10. Every flag-officer, captain, and commander in the fleet, who, upon signal or order of fight, or sight of any ship or ships, which it may be his duty to engage, or who upon likelihood of engagement shall not make the necessary preparation for fight, and shall not in his own person, and according to his place, encourage the inferior officers and men to fight courageously, shall suffer death, or other punishment, &c. and if any person in the fleet shall treacherously or cowardly yield, or cry for quarter, on being convicted, shall suffer death. 11. Every person in the fleet who shall not duly observe the orders of the admiral, flag-officer, commander of any squadron or division, or other his superior officer, for assailing, joining battle with, or making defence against any fleet, squadron, or ship, or shall not obey the orders of his superior officer, in time of action, to the best of his power, or shall not use all possible endeavours to put the same effectually in execution, being convicted thereof, shall suffer death, &c. 12. Every person in the fleet, who through cowardice, negligence, or disaffection, shall, in time of action, withdraw or keep back, or not come into the engagement, or shall not do his utmost to take or destroy every ship which it shall be his duty to engage, and to assist and relieve all and every of his Majesty's ships, or those of his allies, which it shall be his duty to assist and relieve, being convicted thereof, shall suffer death.. 13. Every person in the fleet, who, through cowardice, negligence, or disaffection, shall forbear to pursue the chace of an enemy, pirate, or rebel, beaten or flying; or shall not relieve and assist a known friend in view, to the utmost of his power, being convicted, shall suffer death. 14. If any action, or any service shall be commanded, and any person in the fleet shall presume to delay or discourage the same, upon pretence of arrears of wages, or any pretence whatsoever, and be convicted thereof, he shall suffer death, &c. 15. Every person in, or belonging to the fleet, who shall desert to the enemy, pirate, or rebel, or run away with any of his Majesty's ships, or any ordnance, ammunition, stores, or provision belonging thereto, to the weakening of the service, or yield up the same cowardly or treacherously, being convicted, shall suffer death. 16. Every person in or belonging to the fleet, who shall desert or entice others so to do, shall suffer death, or such other punishment, as the circumstances of the offence shall deserve, and a court martial shall think fit; and if any commanding officer of any of his Majesty's ships of war shall receive or entertain a deserter from any other of his Majesty's ships, after discovering him to be such, and shall not, with all convenient speed, give notice to the captain of the ship, to which such deserter belongs, or if the said ships are at any considerable distance from each other, to the secretary of the Admiralty, or to the commander in chief, every person so offending, and being convicted, &c. shall be cashiered. 17. The officers and seamen of all ships appointed for convoy of merchant ships, or of any other, shall diligently attend upon that charge without delay, according to their instructions; and whosoever shall be faulty therein, and shall not perform their duty, and defend the ships and goods in their convoy, without either diverting to other parts, or occasions, or refusing, or neglecting to fight in their defence, if they be assailed, or running away cowardly, and submitting the convoy to peril and hazard, or shall demand or exact any money or other reward from any merchant or master, for convoying of any vessels intrusted to their care, or shall misuse the masters or ma riners thereof, shall be condemned to make reparation of the damage to the merchants, owners, or others, as the Court of Admiralty shall adjudge, and also be punished according to the quality of their offences, by death or other punishment, according as shall be adjudged by the court martial. 18. If any captain or other officer of any of his Majesty's ships shall receive on board, or permit to be received on board such ship, any goods or merchandize, other than for the sole use of the ship, except gold, silver, or jewels, and except the goods and merchandizes belonging to any vessel which may be shipwrecked, or in imminent danger of being shipwrecked, either on the high seas, or in any port, creck, or harbour, in order to the preserving them for their proper owners, and except such goods or merchandizes as he shall be ordered to receive on board by order of the Loid High Admiral of Great Britain, or the Commissioners for executing the said office, and be con22 Geo. 2. victed thereof, &c. he shall be cashiered, and be for ever afterwards rendered incapable to serve in any place or office in the naval service of his Majesty, &c. p. 694. P. 695. 19. If any person in, or belonging to the fleet, shall make or endeavour to make any mutinous assembly, upon any pretence whatsoever, and be convicted thereof, &c. he shall suffer death: and if any person shall utter any words of sedition or mutiny he shall suffer death, or such other punishment as a court martial shall deem him to deserve and if any officer, mariner, or soldier, shall behave himself with contempt to his superior officer, such superior officer being in the execution of his office, he shall be punished according to the nature of his offence by the judgment of a court martial. 20. If any person in the fleet shall conceal any traiterous, or mutinous practice, or design, being convicted thereof, &c. he shall suffer death; and if any person shall conceal any traiterous or mutinous words spoken by any, to the prejudice of his Majesty or government, or any words, practices, or designs, tending to the hindrance of the service, and shall not forthwith reveal the same to the commanding officer, or being present at any mutiny or sedition, shall not use his utmost endeavours to suppress the same, he shall be punished as a court martial thinks he deserves. 21. If any person in the fleet shall find a cause of complaint of the unwholesomeness of the victual, or other just ground, he shall quietly make the same known to his superior, or captain, or commander in chief, as the occasion may deserve, that such present remedy may be had as the matter may require; and the said superior, &c. shall, as far as he is able, cause the same to be presently remedied; and no person upon such, or any other pretence, shall attempt to stir up any disturbance, upon pain of such punish. ment as a court martial shall think fit to inflict, &c. 22. If any officer or other person in the fleet shall strike any of his superior officers, or draw, or offer to draw, or lift up any weapon against him, being in the execution of his office, on any pretence whatsoever, and be convicted thereof, &c. he shall suffer death; and if any person shall presume to quarrel with any of his superior officers, being in the execution of his office, or shall disobey any lawful command of any of his superior officers, and be convicted thereof, &c. he shall suffer death, &c. 23. If any person in the fleet shall quarrel, or fight with any other person in the fleet, or use reproachful or provoking speeches, or gestures, tending to make any quarrel or disturbance, he shall, upon being convicted, suffer such punishment as the offence shall desérve, and a court martial shall impose. 24. There shall be no wasteful expence of any powder, shot, ammunition, or other stores in the fleet, nor any embezzlement thereof, but the stores and provisions shall be carefully preserved, upon pain of such punishment to the offenders, abettors, buyers, and receivers, being persons subject to the naval discipline, as shall be by a court martial found just. 25. Every person in the fleet, who shall unlawfully burn, or set fire to any magazine or store of powder, or ship, boat, ketch, hoy, or vessel, or tackle, or furniture there unto belonging, not then appertaining to an enemy, pirate, or rebel, being convicted of any such offence, by the sentence of a court martial, shall suffer death. P. 696. 26. Care shall be taken in the conducting and steering any of his Majesty's ships, 22 Geo. 9. that through wilfulness, negligence, or other defaults, no ship be stranded, or run upon any rocks or sands, or split, or hazarded, upon pain that such as shall be found guilty therein, be punished by death, &c. 27. No person in, or belonging to the fleet, shall sleep upon his watch, negligently perform the duty imposed upon him, or forsake his station upon pain of death, &c. 28. All murders committed by any person in the fleet, shall be punished with death, &c. 29. If any person in the fleet shall commit the unnatural and detestable sin of buggery or sodomy, with man or beast, he shall be punished with death, &c. 30. All robbery committed by any person in the flect, shall be punished with death, &c. 31. Every officer, or other person in the fleet, who shall knowingly make, or sign a false muster, or muster book, or who shall command, counsel, or procure the making or signing thereof, shall, upon proof of any such offence, &c. be cashiered, and rendered incapable of further employment in his Majesty's naval service. 32. No provost-marshal belonging to the fleet shall refuse to apprehend any criminal, P. 697. whom he shall be authorized, by legal warrant, to apprehend, or to receive, or keep any prisoner committed to his charge, or wilfully suffer him to escape, being once in his custody, or dismiss him without lawful order, upon pain of such punishment as a court martial shall deem him to deserve; and all officers, and others in the fleet, shall do their endeavour to detect, apprehend, and bring to punishment all offenders, and shall assist the officers appointed for that purpose therein, upon pain of being proceeded against, and punished by a court martial, &c. 33. If any flag officer, captain, or commander, or lieutenant belonging to the fleet, shall be convicted before a court martial, of behaving in a scandalous, infamous, cruel, oppressive, or fraudulent manner, unbecoming the character of an officer, he shall be dismissed from his Majesty's service. 34. Every person being in actual service, and full pay, and part of the crew belonging to any of his Majesty's ships of war, who shall be guilty of mutiny, desertion, or disobedience to any lawful command, in any part of his Majesty's dominions on shore, when in actual service relative to the fleet, shall be liable to be tried by a court martial, and suffer the like punishment for every such offence as if the same had been committed at sea. 35. If any person who shall be in actual service, and full pay in his Majesty's ships of war, shall commit upon the shore, in any place out of his Majesty's dominions, any of the crimes punishable by these articles and orders, he shall be liable to be tried and punished for the same, in like manner, as if the said crimes had been committed at sea. 36. All other crimes, not capital, committed by any person in the fleet, which are not mentioned in this act, or for which no punishment is hereby directed to be inflicted, shall be punished according to the laws and customs in such cases used at sea. No person convicted of any offence, shall, by the sentence of any court martial, be P. 698. adjudged to be imprisoned for a longer term than two years. No court martial shall proceed to the punishment, or trial of any offence, except the offences specified in the 5th, 34th, and 35th of the foregoing articles and orders, which shall not be committed upon the main sea, or in great rivers only, beneath the bridges of the said rivers nigh to the sea, or in any haven, river, or creek, within the jurisdic tion of the Admiralty, and which shall not be committed by such persons, as, at the time of the offence, shall be in actual service, and full pay in the fleet; such persons only excepted, and for such offences only, as are described in the 5th and the foregoing articles and orders. 22 Geo. 2. P. 699. P.700. P. 701 No court martial, constituted by virtue of this act, shall proceed to the punishment or trial of any land officer or soldier, on board any transport ship, for any offences specified in the said articles. From and after the 25th of December, 1749, the Lord High Admiral of Great Britain, or the Commissioners for executing the said office, are empowered to grant commissions to the commanders in chief of any fleet or squadron of ships of war, to call and assemble courts martial, consisting of commanders and captains, and if such commander in chief shall die, be recalled or removed from his command, then the officer upon whom the said command shall from time to time devolve, shall have the same power to call and assemble courts martial, as the first commander in chief shall be invested with. No commander in chief of any fleet or squadron of his Majesty's ships, or detachment thereof, consisting of more than five ships, shall preside at any court martial in foreign parts; but the next officer in command shall hold such court martial and preside thereat. From and after the 25th day of December, 1749, if any commander in chief in foreign parts shall detach any part of his fleet or squadron, he shall by writing, under his hand, empower the chief commander of the squadron or detachment ordered on such separate service, and in case of his death or removal, the officer to whom the command shall belong, to hold courts martial during the time of such separate service, or until he shall return to his commander in chief, or shall come under the command of any other his superior officer, or return to Great Britain or Ireland. Where any material objection occurs, which may render it improper for the person, next in command to the senior officer, or commander in chief of any fleet or squadron, in foreign parts, to hold courts martial or preside thereat, the Lord High Admiral, or the Commissioners for executing the said office, as also the commander in chief of such fleet or squadron, may appoint the third officer in command to preside at or hold such court martial. From and after the 25th of December, 1749, the Lord High Admiral, or the Commissioners for executing the said office, are empowered to direct any flag officer or captain of any of his Majesty's ships of war who shall be in any port of Great Britain or Ireland, to hold courts martial in such port, provided such officer be the first, second, or third in command in such port, as shall be found most expedient, and for the good of the service; and such flag officer or captain shall preside thereat. From and after the 25th of December, 1749, no court martial shall consist of more than thirteen, or of less than five persons, to be composed of such flag officers, captains, or commanders, then and there present, as are next in seniority to the officer who presides at the court martial. The Lord High Admiral, or the Commissioners for executing the said office, or any officer empowered to order or hold courts martial, shall not direct or ascertain the particular number of persons of which any court martial shall consist. If any court martial shall be appointed to be held at any place where there are not less than three, nor yet so many as five officers of the degree of a post captain, or of a superior rank to be found, the officer who is to preside shall call to his assistance as many of the commanders of his Majesty's vessels under that rank as, together with the post captains, will make up the number of five, to hold such court martial. From and after the 25th of December, 1749, no member of a court martial, after trial is begun, shall go on shore till sentence be given, but remain on board the ship in which the court shall first assemble, except in case of sickness, to be judged of by the court, upon pain of being cashiered; nor shall the proceedings of the court be delayed by the absence of any members, provided a sufficient number remain to com pose From and after the said 25th of December, all the officers present, who are to constitute a court martial for the trial of offenders, shall, before they proceed to trial, take an oath before the court, to be administered by the Judge Advocate or his deputy, in the words following, viz. "I A. B. do swear, that I will duly administer justice, according to the articles and orders established by an act passed in the twenty-second year of the reign of his Majesty King George the Second, for amending, explaining, and reducing into one act of Parliament, the laws relating to the government of his Majesty's ships, vessels, and forces by sea, without partiality, favour, or affection; and if any case shall arise, which is not particularly mentioned in the said articles and orders, I will duly administer justice according to my conscience, the best of my understanding, and the custom of the navy in the like cases; and I do further swear, that I will not upon any account, at any time whatsoever, disclose or discover the vote or opinion of any particular member of this court martial, unless thereunto required by act of Parliament. So help me God." And so soon as the said oath shall have been administered to the respective members, the President of the Court shall administer to the Judge Advocate, or the person officiating as such, an oath in the following words: "I A. B. do swear, that I will not, upon any account, at any time whatsoever, dis- 22 Geo. 2. close or discover the vote or opinion of any particular member of this court martial, p. 702. unless thereunto required by act of Parliament. So help me God." If any person in the fleet, being called upon to give evidence at any court martial, shall refuse to give evidence upon oath, or shall prevaricate, or behave with contempt to the court, such court martial is empowered to commit the offender, for any time not exceeding three months, in case of such refusal or prevarication, nor longer than one month in case of such contempt; and every person who shall either commit, or corruptly procure or suborn any person to commit wilful perjury, shall be prosecuted in the King's Bench by indictment or information; and every issue joined thereon shall be tried by a jury of Middlesex, or such other county as the said court shall direct; and the offender, upon conviction, shall suffer the pains and penalties enacted to be inflicted for the like offences by an act of 5 Eliz. and 2 Geo. 2. &c. In every such information or indictment, it shall be sufficient to set forth the offences P. 703. charged upon the defendant, without setting forth the commission for holding the court martial, or the particular matter tried, or directed to be tried, before such court. From and after the 25th of December, 1749, no sentence of death given by any court martial held within the Narrow Seas, except in cases of mutiny, shall be executed till after report of the proceedings shall have been made to the Lord High Admiral, or the commissioners for executing the said office, and his or their direction shall have been given therein; and if the said court shall have been held beyond the Narrow Seas, then such sentence of death shall not be executed but by order of the commander of the fleet or squadron wherein sentence was passed; and where sentence of death shall be passed in any squadron detached from any other fleet or squadron upon a separate service, then such sentence, except in cases of mutiny, shall not be executed but by order of the commander of the fleet or squadron from which such detachment shall have been 3 G VOL. I. |
