NAVAL COURTSMARTIAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 11 April 1928, Page 2

NAVAL COURTSMARTIAL

IMPARTIAL SEA TRIALS

OFFICER > ARE JUDGE AND JUR'f

IXSITiTTfOX THREE ( F.VTITJF.S

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"Sea otlieers as ;i rule know 1 ittlt* ;i!mm tlio line of judicial procedure. imt a sailor's training brings to senior nilieeis broad, open minds, and mndi common sense: For lair play and patience, i nduipenee to tin* fleet! s d with .1 ! i the benefit til I lie doubt, ! In* final acquittal or meting out of sieiu jtisi iee, tin* Fa irish naval court - mariial stands square above all others.”

A Imrr mm piimcu t ft the im]>:iitiitiiiy of iln‘ Koval Navy's trilnin:il-; than that of til** lute .Admiral Sir Christopher Craddock could scarcely In* paid (writes “('.WAV’ in tin* Auckland "Sun”). Harsh as the punishments meted out to Captain C. Ik Dewar and Commander 11. M. Daniel, of H.M.S. Royal Oak. appear to the lay mind, it i- the severity of the regulations for the preservation of naval discipline. li\ which court-martial must he yuided. rather than the Court itself, which must he held responsible.

In sea trials, such lIS those 1|I*1(1 aboard till- aircraft, carrier Ragle. -it. Gibraltar. tin 1 accused is uiveil every eliaice tn clear himself. To ensure an absolutely nnliiased trial, no oliic(>r of liis own ship. or anyone who has had any eoiiueetion with events leading, up to the trial, is allowed to sit on the Court. which comprises from five to nine officers of senior rank drawn from at least two other ships of the fleet. These officers net both as judge and jury under the guidance of a Deputy dodge .Advocate (usually referred to as the D.J.A.). a senior paymaster who is an expert on naval law, and who is there to ensure the correct procedure being carried out. Ai least ;M hours before' the trial opens tlie prisoner, as the accused is termed. is handed a copy of the charge sited and the circumstantial letter—the document in which the captain of his ship details to the eon- j veiling authority (the senior admiral present) the circumstances leading up in his rei|uest for a trial by courtmartial. With the help of the "prisoner’s friend," usually an officer versed in tlte laws of the Navy, or in some eases a ipialilied solicitor, the accused prepares his defence. It is nobody’s ambition to he tried liy court-martial, hut. curiously enough it is the one and only occasion on which tlie average naval officer can ever hope to lie saluted by one ot Ills Majesty’s ships of war. As i he prisoner, in the full glory of Ids frock coat, sword, cocked hat anil epaulettes, hoards the ship in which the trial is to take place, a solitary gun booms an ominous welcome. The “court" is usually the captain’s or admiral's cabin, hut in the ease of tlie Royal Oak trials an aeroplane hangar aboard 11.M.5. Eagle served the purpose. To this room the prisoner is escorted hv an officer of liis own rank, who stands beside him with :t drawn swotvl throughout tlie whole of the trial. The prisoner's own sword is surrendered to tlie Court and placed on the table around which the members Ait. with the hilt, towards the President. mtINTFTF.D PROCEEDINGS The ensuing proceedings, in a setting of full-dress uniforms, gold lace mid orders, are solemn and dignified. As in the empanelling of a jury ashore the prisoner, after the warrant convening the Court is read, is given the right to object to any members of tlie Court whom lie has reason to think will not try his ease impartially. The Court is then sworn, the D..T.A. reads the charge-sheet and the circumstantial letter, after which the prisoner is asked to plead. Tf it is "guilty." the trial is cut short, but if "not guilty." the prosecutor, usually the captain of the prisoner’s own ship, proceeds with the ease. After this the trial goes on on much the same lines as in a Court ashore, the witnesses being called, sworn and crossexamined in the ordinary way. On the defence being closed the Court is cleared of everyone except the actual members of the Court, who deliberate mi their finding. Little time is wasted in reaching a decision. Judgment is never reserved. The conference of tin* Court is of very much shorter duration than the retirement of a jury. On the sentence being determined the prisoner, all witnesses. the prosecutor, and tlie public are brought hack in the order named, and the sentence, if the prisoner has been convicted, is read by the D.J.A.

The prisoner’s first, thought, on being escorted hack to the court-room i.v -Iris sword. Tf it is lying hilt toward him he has cause for elation, hut it’ it lies point toward him he knows he must expect the worst. Mention is made of ‘‘Martial Courts as far hack as 10:1a. when the first Ship Money fleet of Charles 1. put to sea. Henry VI IT., however, knew no such refined methods of dealing with defaulters. His "Sea Laws' contained ike following instruction which, it is safe to assure, was rigidly enforced: •‘All captains must he obedient to their admiral. If any he stubborn, the admiral shall set him on shore and put another in his place, and write to the Kiim and his Council of his faults, truly without malice."

Charles IT. issued “Articles oi War (a name still preserved ill the service) which authorised the eomtnajt-ih-i -in-chief *.*t his fleet “to act \»liile afloat as tlte Ts.iti°'' vice-regent, anil summon courts-martial tor the trial of ail offenders.’' Those were the days when a hlng did not scruple to upset a Court’* judp* i-ient if it did not meet with Royal ajipioval. Tn 1000. when the Stuarts had given place to William of Orange. Tail'd Torringtnn was tried for tailing to achieve the impossible and annihilate the French fleet. TTe was acquitted. hut that did not suit William (11.. who camelled the finding and dismissed the admiral from the service of his country.

Perhaps the lies!-known eonvt -mnv--1 i:i 1 in history was flint of Admiral John Hvnjr, another soapo/jonf. who pii U t lie (nice of popular clamour with his life. The iodine- aroused, ihirine- i lie Seven Tears Wav. hv tlie a iqiaivnt fa ihire of Byne's inadequate Ilian io save the island of Minorca from the Iheiieh. over-rode the Court s reeoinnienda t ion to mercy, si ml Ttynu was shot on his own quarter-dock in

‘•Mis liivnlty mid l»nivery." in quote lim t-pitajilt. 'msntlii-icnr sociivil i it'ur the litV ami honour of a naval oflivor."