94 NAVAL SCIENCES. 



There are not wanting on board ship greater or less offences, insubordi- 

 nation, mutinies, and the like. The laws of discipline in the fleet are accord- 

 ingly very severe, corporal punishment being almost the only resource of the 

 officers in most navies. The commander of the ship has the power of life and 

 death, and whenever a crime or a serious violation of orders takes place, a 

 court-martial is convened {pi. 24,, fig. 1). The session of officers for this pur- 

 pose is held on the quarter-deck. The accused is brought forward without 

 fetters, and the charge is presented, while the crew crowd around the spot. 

 After the fact is established, the court enters into secret session, and each 

 of the judges, beginning with the youngest, gives his opinion. In most 

 cases the punishment is flogging with a rope's end ; the English use the 

 cat-o'-nine-tails, a rope whip with nine lashes, the ends of which are inter- 

 woven with musket balls. Keel-hauling {fig. 2), which has now been dis- 

 continued in nearly every navy, is purely a seaman's punishment. When 

 it is to be inflicted, a special flag is hoisted, and a gun is fired as a signal to 

 the other ships of the fleet, which thereupon get out their boats and surround 

 the ship in a semicircle. The delinquent is then taken under the main- 

 yard, and his feet are loaded with a 30-pound cannon ball. The master-at- 

 arms then reads the sentence, and the criminal is suddenly drawn up by a 

 side tackle attached to the main yard. The rope is then slacked, and he 

 is plunged with frightful velocity into the sea and then drawn under the 

 keel. This operation is repeated two or three times, according to the strength 

 of the prisoner. In the Dutch navy this punishment is equivalent to 

 death. Smaller offences are punished by stopping the rations, espe- 

 cially spirits, for three or four days, or by confinement in irons {pi. 25, 

 fig. 8). In the last punishment, the sailors are taken from arrest to 

 their watch, and then brought back. Extra watches are also inflicted 

 as punishments. 



While a man-of-war is in port, a regular and often an unexpected visit is 

 made by the port-guard, in order to examine whether everything is right on 

 board the ship {pi. 22, fig. 5). The boat, in such cases, is commanded by 

 a port-officer, and as soon as it approaches the ship it must be hailed by the 

 guard, to whom the reply " Watch-boat" is given. 



The artillery is so far subject to the direction of the commander of the 

 ship that he has a speaking tube, the mouth-piece of which is under his 

 control, the tube leading below the deck, through which he issues his orders. 

 One man for every gun, during action, carries shot and cartridges from the 

 hold {fig. 4). Non-combatants are generally selected for this duty. A 

 very important point, which must be attended to at the commencement of 

 a battle, is the condition of the pumps. It must be seen that they are in 

 order and properly manned to pump out the water which enters through 

 the shot holes. The fire-engine must also be looked after. The head 

 caulker attends to all these points, and on the first summons to quarters 

 takes his place at the pumps. He takes care that twisted plugs of hemp, 

 ropes, sheet lead, nails, and plugs wound round with tow and dipped in 

 tallow, are ready to stop up the shot-holes which are made at the water 

 line. For this purpose slings are provided {pi. 23, fig. 1), by which men 

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