Edited sentence: Dissatisfied with the speed of the operation because "these would be the yard-arm men, the most skilful topmen" he gave the order that the last men off the yard would be flogged.HMS Hermione under the command of Captain Pigot was sent to patrol the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.He then had some sailors flogged when they complained.On 21 September 1797, Pigot ordered the topsails to be reefed after a squall struck the ship.Pigot destroyed three privateers at Puerto Rico on 22 March 1797 and on 6 September 1797 and in company with  and  she captured a 6-gun Spanish privateer.Pigot ordered their bodies thrown into the sea with the words "throw the lubbers overboard" - the worst insult in the seaman's vocabulary.Three young sailors, in their haste to get down, fell to their deaths on the deck