Navigating the Lower Saint Lawrence in the 19th Century.
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Q. Why did you not go away? A. I had a deal of pay due and I did not like to go away in a strange place. The Captain said "All you drunken scoundrels may go away about your business, dirty drunken scoundrels." Q. Did you see the Captain beat me? A. Yes. |
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| At half past four o'clock P.M., the
Court adjourned until nine o'clock
tomorrow morning. At nine o'clock A.M., 22nd of July, 1815, the Court met according to adjournment. |
The Court was cleared and agreed that the loss of His Majesty's late troop ship Penelope was caused by her running on shore between Grand Étang and Magdalen Point in the River Saint Lawrence on the thirtieth day of April last, occasioned principally by the state of the weather and the set of the current. That Mr William Honnor, the master, was not sufficiently attentive to the situation of the ship, a short time previous to her running on shore, particularly to the observation of Mr William Hanlin, the gunner, who was Officer of the Watch, and expressed to him his doubt of seeing the land, and therefore that great blame was imputable to him, the said William Honnor. That a due attention was not paid by Captain James Galloway and the First Lieutenant of the ship to the safety of the ship's company by their neglecting to make proper arrangements for getting them on shore and that great blame was also imputable to the said Captain James Galloway and the said First Lieutenant of the said ship. That no blame was imputable to the rest of the officers, and ship's company respecting the loss of the said ship but that it appeared by the list subjoined to the narrative of the said Captain James Galloway, that forty seven of the ship's company had subsequently deserted. The Court further agreed that the charges of drunkenness, disobedience of orders, mutiny and desertion had been proved against the said Walter Howell, one of the seamen of the said ship, and that Christopher Birche, Joseph Cooper, John Dudding, John Rowill and William Haswell, seamen belonging to her had also conducted themselves improperly after the ship struck but that the said Christopher Birch, Joseph Cooper, John Dudding and John Rowill had been punished for the same by order of the said Captain James Galloway and that the said William Howell remained ill at the Royal Hospital at Haslar. And the Court adjudged the said Captain James Galloway, in consideration of his being afflicted with illness at the time to be only reprimanded. Lieutenant Benjamin Hooper, the First Lieutenant, to be severely reprimanded, the Master to be placed at the bottom of the list of Masters of Royal Navy, and the said Walter Howell to receive five hundred lashes on his bare back with a cat-o'nine tails on board of or alongside such of His Majesty's ships or vessels at Spithead or in Portsmouth Harbour, at such time or times and in such manner and proportions as the Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Ships and Vessels for the time being at Portsmouth aforesaid should direct, and the remainder of the officers and ships company to be acquitted with respect to the loss of His Majesty's said late ship Penelope. The Court was again opened, Captain James Galloway and the Officers and company of His Majesty's late troop ship Penelope were brought in, audience admitted and sentence passed accordingly. W. Greetham Deputy Judge Advocate of the Fleet. |
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