|
_____________
In this section of
Go to _____________ Books: American Colonial and
Revolutionary War history or the people involved. We have suggestions
for you. _____________
Copyrighted.
© 2005
to
08/08/2010
Leonard H. Bucklin.
-----
The
content of this site may not be reproduced except for brief excerpts for
reviews or scholarly references..
_____________
This is a history education and
research web site of the
|
|
An English Royal Navy sea captain was the subject of a court-martial if his ship was destroyed. A court-martial is both a name for an institution and also for a process, A court-martial is a military or naval court of officers appointed by a commander to try persons for offenses under military law. It is also the trial by such a military tribunal. In the 18th century, in the English Royal Navy, any Navy sea captain who lost his ship for whatever reason automatically was the subject of a court-martial. One of the court-martials of the navy probably in Dudingston's mind was the 1757 court-martial of Admiral Byng. Sent on the relief of Minorca without what he claimed were sufficient forces, he finally gave up the attempt. Found guilty of neglect of duty, he was taken to his ship and publicly and promptly executed (by shooting) on the quarterdeck of his own ship in Portsmouth Harbor. Following that event, probably few English captains felt it proper to give up a ship without the death of much of the crew! Lieutenant William Dudingston was reluctant to testify in any civil inquiry. He wanted to only testify at his court-martial. His fear of testifying, in any place his testimony could be used against him in a court martial, was not without basis. Use the links below to go to major areas of this site.
|
References
in brackets [ ] or in curly brackets { } on any page in
this website are to books, or other materials, listed in the Joseph
Bucklin Society Gaspee Bibliography, or to materials held by the Joseph
Bucklin Society.