, while it might tend
to relieve the service from the discredit of an improper degree of
severity in its penal administration.
Before proceeding to the main point under consideration, the
diminution of the number and the degree of punishments on board ship,
I must entreat officers not to allow themselves to be misled by the
very mischievous fallacy of supposing that any of the various
substitutes which have yet been proposed for corporal punishment are
one whit less severe than those so long established. It is well known
to officers of experience that this powerful engine of discipline may
be rendered not only the most effective, but essentially the most
lenient, and when duly reported and checked, far more likely to
contribute to the peace and comfort of the men themselves, than any of
the specious but flimsy substitutes alluded to. Solitary confinement,
for example, I take to be one of the most cruel, and, generally
speaking, one of the most unjust of all punishments; for it is
incapable of being correctly measured, and it almost always renders
the offender worse. It prompts him, and gives him time to brood over
revengeful purposes; it irritates him against his officers, and if
long continued almost inevitably leads to insanity and suicide. All
the beneficial effects of example, likewise, are necessarily lost;
because the solitary culprit's sufferings, horrible though they no
doubt are, never meet the eye of the rest of the crew, nor, indeed,
can they ever be truly made known to them, while he himself, when he
quits his cell, makes light of his punishment. But not one man in a
thousand, even of our hardiest spirits, can maintain this air of
indifference at the gangway. And although it must be admitted that a
man, at such moments, can feel no great kindness to his officer, the
transient nature of the punishment, compared to the prolonged misery
of solitary confinement, leaves no time for discontent to rankle. I
never once knew, nor ever heard of an instance in which a corporal
punishment, administered calmly and with strict regard to justice and
established usage, was followed by any permanent ill-will resting on
the mind of a sailor, either towards his captain or towards the
service.
It happened to me once, when in command of a ship in the Pacific
Ocean, to have occasion to punish a very good seaman. The offence was
in some degree a doubtful one, but, upon the whole, I felt it my duty
to correct it rather sharply. On mature reflection, however, I began
to suspect I had done wrong; and on joining the commander-in-chief,
some weeks afterwards, I laid all the circumstances of the case before
him, and begged him to tell me fairly what he thought. He examined the
details minutely, cross-questioned me about them, and, after some
deliberation, said, that although I had the letter of the law with me,
I had acted hastily, which in this instance was acting unjustly; for
had I waited a little, the true bearings of the case must, he thought,
have made themselves apparent. This judgment of Sir Thomas Hardy
squared but too well with my own feelings upon the matter, and doubled
the shame I was already suffering under. From that hour to this, I
have never ceased to catch with eagerness at any suggestion which I
thought might contribute to save deserving men from a similar
misfortune, and well-disposed officers from the fatal errors of
precipitancy. A little incident has perhaps had its effect in
quickening these speculative ideas into a practical shape.
Several years after the period alluded to, I happened to be sailing
about Spithead in a gentleman's yacht, when a man-of-war's cutter came
alongside. As no officer had been sent in the boat, the message was
delivered by the coxswain, whom I did not recognize as an old shipmate
till he came to me aft, took off his hat, and held out his hand. I
then recollected the face of the seaman I had unjustly punished! To
all appearance he had entirely forgotten the circumstance: but the
commodore's words, "You ought to have let that man off," rang in my
ears, and my heart smote me as I felt the honest fellow's grasp. "I
shall never rest," I afterwards vowed to myself, "till I have
succeeded in suggesting some regulations which, as far as possible,
shall prevent other officers from falling into the same error."
It seems to be now generally admitted, by all who have attended to the
subject, that ever since the period when it became the duty of
captains to make periodical reports to the Admiralty of the corporal
punishments inflicted, those punishments have gradually decreased.
Meanwhile the discipline has gone on improving; and therefore it
becomes a matter of much practical importance to investigate the true
bearings of a measure by which such invaluable results have been
brought about. It should never be forgotten, that there is an absolute
necessity for maintaining the present strictness of our discipline,
which is one of the most essential sources of naval success; and, next
to the spirit of honour and patriotism which pervades the profession,
it may be considered the very life-blood of that branch of our
national strength. But there are two very different methods by which
this vital object of exact discipline may be accomplished: one is the
prevention, the other the punishment, of offences. Some officers have
endeavoured to do away with corporal punishment altogether; and some,
on the other hand, have had recourse to hardly anything else. The just
union of the two systems will, I believe, in the end, perform the
greatest public service, at the least cost of human suffering.[7]
Antecedent to June 1811, the date of the order by which officers in
command of ships were required to send quarterly returns of
punishments to the Admiralty, there was little or no restraint upon
the despotic authority of the captain, as far as corporal punishments
were concerned. And it must be in the recollection of every one who
served in those days, that captains, not really cruel by nature, nor
more intemperate than the ordinary run of men, were sometimes led, by
the mere indulgence of unlimited and unscrutinised authority, to use a
degree of severity not only out of proper measure with the crime, but,
by reason of its questionable justice, hurtful to the discipline of
the ships, and to the general character of the service. Such things
may also possibly have happened even of late years; but certainly,
they have been much less frequent; for although no Admiralty
regulations can convert a hot-headed captain into a cool,
experienced, or reflecting person, nevertheless, it does seem to be
quite within the legitimate range of official power, to compel all
intemperate officers, whether young or old, to behave, as far as their
nature will allow, in the same manner as men of sense, feeling, and
thorough knowledge of the service would act in like circumstances.
It is a rule, now very generally observed by the best authorities in
the Navy, never to punish a man on the day the offence has been
committed. And experience having shown the wisdom of this delay, there
seems no reason why so simple a rule should not be established
imperatively upon every captain without exception.
It is important, in discussing the subject of naval discipline, to
recollect under what peculiar and trying circumstances the captain of
a man-of-war is placed, and how much he stands in need not only of
every assistance that can possibly be afforded to guide his judgment,
but of every artificial check that can be devised to control his
temper. As he is charged with the sole executive government of the
community over which he presides, he is called upon to exercise many
of the legislative, as well as the judicial functions of his little
kingdom. Having made laws in the first instance, he has to act the
part of a judge in the interpretation of those laws; while, in the
very next instant, he may stand in the place of a jury to determine
the facts of the case, and of a counsel to cross-question the
witnesses. To this strange jumble of offices is finally added the
fearful task of allotting the punishment, and seeing it carried into
effect! If ever there was a situation in the world, therefore,
requiring all the aids of deliberation, and especially of that
sobriety of thought which a night's rest can alone bestow, it is
surely in the case of a captain of a man-of-war. And if this rule has
been found a good one, even by prudent and experienced officers, who,
it appears, never trust themselves to punish a man without twenty-four
hours' delay at least, how much more important might not such a
regulation prove, if less discreet persons were compelled to adopt
invariably a similar course of deliberation? Nor does it appear
probable that, in the whole complicated range of the service, cases
will often occur when its true interests may not be better answered by
punishments inflicted after such delay, than if the reality or the
semblance of passion, or even the slightest suspicion of anger, were
allowed to interfere with the purity of naval justice. It is so
difficult, indeed, to detach the appearance of vindictive warmth from
punishments which are made to follow quickly after the offence, that
in all such cases there is great danger incurred of inflicting much
pain to little or no purpose.
In the first place, therefore, I consider it might be very
advantageously established, by a positive order from the Admiralty,
that one whole day, or twenty-four hours complete, should, in every
instance, be allowed to elapse between the investigation of an
offence, and the infliction of the punishment which it may be thought
to deserve. The interval in question, to be of use, should take its
date from the time the circumstances of the case have been inquired
into by the captain himself. The reason of this limitation will be
apparent, if it be recollected that the moment at which the officer's
anger is likely to be the greatest, is when he first becomes
acquainted with the details of the offender's misconduct.
In order still further to circumscribe the chances of passion
interfering with the judgment, not only of the captain, but of the
officer who makes the complaint, as well as the witnesses and other
parties concerned, I think it should be directed, that all offences
whatsoever are to be inquired into between nine o'clock in the morning
and noon. This is perhaps the only period in the whole day perfectly
free from suspicion as to the influence of those exciting causes which
tend materially to warp the judgment, even of the wisest and best men.
The ship's company take their dinner and grog at mid-day, and the
officers dine soon after. To those who have witnessed in old times the
investigation and punishment of offences immediately after the cabin
dinner, the importance of this regulation will require no further
argument. At any other period of the day, except that above specified,
the irritation caused by fatigue, hunger, or repletion, is so apt to
interfere with the temper, and consequently with the judgment, that it
should never be chosen for so delicate an affair as an inquiry into
details which may be followed by so dreadful a consequence as corporal
punishment.
It is undoubtedly true, that the essential characteristics of naval
discipline are, and ought to be, promptitude of action, and that
vigorous kind of decision which leads to certainty of purpose at all
times, and under all circumstances. But these very qualities are
valueless, unless they are regulated by justice. Without this, a
man-of-war would very soon become worse than useless to the country,
besides being what a "slack ship" has been emphatically termed, "a
perfect hell afloat!"
Independently of every other consideration, it is assuredly most
desirable to establish throughout the fleet the conviction, that,
although the punishment of flogging, which has prevailed for so long a
time, cannot possibly be discontinued, it shall be exercised with a
due regard to the offence, and without any added severity on personal
grounds. It is difficult to estimate how essentially this conviction,
if once fixed in the minds of the seamen, and guaranteed, as I think
it might be, in a great measure, by a very simple Admiralty
regulation, would contribute to extend the popularity of the naval
service throughout the country.
There are some minor details, in addition to the above suggestions,
which it may be useful to consider in connection with them. All
punishments should take place between the hours of nine in the morning
and noon, for the reasons hinted at above. If possible, also, not more
than one day should be allowed to elapse after the inquiry; for,
although there is always something like passion in a punishment which
is too prompt, there may, on the other hand, frequently appear
something akin to vindictiveness in one which has been delayed until
the details of the offence are well-nigh forgotten. The captain should
avoid pronouncing, either during or immediately after the
investigation of an offence, any opinion on the case; much of its
influence would be destroyed if the captain were to commit himself by
threats made in the moment of greatest irritation; he might be apt to
follow up, when cool, a threat made in anger, to show his consistency.
I could relate many instances of injustice arising from precipitancy
in awarding punishment; but the following anecdotes, for the accuracy
of which I can vouch, seem sufficient to arrest the attention to good
purpose.
Two men-of-war happened to be cruising in company: one of them a
line-of-battle ship, bearing an admiral's flag; the other a small
frigate. One day, when they were sailing quite close to each other,
the signal was made from the large to the small ship to chase in a
particular direction, implying that a strange sail was seen in that
quarter. The look-out man at the maintop mast-head of the frigate was
instantly called down by the captain, and severely punished on the
spot, for not having discovered and reported the stranger before the
flag ship had made the signal to chase.
The unhappy sufferer, who was a very young hand, unaccustomed to be
aloft, had merely taken his turn at the mast head with the rest of the
ship's company, and could give no explanation of his apparent neglect.
Before it was too late, however, the officer of the watch ventured to
suggest to the captain, that possibly the difference of height between
the masts of the two ships might have enabled the look-out man on
board the admiral to discover the stranger, when it was physically
impossible, owing to the curvature of the earth, that she could have
been seen on board the frigate. No attention, however, was paid to
this remark, and a punishment due only to crime, or to a manifest
breach of discipline, was inflicted.
The very next day, the same officer, whose remonstrance had proved so
ineffectual, saw the look-out man at the flag ship's mast-head again
pointing out at a strange sail. The frigate chanced to be placed
nearly in the direction indicated; consequently she must have been
somewhat nearer to the stranger than the line-of-battle ship was. But
the man stationed at the frigate's mast-head declared he could
distinguish nothing of any stranger. Upon this the officer of the
watch sent up the captain of the maintop, an experienced and
quick-sighted seaman, who, having for some minutes looked in vain in
every direction, asserted positively that there was nothing in sight
from that elevation. It was thus rendered certain, or at all events
highly probable, that the precipitate sentence of the day before had
been unjust; for, under circumstances even less favourable, it
appeared that the poor fellow could not by possibility have seen the
stranger, for not first detecting which he was punished!
I must give the conclusion of this painful story in the words of my
informant, the officer of the deck:--"I reported all this to the
captain of the ship, and watched the effect. He seemed on the point of
acknowledging that his heart smote him; but pride prevailed, and it
was barely an ejaculation that escaped. So much for angry feelings
getting the better of judgment!"
The following anecdote will help to relieve the disagreeable
impression caused by the incident just related, without obliterating
the salutary reflections which it seems calculated to trace on the
mind of every well-disposed officer.
Three sailors, belonging to the watering-party of a man-of-war on a
foreign station, were discovered by their officer to have strayed from
the well at which the casks had been filled. These men, it appears,
instead of assisting in rolling the heavy butts and puncheons across
the sand, preferred indulging themselves in a glass of a most
insidious tipple, called Mistela in Spanish, but very naturally
"transmogrified" by the Jacks into Miss Taylor. The offenders being
dragged out of the pulperia, were consigned, without inquiry, to the
launch, though they had been absent only a few minutes, and were still
fit enough for work. The officer of the boat, however, happening to
be an iron-hearted disciplinarian, who overlooked nothing, and forgave
no one, would not permit the men to rejoin the working party, or to
touch a single cask; but when the boat returned to the ship, had the
three offenders put in irons.
When these circumstances were reported to the captain in the course of
the day, so much acrimony was imparted to his account by the officer,
that the captain merely said, "I shall be glad if you will defer
stating this matter more fully till to-morrow morning, after breakfast;
take the night to think of it." Tomorrow came, and the particulars
being again detailed, even more strongly and pointedly, by the
officer, the captain likewise became irritated, and under the
influence of feelings highly excited had almost ordered the men up for
immediate punishment. Acting, however, upon a rule which he had for
sometime laid down, never to chastise any one against whom he felt
particularly displeased without at least twenty-four hours' delay, he
desired the matter to stand over till the following morning.
In the meantime, the men in confinement, knowing that their offence
was a very slight one, laid their heads together, and contrived, by
the aid of the purser's steward, to pen a supplicatory epistle to the
captain. This document was conveyed to its destination by his servant,
a judicious fellow. Though it proved no easy matter to decipher the
hieroglyphics, it appeared evident that there were extenuating
circumstances which had not been brought forward. The only remark,
however, which the captain made was, that the letter ought not to have
been brought to him; and that his servant was quite out of order, in
being accessory to any proceeding so irregular.
The steward took the hint, and recommended the prisoners to appeal to
the complaining officer. Accordingly, next day, when the captain went
on deck, that person came up and said,--
"I have received a strange letter, sir, from these three fellows whom
I complained of yesterday; but what they say does not alter my opinion
in the least."
"It does mine, however," observed the captain, after he had spelled
through it, as if for the first time.
"Indeed, sir!" exclaimed the other; adding, "I hope you won't let them
off."
"I tell you what it is," quietly remarked the captain, "I would much
rather you let them off than that I should; for it strikes me, that
all the useful ends of discipline will be much better served, and your
hands, as well as mine, essentially strengthened, by your taking the
initiative in this business instead of me. My advice to you,
therefore, is, that when I go below you send for the men, and say to
them you have read their statement, and that, although it does by no
means excuse, it certainly explains, and so far extenuates, their
offence, that you feel disposed to try what your influence with the
captain can do to get them off altogether."
"I do not see the force of your reasoning," answered the offended
officer; "nor can I conscientiously trifle with the service in the
manner proposed. I thought at first, and I still think, that these men
ought to be punished; and, as far as I am concerned, they certainly
shall not escape."
"Well, well," cried the captain, "you will not, I hope, deny that I am
the best judge of what is right and fitting to be done on board this
ship; and I tell you again, that I consider the discipline will be
better served by your being the mover in this case, than by my taking
the affair, as you wish me to do, entirely out of your hands. Will you
do as I suggest?"
"I beg your pardon, sir, but really I cannot, consistently with my
sense of duty, adopt the course you propose. I think it right to
insist, as far as I can with propriety, on these men being punished."
"Turn the hands up for punishment, then!" said the captain to the
first lieutenant, who had been walking on the other side of the deck
during this colloquy; "and let the three prisoners be brought on
deck."
The gratings were soon rigged under the mizen-stay--the
quarter-masters placed with their seizings on either side--the
boatswain and his mates (with the terrible weapons of naval law barely
concealed under their jackets) arranged themselves in a group round
the mast--while the marines, with fixed bayonets and shoulder arms,
formed across the quarter-deck; and the ship's company, standing in
two double rows, lined the sides of the deck. Not the slightest sound
could be heard; and a person coming on deck blindfolded might have
thought the ship lay in dock, without a soul on board.
In the middle of the open space before the hatchway stood the three
culprits, with their hats off, and their eyes cast down in hopeless
despair; but, to all outward appearance, firm and unmoved.
When all was declared ready, the first lieutenant descended to the
cabin, but returned again almost immediately, followed closely by the
captain, in his cocked hat and sword, grasping in one hand the
well-known roll of paper containing the articles of war, and in the
other the master-at-arms' report of prisoners. Every head was
uncovered at his appearance; and as he lifted his hat in answer to
this salute, he laid it on the capstan, against which he leaned while
reading the article under which the delinquents had fallen.
"Now," said he, addressing the three prisoners, "you have been found
guilty of an offence against the good order and discipline of this
ship, which cannot be permitted, and which must positively be put a
stop to. Heretofore it has not occurred, and I trust this will be the
last case. Do you admit that you deserve punishment?"
No answer.
"Have you anything to advance why you should not be punished?"
The fellows nodged one another, scraped the deck with their feet,
fumbled with their hats and waist-bands, and muttered something about
"a letter they had written to the officer what reported them."
"Letter!" exclaimed the captain; "let me see it."
The epistle being handed to the captain, he read it aloud to the
assembled ship's company, who listened with all their ears. At the
conclusion, he folded it up, and, turning to the officer, asked,--
"What have you to say to this?"
"Nothing, sir--nothing," was the obdurate reply.
"Well now, my lads," observed the captain to the crew, after a pause
of several minutes, "I shall give you a chance. These fellows appear,
by their own confession, to have done what they knew to be wrong; and
accordingly, as you perceive, they have brought themselves close
aboard of the gangway. It would serve them all perfectly right to give
each of them a good sound punishment. But I am willing to hope, that
if I forgive them on your account--that is to say, if I let them off
in consideration of the good conduct of the ship's company, and in
confidence of your all behaving well in future--they will be quite as
much disposed to exert themselves to recover their characters, as if
they had tasted the bitterness of the gangway: at all events, I'll try
them and you for once. Pipe down!"
It is only necessary to state further, that for nearly a year
afterwards there occurred no instance of drunkenness or neglect at the
watering parties.
There is one other point of importance in this discussion, and as it
seems to possess a considerable analogy in its bearing to the
suggestions already thrown out, it may possibly have greater weight in
conjunction with them than if it were brought forward alone. In every
system of penal jurisprudence it seems to be of the first importance
to let it be felt that the true degradation lies more in the crime
itself, than in the expiatory punishment by which it is followed.
Whenever this principle is not duly understood, punishments lose half
their value, while they are often virtually augmented in severity. The
object of all punishments is evidently to prevent the recurrence of
offences, either by others or by the offender himself. But it is not,
by any means, intended that he should not have a full and fair chance
allowed him for a return to virtue. The very instant punishment is
over, he should be allowed to start afresh for his character. If a man
is never to have his offence or his chastisement forgotten, he can
hardly be expected to set seriously about the re-establishment of his
damaged reputation.
Neither ought it to be forgotten, that a man so circumstanced has
really stronger claims on our sympathy, and is more entitled to our
protection, than if he had never fallen under censure. He has, in some
sort, if not entirely, expiated his offence by the severity of its
consequences; and every generous-minded officer must feel that a poor
seaman whom he has been compelled, by a sense of duty, to punish at
the gangway, instead of being kept down, has need of some extra
assistance to place him even on the footing he occupied before he
committed any offence. If this be not granted him, it is a mere
mockery to say that he has any fair chance for virtue.
It might, therefore, I think, be very usefully made imperative upon
the captain, at some short period after a punishment has taken place
(say on the next muster-day), and when the immediate irritation shall
have gone off, to call the offender publicly forward, and in the
presence of the whole ship's company give him to understand that, as
he had now received the punishment which, according to the rules of
the service, his offence merited, both the one and the other were,
from that time forward, to be entirely forgotten; and that he was now
fully at liberty to begin his course anew. I can assert, from ample
experience, that the beneficial effects of this practice are very
great.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] The recent instructions issued by the Board of Admiralty would
have gratified Captain Hall had he lived to read them; harmonizing as
they do with the system he so earnestly advocates.