Originally posted by Nick1986
That's right. Jack Tar got plenty of rum, sodomy and the lash, but mutinies were comparatively rare due to fear of reprisal and the realisation conditions could be much worse under a new captain |
Most captains were fair and many were simply loved eg Cochrane.
Sodomy was a capital offence, Rum was loved and the the lash well avoid it.
During the Mutinees of the Nore etc the sailors themselves flogged their own.
I remember reading one account and the shocked 'liberal' watches a man being flogged-- a horrible site-- and turns to the 'Jack Tar' next to him and asks him what can be done to stop such a thing
"Well 'e can stop being a bloody thief for a start, serves 'im rite'