Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

manding subject to this Act who upon signal of battle, or on sight of a ship of an enemy which it may be his duty to engage, shall not, 1. Use his utmost exertion to bring his ship into action; 2. Or shall not during such action, in his own person and according to his rank, encourage his inferior officers and men to fight courageously;

3. Or who shall surrender his ship to the enemy when capable of making a successful defence, or who in time of action shall improperly withdraw from the fight, shall, if he has acted traitorously, suffer death; if he has acted from cowardice shall suffer death, or be imprisoned, and be also dismissed with disgrace from Her Majesty's service; and if he has acted from negligence, or through other default, he shall be dismissed from Her Majesty's service, with or without disgrace, or shall suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

III. Every officer subject to this Act who shall forbear to pursue the chase of any enemy, pirate, or rebel, beaten or flying, or shall not relieve and assist a known friend in view to the utmost of his power, or who shall improperly forsake his station, shall, if he has therein acted traitorously, suffer death; if he has acted from cowardice suffer death or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned; if he has acted from negligence, or through other default, shall be dismissed from Her Majesty's service with disgrace, or shall suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

IV. When any action or any service is commanded, every person subject to this Act who shall presume to delay or discourage the said action or service upon any pretence whatsoever, or in the presence or vicinity of the enemy shall desert his post or sleep upon his watch, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as hereinafter mentioned.

V. Every person subject to this Act, and not being a commanding officer, who shall not use his utmost exertions to carry the orders of his superior officers into execution when ordered to prepare for action, or during the action, shall, if he has acted traitorously, suffer death; if he has acted from cowardice shall suffer death, or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned; and if he has acted from negligence, or through other default, be dismissed from Her Majesty's service, with disgrace, or suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Communications with the Enemy.

VI. All spies for the enemy shall he deemed to be persons subject to this Act, and shall suffer death, or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

VII. Every person subject to this Act who shall traitorously hold

1. Correspondence with or shall give intelligence to the

enemy;

VOL. XI.

T

2. Or fail to make known to the proper authorities any information he may have received from the enemy;

3. Or who shall relieve the enemy with any supplies, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned. VIII. Every person subject to this Act who shall, without any treacherous intention, hold any improper communication with the enemy, shall be dismissed from Her Majesty's Service, or shall suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Desertion and Absence without Leave.

XIX. Every person subject to this Act who shall absent himself from his ship or from the place where his duty requires him to be, without any intention of returning to such ship or place, or who shall at any time and under any circumstances when absent from his ship do any act which shows that he has not any intention of returning to such ship or place, shall be deemed to have deserted, and shall be punished accordingly; that is to say,

1. If he has deserted to the enemy he shall be punished with death, or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned ;

2. If he has deserted under any other circumstances he shall be punished with penal servitude, or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned; and in every such case he shall forfeit all pay, head money, bounty, salvage, prize money, and allowances that have been earned by him, and all annuities, pensions, gratuities, medals, and decorations that may have been granted to him, and also all clothes and effects which he may have left on board the ship or at the place from which he has deserted, unless the tribunal by which he is tried shall otherwise direct.

XX. Every person subject to this Act who shall endeavour to seduce any other person subject to this Act to desert shall suffer imprisonment, or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

XXI. Every officer in command of any ship of Her Majesty who shall receive or entertain any Deserter from Her Majesty's Military or Naval Forces, after discovering him to be a Deserter and shall not, with all convenient speed, in the case of a Deserter, from Her Majesty's Naval Forces, give notice to the commanding officer of the ship to which such Deserter belongs, or, if such ship is at a distance, to the Secretary of the Admiralty or to the Commander-in-Chief, or, in the case of a Deserter from Her Majesty's Military Forces, give notice to the Secretary of War or the commanding officer of the regiment to which such Deserter belongs, the officer so offending shall be dismissed from Her Majesty's Service, or shall suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Miscellaneous Offences.

XXVI. The officers of all ships of Her Majesty appointed for the convoy and protection of any ships or vessels shall diligently perform their duty without delay according to their instructions in that behalf; and every officer who shall fail in his duty in this respect, and shall not defend the ships and goods under his convoy, without deviation to any other objects, or shall refuse to fight in their defence if they are assailed, or shall cowardly abandon and expose the ships in his convoy to hazard, or shall demand or exact any money or other reward from any merchant or master for convoying any ships or vessels entrusted to his care, or shall misuse the masters or mariners thereof, shall make such reparation in damages to the merchants, owners, and others, as the Court of Admiralty may adjudge, and also shall be punished criminally according to the nature of his offence, by death or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

XXVII. Every master or other officer in command of any merchant or other vessel under the convoy of any ship of Her Majesty shall obey the commanding officer thereof in all matters relating to the navigation or security of the convoy, and shall take such precautions for avoiding the enemy as may be directed by such commanding officer; and if he shall fail to obey such directions such commanding officer may compel obedience by force of arms, without being liable for any loss of life or of property that may result from his using such force.

XXVIII. Every officer in command of any of Her Majesty's ships who shall receive on board, or permit to be received on board, such ship any goods or merchandizes whatsoever, other than for the sole use of the ship, except gold, silver, or jewels, and except the goods and merchandize belonging to any merchant, or on board any ship which may be shipwrecked or in imminent danger, either on the high seas or in some port, creek, or harbour, for the purpose of preserving them for their proper owners, or except such goods or merchandize as he may at any time be ordered to take or receive on board by order of the Admiralty, shall be dismissed from Her Majesty's Service or suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

XXX. Every person subject to this Act who shall unlawfully set fire to any dockyard, victualling yard, or steam factory yard, arsenal, magazine, building stores, or to any ship, vessel, hoy, barge, boat, or other craft, or furniture thereunto belonging, not being the property of an enemy, pirate, or rebel, shall suffer death or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

XXXV. All the papers, charter parties, bills of lading, passports, and other writings whatsoever that shall be taken, seized, or found aboard any ship or ships which shall be taken as prize shall be duly preserved, and the commanding officer of the ship which shall take such prize shall send the originals, entire and without fraud, to the Court of Admiralty, or such other Court or Commissioners as shall be authorized to determine whether such prize be lawful capture, there to be viewed, made use of, and proceeded upon, according to law, upon pain that every person offending herein shall be dismissed from Her Majesty's Service, or shall suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned, and in addition thereto shall forfeit and lose his share of the capture.

XXXVI. No person subject to this Act shall take out of any prize or ship seized for prize any money, plate, or goods, unless it shall be necessary for the better securing thereof, or for the necessary use and service of any of Her Majesty's ships and vessels of war, before the same be adjudged lawful prize in some Admiralty Court; but the full and entire account of the whole without embezzlement shall be brought in, and judgment passed entirely upon the whole, without fraud, upon pain that every person offending herein shall be dismissed from Her Majesty's Service, with disgrace, or suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned, and in addition thereto forfeit and lose his share of the capture.

XXXVII. If any ship or vessel shall be taken as prize, none of the officers, mariners, or other persons on board her shall be stripped of their clothes, or in any sort pillaged, beaten, or evil intreated, upon pain that the person or persons so offending shall be dismissed from Her Majesty's Service, with disgrace, or suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Offences punishable by Ordinary Law.

XXXVIII. Every person subject to this Act who shall be guilty of murder shall suffer death. If he shall be guilty of manslaughter he shall suffer penal servitude, or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned. If he shall be guilty of sodomy with man or beast he shall suffer penal servitude. If he shall be guilty of indecent assaults he shall suffer penal servitude, or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

If he shall be guilty of robbery or theft he shall suffer penal servitude, or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

If he shall be guilty of any other criminal offence which, if committed in England, would be punishable by the law of England, he shall, whether the offence be or be not committed in England, be punished either in pursuance of the first part of this Act as an Act to the prejndice of good order and naval discipline not otherwise specified, or the offender shall be subject to the same punishment as might be awarded by any ordinary criminal tribunal competent to try the offender, if the offence had been committed in England.

XXXIX. For all offences specified or referred to in this Act, if committed by any person subject thereto in any harbour, haven, or creek, or on any lake or river, whether in or out of the United Kingdom, or anywhere within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty,

or at any place on shore out of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or in any of Her Majesty's dockyards, victualling yards, steam factory yards, or on any gun wharf, or in any arsenal, barrack, or hospital belonging to Her Majesty, whether in or out of the said United Kingdom, the offender may be tried and punished under this Act, and for all offences hereinbefore specified under the headings, "Misconduct in the Presence of the Enemy," "Communications with the Enemy," "Neglect of Duty," "Mutiny," "Insubordination," "Desertion and Absence without Leave," or "Miscellaneous Offences," if committed by any person subject to this Act at any place on shore, whether in or out of the said United Kingdom, the offender may be tried and punished under this Act.

PART II. - GENERAL PROVISIONS.

XLII. All armed rebels, armed mutineers, and pirates shall be deemed to be enemies within the meaning of this Act.

PART III.- REGULATIONS AS TO PUNISHMENTS. XLVI. 3. The punishment of death shall not be passed on any prisoner until the sentence has been confirmed by the Admiralty or by the Commander-in-Chief on a Foreign Station.

PART IV. - COURTS-MARTIAL.
Constitution of Courts-martial.

L. 3. A Court-martial shall not be held unless at least 3 of Her Majesty's ships, not being tenders, and not commanded by officers under the rank of lieutenant, are together at the time when such Court-martial is held.

11. If any officer holding a commission from the Admiralty to order Courts-martial, having the command of a fleet or squadron, and being in Foreign Parts, die, be recalled, leave his station, or be removed from his command, the officer upon whom the command of the fleet or squadron devolves, and so from time to time the officer who shall have the command of the fleet or squadron, shall, without any commission from the Admiralty, have the same power to order Courts-martial as the first-mentioned officer was invested with.

12. If any officer holding a commission from the Admiralty to order Courts-martial, and having the command of any fleet or squadron of Her Majesty's ships in Foreign Parts, shall detach any part of such fleet or squadron, he may, by commission under his hand, empower the commanding officer of the squadron or detachment ordered on such separate service, and in case of his death, or ceasing so to command the officer to whom the command of such separate squadron or detachment shall belong, to order Courts-martial during the time of such separate service, or until such authority shall be revoked, or until the officer commanding

« AnteriorContinua »