2 - Social Crimes

Summary

This chapter contains the transcripts of courts martial for the various types of social crime. For the present purpose the term ‘social crime’ can be defined as a transgression against either the conventions or morality of eighteenth-century British society ashore. therefore, included here are trials dealing exclusively with alcohol [51–6], property [57–64], violence [65–73], disturbances of the peace [74–5] and sex [76–80].

Social crimes constituted only about a quarter of the alleged offences tried by naval courts martial. A preliminary survey of the charges listed in 22 of the 118 volumes of transcripts for the period under consideration reveals that 22 per cent of these transgressions were of this nature. Some were combined with other offences. Mariners tried solely for social offences constituted just 15.8 per cent of the total.

By comparison, naval crimes amounted to nearly 78 per cent of all the offences in the sample. Given that social crimes adjudicated by naval courts martial were far fewer, how can a chapter pertaining to these offences that is roughly the same length as that on naval crimes be justified? The answer to this question is straightforward. It is only through the inclusion of multiple examples of trials for social offences that a clear picture emerges of the legal standards used to determine guilt or innocence in such cases. For example, from the transcripts of proceedings for drunkenness it is evident that those found guilty of this offence had to have been too intoxicated to do their duty. similarly, the minutes of enquiries involving indictments for buggery reveal that the criterion for conviction was anal penetration.

Of the social offences mentioned in the sample, alcohol-related crimes were the most common, comprising almost a third of the charges. The second most frequent type of accusation involved transgressions against property (theft, plunder, embezzlement, fraud, and so on), which constituted about 28 per cent. These were followed by offences involving violence (homicide, fighting, striking an officer, self-mutilation), which made up 21 per cent of the total. Sexual offences were next, amounting to a little more than 9 per cent of the aggregate. And disturbances of the peace (rioting, quarrelling) were the least frequent cause for indictment, coming to only about 8 per cent of the allegations in this category. These social offences are dealt with here in the same order.