32 COURT-MARTIAL 



mate, that he should be tried by a court-martial of six of 

 the elders of the mess, the senior master's mate to be the 

 president. 



This mock trial was soon over ; he being convicted by 

 his oAvn confession, there was no necessity for any 

 further evidence ; and the president, after a short con- 

 sultation, sentenced him, in nautical language, to be 

 cobbed — a punishment, I believe, only known on board 

 ship. Resistance was useless, and he was immediately 

 seized up to the aftermost gun on the lower deck ; the 

 captain having given the gun-room to the midshipmen 

 for their better accommodation, it being more freely 

 ventilated than the cock-pit, consequently more healthy, 

 particularly in a tropical climate. 



By the artful advice of the doctor's mate, who was no 

 friend to the youth, and owed him a grudge, everyone in 

 the two messes was included in the infliction of this 

 punishment, on the pain of being served the same, or sent 

 to Coventry. 



The instrument selected for the purpose Avas what is 

 called by the ship's cook the " Burgoo-stirrer ; " in shape 

 it resembles a large battledore, and is generally made of 

 some hard Avood. With this formidable weapon each one 

 was to give the culj^rit six blows upon the most fleshy 

 part of his body — which, though not uncovered, pre- 

 sented, from the attitude to which he was confined, an 

 unmistakable mark. 



The master's mate — a fine young man, about nineteen 

 or twenty years of age, and nearly six feet high,^ and 



^ This young man in time rose to the rank of Post-Captain, Sir John 

 Marshall, and was a Knight Commander of the Bath at his decease. 



