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

CO URT-MARTIAL AT PLYMO UTH.

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 R.bt.
S. Robinson, of the Exmouth, 90; Captain Wood-
ford .T. Williams, of the Royal William, 120 ; Cap-
tain James Wilcox, of the Victor Emmanuel ; Capt.
W. H. Stewart, C. 8., of the Impregnable, 104 ;
and Captain G. W. Preedy, C. 8., of the Liffey, $l.
Mr. W. Eastlake was the officiating Judge-Ad-
vocate ; 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, 1858, 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,•' In 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 three 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-
ing 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 that as Frank Le Maitre was not in fault, he was 'not
to be punished, and for bringing the authority of the said
Capt. Henry A. Storey into contempt by making the fol-
lowing observations to the said Frank Le 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 stamping his foot, shaking his finger in Frank
Le Maitre's face, and using harsh, overhearing. 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 nit
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 quartermastg• of
her Majesty's ship Russell, without any apparent prov9ca-
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.
" 7. For that he the said Lieutenant Charles 0. B. Hall
did on the 13th day of October, 1858, 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 nighti
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, master-at-arms, said—The
punishment Michael Kennedy 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. I am 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' book. 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 accsrding 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.

Hall was a week's black list, a week's water grog,
and confined to the ship. Lieut. Hall inflicted the
punishment on Sunday, the 14th of November, and
the captain remitted it on the 16th.
Captain Storey, the prosecutorovas: then ex-
amined in support of the charges. The prisoner
put
evariousn ry
s ottquestionsn?
master-at-arms—The
oa
shteimr
at-arms—The signal-
man ordered me on deck by authority of Lieut.
Hall, when I was told to double the quartermaster's
c
punishment. The punishment. first ordered was
10 days' leave to be stopped. When it was ordered
to be loiibled the figure 1 was made into a 2. That
punishment was remitted the same day. I was
mustered, with the other pettv officers, the day
after the last court-martial, and was asked by the
captain whether I had any complaints to make.
The entry in the defaulters' book with reference to
Le Maitre was made in the evening of the 6th, as
near as I can recollect. I laid the defaulters' book
before the captain just before the first court-martial.
Charles Hammett, marine—l was sentry on board
William
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was a.
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s2tme2 of August
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Lieut. Hall came on board between 11 andl2 o'clock.
He went below and gave orders about the morning
watch. He came up again five or six minutes
after, and went to the quartermaster on the port
side of the gangway and said, " I do not think you
know the order I gave you • repeat it over to me ;"
which was done. Lieut. Hall said, " I have been
watching your movements fora long time ; you had
better mind what you are about shook his fist in
his face at the same time, followed him from one
side of the bridge to the other, and asked who had
the morning watch. Lindopp answered that Monk,
the captain of the foretop, had it. In answer to
Lieut. Hall's inquiry why Monk had it, Lindopp
said the quartermaster had gone on leave. Lieut.
Hall then sent for the master-at-arms. I did not
hear what passed between them. The quartermas-
ter did not give bim any provocation to shake his
fist in his face. The night was sufficiently still
and clear for me to see andhear all that took place.
The first lieutenant- appeared to be very wild at
him. I was on the bridge, close to the mizenmast;
the scene took place on the port side of the gang-
way, abreast the mainmast. Lieutenant Hall
raised his voice and spoke loudly ; he followed
behind him and shook his finger ; it was in the
manner of trying to frighten him, not to strike
him or push him. I did not hear the first order to
the quartermaster. I can't tell the reason Lieut.
Hall shook his finger at him. The quartermaster
was not disrespectful to him. I know the orders
were about the morning watch by the way in which
they were given.
Two other witnesses were then examined in sup-
port of the fifth charge.
George WaShington Jones,clerk—l was walking
on the starboard side of the deck; my attention
was called to an altercation between Lieutenant
Hall and Lindopp, namely, by Lieutenant Hall
ordering Lindopp on the bridge, and shaking his
finger at him, and following him the greater part
of the way there. I do not know from my own
knowledge • whether it was Lindopp's watch, or
whether he was looking out for another man while
that man was getting his grog-
John Marks, quartermaster of the Russell—Re-
lieved by Lindopp on the 13th of October at noon
to get my grog. He was looking out for me six or
seven minutes. When he relieved me he was
standing at the port gangway. IVhen. I relieved
him he was standing on the bridge.
George Washington Jones—When I heard
Lieutenant Hall use harsh and overbearing lan-
guage, and saw him follow. Lindopp to the bridge,
shaking his finger at him, I did not hear any pro-
vocation whatever. I heard nothing but Lieut.
Hall speaking in a loud voice, • •
The Court adjourned from Monday to Tuesday.