Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1901-01-18
IN THE QUEENS NAVY.
How Its Rulers Administer Justice
in Their Floating
Realms.

The captain Of British man-of'
war is something of a car aboard
his own ship. He does not possess
power Of life and death over his sub
ordinates, but he can make or mar
any man just as he pleases. Warrant
officers and all ranks above can be
punished only by court-martial. But
in all ranks below warrant officer the
captain can promote or degrade men
es he thinks fit, says the London
Mail.
Two tribunals are held daily in a
battleship. At noon the commander
deals with the lighter offenses, while
the more serious ones are judged by
the captain at evening.
At the dreaded evening function
the captain presides sternly, sitting
at table on the quarter deck, with
officers around him. The prisoners
stand in a row, facing their judge.
"What is this man charged with?"
asks the captain as culprit No. steps
forward
The master at arms states the
charge, which is that Ordinary Sea-
man Jones walked when he should
have run, and would not mend his
pace when ordered to.
"Call the witnesses" commands the
Skipper" and the witnesses step for
ward and give their evidence.
swell, you have heard what the
witnesses said; what have you to
say?' asks the captain.
Jones explains that he didn't
hear" or "was going to double" or
something of the kind.
The captain considers moment
while he sizes up appearances as well
as testimony. "Well," is his conclu-
sion, 81 have to double so does every
body else in the ship, and you'll have
to do the same. I'm determined (this
with very significant emphasis) to
have everybody in my crew thorough
ly smart at his work. Seven days,
10 A."
There are a number of what are
termed "scale punishments" laid down
by the admiralty. Of this 10 A is the
most irritating. The man undergoing
it has to take his meals under a SEN
try's supervision. work while the
other men are resting, do all the
dirty work of the ship and stand for
couple of hours at stretch on the
quarter deck with his face to the
bulwarks. Keeping the flies off the
paint" Jack calls it.
The captain may sentence man
to IA days of this punishment or tc
90 days imprisonment in cells. Be.
yond that term he cannot go. But
there are an infinite number of small.
er punishments which he may inflict
for variety of offenses that to @
landsman might seem mere trifes
Such are being late in turning out
of morning, wearing socks not oi
the regulation pattern, and so on
Usually mans previous character is
considered, and there is kind of un
written first offenders law which car
ries great weight with most com
manding officers. 1t is well for Jacl
that it is so, for by depriving a mar
of badges or disrating him captair
cannot only seriously decrease thu
offenders pay while serving, but alst
the pension which he looks forward
to as provision against old age.
AS with the men, so with the off
GERS; to stand we'll with the captain
means everything to them, for tn,
captain has to make a confidential
report concerning every one of them
and upon what he says in this docu
ment the officers prospects largel,
depend.
Doubtless good many people will
be surprised to learn that corpora
punishment is still administered il
the British navy. The "cat" has bee
abolished, but canings and birching
are very frequent. Only boys-youn
seamen up to is years of age-ar
subjected to this form of correction.
Many people whose opinions of sery
ice discipline are obtained from occa
sionally hearing what takes place o.
barrack square think that naval OF
ficers are in the habit of bullying
This is quite unnecessary, as tn
average naval officer can put NOR
'bte" into a few quiet words tina
the ordinary man could get into hal
day's hard swearing.