The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-15 00:00:00

COURT-MARTIAL AT PLYMOUTH.

A court-martial assembled on Monday morning
on board the flag-ship Impregnable, 104, in
Hamoaze, to try Lieutenant Hall, of the screw
steam guardship Russell, on charges preferred
against him by Capt. Storey. The court consisted
of Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley, superin-
tendent in the Devonport Dockyard; Captain Rebt.
S. Robinson, of the Exmoutb, 90; Captain Wood-
ford J. Williams, of the Royal William, 120 ; Cap-
tain James Wilcox, of the Victor. Emmanuel; Capt.
W. 11. Stewart, C. 8., of the Impregnable, 104 ;
and Captain G. W. Preedy, C. 8., of the Liffey, 51.
Mr. W. Eastlake was the officiating Judge-Ad-
iocate ; and the prisoner was assisted in his defence
by Mr. John Beer, solicitor.
The following are the charges :
"1. For that he, the said -Lieut. Charles 0. B. Hall,
being in actual service and full pay in her Majesty's fleet,
and belonging to her Majesty's ship Russell, did, on or
about the 14th day of November, 185 S, cause to be awarded
upon Michael Kennedy and Jessie Wybrow, ordinary sea-
men, serving on board the ship, a greater amount of punish-
ment than was ordered by Captain Henry Alex. Storey, of
the said ship .
"2. That upon the said Captain Henry A. Storey disco-
vering, on the 16th day of November, 1858, that the men
named in the first charge were awarded a greater amount
of punishment than he had ordered, he, the said Captain
Henry A. Storey, wrote the following remarks in the de-
faulters' book—namely, 'ln looking over this book I find
the punishments entered were not my orders ; what I
ordered was that these men should be put in the black list
the full time allowed by the Admiralty regulations, and
their leave stopped for thrce weeks ;' and that upon the
following day (Nov. the 17th) the said book, with Captain
Henry A. Storey's remarks, were shown to the said Lieut.
Charles 0. B. Hall, when he, the said lieutenant, returned
the book to the master-at-arms in a contemptuous manner,
saying that if the captain did not choose to punish the men,
he, the said Lieut. Charles 0. B. Hall, did, or words to
that effect, thus endeavouring to bring the authority of the
said Captain Henry A. Storey into contempt.
"3. For that he, the said Lieutenant Charles 0. B.
Hall, did, on or about the 6th day of September, award
punishment to Frank Le Maitre, quartermaster, by order-
mg his leave to be stopped for ten days, for a fault
which, upon being investigated by the said Captain Henry
A. Storey, was found not to have been committed by the
said Frank Le Maitre; and the said Lieut. C. 0. B. Hall,
immediately the said captain' had left the ship, ordered
double the punishment for the same alleged offence, in
direct contradiction to the orders of the said Captain Henry
A. Storey, as given to the said Lieut. C. 0. B. Hall, to the
effect tliat as Frank Le Maitre was not in fault, he was not
to be mished, and for bringing the authority of the said
Capt. Henry A. Storey into contempt by making the fol-
lowing observations to the said Frank Lo Maitre, or words
to the same effect So you have thought proper to appeal
to the captain ; I'll let you know that I do not care about
16 post-captains, and that I will have my own way ;' and
turning to the master-at. arms, for whom he the said Lieut.
C. 0. B. Hall had previously sent, he the said lieutenant
then said, ' Double the punishment ;' such conduct being
in violation of the 19th and 22d Articles of War, and also
of part of the 33d Article of War ; he the said Lieut. C. 0.
B. Hall having behaved in an irritating and oppressive
manner by stampinf, his foot shaking his finger in Frank
Le Maitre's face, and using harsh, overbaAring. and irritat-
ing language—saying, ' I will let you see who is command-
ing officer,' or words to that effect.
"4. For that he the said Lieut. C. 0. B. Hall did not
enter the punishment referred to in the third charge in the
weekly report of punishments, as directed by the written
orders of the said Captain Henry A. Storey, and to be given
to the said captain on Sundays.
"5. For that he the said Lieut. C. 0. B. Hall did behave
in an oppressive and irritating manner in shaking his fin-
ger in the face of William Lindopp, late quartermaster of
her Majesty's ship Russell, without any apparent provoca-
tion, on the 23d day of August, 1858, at Plymouth, and on
the 13th day of October, 1858, at Falmouth.
"6. For that he the said Lieut. C. 0. B. Hall did on or
about the 27th day of October, 1858, behave in an unofficer-
like and provoking manner to Lieut. Francis Osborn of
her Majesty's ship Russell.
44 7. For that he the said Lieutenant Charles 0. B. Hall
did on the 13th day of October, 18.58, behave in an un-
officerlike and provoking manner to Mr. George Jones,
clerk, of her Majesty's said ship Russell."
George Washington Jones, clerk, produced the
log-book of her Majesty's ship Russell, and found
entry Ist February, when Lieutenant Hall first
joined the ship.
Michael Kennedy, ordinary seaman of the Rus-
sell, sworn, said—On or about the 14th of Novem-
ber I was ordered to be punished by having one
month's No. 1 black list, to remain between two
guns on the main deck, not allowed to speak to any
person during that month, to be placed 14 nights
in irons, and to be confined to the ship until further
orders. In the course of four or five days the
master-at-arms came to me and said my punish-
ment was not half as much as I got at first—that
is, that half my punishment was forgiven. I
underwent 14 nights in irons and three weeks'
black list. Wybrow was in irons with me, and
underwent the same punishment. The No. 1 black
list was awarded by Lieutenant Hall.
Henry Scottman, aster-at-arms, said—The
punishment Michael KMiedy and Jessie Wybrow
were ordered was 14 nights in irons, three weeks'
black list, three weeks' water grog, and leave
stopped. The entries in the defaulters' books were
made by my orders. I was ordered to put down,
" Confined to the ship until further orders." The
entry means until there is an order given to re-
lease. lam in the habit of making extracts from
the defaulters' book and giving them to the com-
manding officer for the captain. When a man is
confined to the ship I enter it in the weekly report
the same as in the defaulters' hook. The punish-
ment
entered in the defaulters' book was ordered ;
by the commanding officer, and he told Kennedy
and Wybrow that it was their punishment. The ;
punishment was not carried out : the captain found
it was not according to his orders. The punish-
ment that was inflicted by the captain and carried
out Was 14 nights in irons, 21 days' black list, 21
days' water grog ; the punishment remitted was
from being between the guns during the whole
of the day except mealtime, and from being con-
fined to the ship after their punishments were
over. The extra punishment ordered by Lieut.