The Lash....

[Chris Boonzaier]

Found this interesting fact....

On a average, between 1765 and 1793, 21½-percent of the crewmen in the Royal Navy were flogged each year, with the mean number of lashes being 5, though only 19-percent of the men serving under the ill-famed Capt. William Bligh were flogged, for a mean of only 1½ lashes

[peter monahan]

Found this interesting fact....

On a average, between 1765 and 1793, 21½-percent of the crewmen in the Royal Navy were flogged each year, with the mean number of lashes being 5, though only 19-percent of the men serving under the ill-famed Capt. William Bligh were flogged, for a mean of only 1½ lashes

Yes, contrary to popular legend, Bligh was not actually a 'flogging captain'. I believe his failings as an officer were in other areas, and the presence of Christian Fletcher, the ringleader of the mutiny, had a lot to do with it, though the fact that Bligh also had a mutiny while serving as Governor of the Australian penal colony suggests he was far from blameless.

Remember that during the period you mention a very high presentage of sailors had been 'pressed' ('press ganged' = legally kidnapped) and were probably not really happy in the service. Additionally, the British blocakde of the French-Spanish coast meant some ships spent months and even years patrolling the same stretch of water, almost in sight of England in many cases. They were re-supplied at sea and when they put in to port - home - were denied shore leave because of the risk that they would 'run'. Add that to a wage rate that was decades old and widespread fraud by the quartermasters and it's no wonder that the Mutiny at the Nore occurred in 1796!

On the other hand, flogging was widely used and some captains revelled in it. One account I read - possibly fiction but likely based on fact - mentions the crew of a captain's barge studiously avoiding making eye contact with a new captain as he was rowed out to join his new command in case he was a 'flogger' and had them lashed for 'dumb insolence'. Yes, the perfect charge for sullen adolescents! "Don't you look at me in that tone of voice!" And while officers were [rarely] hanged for serious crimes, ordinary seamen could be 'flogged through the Fleet' on a grid set up in a longboat. Fifty lashes before the assembled company of each ship in a harbour, which would often be just a slower death sentence. A nasty, nasty business!

[Hugh]

Found this interesting fact....

On a average, between 1765 and 1793, 21½-percent of the crewmen in the Royal Navy were flogged each year, with the mean number of lashes being 5, though only 19-percent of the men serving under the ill-famed Capt. William Bligh were flogged, for a mean of only 1½ lashes

As Mr. Churchill said, "...rum, sodomy and the lash."