Tagged in by luzula! Not an expert in this, but my understanding:
Midshipmen, being boys, could be caned, but it was unseemly for commissioned officers to endure corporal punishment. Commissioned officers were subject to capital punishment -- c.f. Admiral Byng or any of the various Articles of War directed at officers. But generally speaking, non-corporal alternatives were sought for lesser crimes.
Which isn't to say that officers were inherently safe from physical punishment: Cochrane was sentenced to an hour in the pillory -- but notably, 1) not for Naval crimes, and 2) he was dismissed from the Navy over it. So there's still this association that Naval officers are not subject to corporal punishments -- and if they are, they don't get to be officers anymore.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Question for luzula
Date: 2025-06-24 08:55 pm (UTC)Midshipmen, being boys, could be caned, but it was unseemly for commissioned officers to endure corporal punishment. Commissioned officers were subject to capital punishment -- c.f. Admiral Byng or any of the various Articles of War directed at officers. But generally speaking, non-corporal alternatives were sought for lesser crimes.
Which isn't to say that officers were inherently safe from physical punishment: Cochrane was sentenced to an hour in the pillory -- but notably, 1) not for Naval crimes, and 2) he was dismissed from the Navy over it. So there's still this association that Naval officers are not subject to corporal punishments -- and if they are, they don't get to be officers anymore.
Re: Question for luzula
Date: 2025-06-24 09:00 pm (UTC)