Gibbons Burke's compilation of nautical expressions in the vernacular

Nautical Expressions in the Vernacular by Gibbons Burke

Myriad expressions in everyday English have nautical origins. Author Patrick O'Brian has an interesting way of using these expressions in a way that allows the reader to make the connection between a familiar phrase in everyday language with its marine heritage. This web page lists expressions and definitions mentioned by listswains, members of the Patrick O'Brian Mailing List, also known as the Gunroom, the origins of which are made clear by passages from O'Brian's writing in which his characters' usage explains the provenance of the phrase.
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A rich and interesting repository of etymologies and sources of nautical words ultimately destined for the Oxford English Dictionary can be found at the Maritime History Citations for the OED site at the University of Minnesota at Duluth.

Expressions with explanations
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the cat is out of the bag
"Vowles drew the cat from its red baize bag, phlegmatically took up his stance, and as the ship reached the height of her roll he laid on the first stroke. 'Oh my God,' cried Weightman, enormously loud." [Patrick O'Brian, The Truelove, p. 198]

As I understand it, the cat 'o nine tails was normally kept in a cloth bag, and was only pulled out immediately prior to flogging, hence the phrase signifying that one has crossed some bright line of misconduct, etc. I also have a vague recollection of reading somewhere that the bag was sometimes brandished in front of a potential miscreant to warn him, somewhat like brandishing the mace before an unruly member of a legislature. [JRMcE@aol.com]

Brewer's has a different explanation. Scrubs would sell a suckling pig to someone, presenting them with a squirming sack, or "poke". The unfortunate would then have bought a pig in a poke. When the poke was opened, he would find not a nice edible pig, but a cat; thus, letting the cat out of the bag reveals the deception. This seems to jibe with usage a little better. [Walt Mazur (w_mazur@primenet.com)]

no room to swing a cat
During punishment all hands were called on deck to bear witness. In the case of a ship with a full complement on board this could make for a very crowded deck. In fact the deck could be so crowded that a cat o' nine tails could not be used without hitting the observers so that there was no room to swing a cat. [Bill Strauss (wstrauss@frbchi.org)]

three sheets to the wind
On a small boat there are three sheets that control the sails. The Main Sheet controls the mainsail, and two sheets that control the headsail the Windward Sheet and the Leeward Sheet. So a person that has three sheets to the wind means that the sheets are flying with the wind i.e. you do not have control of the boat. Much like someone who has three sheets to the wind does not have control over themselves. [Ibid.]

splice the mainbrace
take a drink [alfanso@roadrunner.com (Charles Keller)]

P.O.S.H.
Port Outward, Starboard Home - when traveling to India from Britain and back - keeps your cabin on the shady side of the ship. [This well-known explanation is refuted in the alt.usage.english FAQ.] [Scott Bayes (bayes@fortnet.org); c.f. alt.usage.english FAQ ]

the devil to pay
"'Why, the devil, do you see,' said Jack, 'is the seam between the deck-planking and the timbers, and we call it the devil, because it is the devil for the caulkers to come at: in full we say the devil to pay and no pitch hot; and what we mean is, that there is something hell-fire difficult to be done - must be done - and nothing to do it with. It is a figure.'" [Patrick O'Brian, The Mauritius Command, p. 280, per Michael Krugman (myriad@panix.com)]

Aboard wooden sailing ships. the devil was the neame given to the seam formed at the juncture where the covering board that capped the ships sides met the deck planking. The seam was particularly difficult to caulk because of its length, because there was so little space in which to perform the awkward task, and because there was so little standing room between the devil and the sea. [From the latest International Marine catalog announcing the publication of When a Loose Cannon Flogs a Dead Horse There's the Devil to Pay: Seafaring Words in Everyday Speech by Olivia A. Isil]

between the devil and the deep blue sea
[c.f. the devil to pay, above] I vaguely recall that this has also been explained as an anglicism of the Homeric passage about Scylla (the rocks off Sicily) and the whirlpool Charybdis. I also think it impacts upon between a rock and a hard place. [JRMcE@aol.com; Spencer K. Whetstone (spencer@dgandf.com) assist]

by and large
"Captain Harris was already explaining by and large. With a piece of fresh Gibraltar bread and arrows drawn with wine he showed the ship lying as close as possible to the breeze: '. . . and this is sailing by the wind, or as sailors say in their jargon, on a bowline; whereas large is when it blows not indeed quite from behind but say over the quarter, like this.'
"'Far enough abaft the beam that the studdingsails will set,' said Whiting."
"'So as you see,' continued Harris, 'it is quite impossible to sail both by and large at the same time. It is a contradiction in terms. . .'
"'We do say by and large,' said Jack. 'We say a ship sails well by and large when she will both lie close when the wind is scant and run fast when it is free.'" [The Ionian Mission, pp. 84-5, per Judith Franke (jfrankemlstg@aol.com)]

the whole nine yards
If you look at a "typical square-rigger" (see the picture in the front pages of any of the O'Brian books you will see that there are three masts with three yards on each mast. So if you had all of the square sails a flying on board you would have the whole nine yards in operation. ie. everything. [Bill Strauss (wstrauss@frbchi.org)]

Other suggestions have included: Volume in a concrete mixer, coal truck, or a wealthy person's grave; amount of cloth in a man's custom-made (i.e., "bespoke") suit, sports games, funeral shroud, kilt, in a bolt of cloth, square area in a ship's sails, and volume in a soldier's pack. [Folklore FAQ and and English Usage FAQ per Denis McKeon (dmckeon@swcp.com)]
minding your Ps and Qs.

...amongst the several explanations I have seen (pints and quarts, etc. etc.) is the feeble suggestion that sailors used to be told to watch their "Pea" jackets and pig-tails [queues, laden with pre-mousse tar, so that their jackets would not become tarred.]. [Stephen Cole (76570.2534@compuserve.com); c.f. alt.usage.english FAQ]

slush fund
from the "slush" saved (and eventually sold) by the ship's cook. [Ken Kapson (amscrap@mail.suba.com)]

son of a gun
"...both had been bred to the sea from their earliest years - Bonden, indeed, had been born between two of the Indefatigable's lower-deck guns..." [Patrick O'Brian, Desolation Island, p. 7, per Alison Fitts (af@gorge.net)]

If paternity was uncertain the child was entered in the log as "son of a gun". [ Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, per Walt Mazur (w_mazur@primenet.com)]

to be pooped
"...even worse, she lost some of her way at the bottom, whereas she needed all her speed to outrun the following seas, for if they were to overtake her she would be pooped, smothered in a mass of breaking water. Then ten to one she would slew round and broach to, presenting her broadside to the wind, so that the next sea would overwhelm her." [Patrick O'Brian, Desolation Island, p. 228, per Alison Fitts (af@gorge.net)]

to be taken aback
To be astounded, taken by surprise. From the sailing-ship term aback, when the sails press against the mast and progress is suddenly stayed. [Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, per Jill Dillon (J_Dillon@msn.com)]

to back and fill
A nautical phrase, denoting a mode of tacking when the tide is with the vessel and the wind is against it. Metaphorically, to be irresolute. [Ibid.]

to go by the board
To go for good, to be completely destroyed or finished with, thrown overboard. When a ship's mast is carried away it is said "to go by the board", board here meaning the ship's side. [Ibid.]

to make headway
To get on, to struggle effectively against something, as a ship makes headway against a tide or current... [Ibid.]

in the offing
Said of a ship visible at sea off the land. Such a ship is often approaching port, hence the phrase is used figuratively to mean 'about to happen'... [Ibid.]

to batten down the hatches
"'Tell me, Jack, just how would you explain the term battened down?'
"A piercing look showed Jack that although this was almost past believing he was not in fact being made game of, and he replied 'First I should say that we talk very loosely about hatches, often meaning hatchways and even ladderways - "he came up the fore hatch" - which of course ain't hatches at all. The real hatches are the things that cover the hatchways: gratings and close-hatches. Now as you know very well, when a great deal of water comes aboard either from the sea of the sky or both, we cover those real hatches with tarpaulins.'
"'I believe I have seen it done,' said Stephen.
"'Not above five thousand times,' said Jack inwardly, and aloud 'And if it also comes on to blow and rain uncommon hard, we take battens, stout laths of wood, that fit against the coaming, the raised rim of the hatchway, and so pin the tarpaulin down drum tight. Some people do it by nailing the batten to the deck, but it is a sad, sloppy, unseamanlike way of carrying on, and we have cleats.'" [Patrick O'Brian, The Truelove, or, Clarissa Oakes, pp.124-5]

jury rig
"assembled in a makeshift manner", is attested since 1788. It comes from "jury mast", a nautical term attested since 1616 for a temporary mast made from any available spar when the mast has broken or been lost overboard. The OED dubiously recorded a suggestion that this was short for "injury mast", but recent dictionaries say that is probably from Old French ajurie="help or relief", from Latin adiutare="to aid" (the source of the English word "adjutant"). [alt.usage.english FAQ]

at loggerheads
"...They had been sparring, in a spirit of fun, with loggerheads, those massy iron balls with long handles to be carried red-hot from the fire and plunged into buckets of tar or pitch so that the substance might be melted with no risk of flame. 'They are sober now, sir; and penitent, the creatures.'" [Patrick O'Brian, The Commodore, p.12; per James Gell (gellj@mary.iia.org)]

crew cut
Crew cut refers to the monthly (at least) haircuts that would be offered. [USS Constitution docent, per Scott Rosenthal (scott79@ix.netcom.com)]

The hair, beard, and mustache must be worn neatly trimmed. The face must be kept clean shaved, except a mustache or beard and mustache may be worn at discretion. No eccentricities in the manner of wearing the hair, beard or mustache are allowed. [The Bluejackets' Manual, The United States Naval Institute, 1943]

skyscraper
A triangular sail set above the skysail to maximize the advantage of a light favorable wind. A triangular moonsail. [Dean King, et. al., A Sea of Words, p. 338]

On the clipper ships and perhaps in Jack's time, they had sails which would go above the royals. I cannot quite remember the order, but it went some thing like skyscrapers, moonrakers, angel's foot stools and finally star gazers which were only set in dead calms and as I read in one book, the crew were not even allowed to sneeze. ... the skyscrapers would come from this, being the highest 'used' sail on a ship. The others were mostly for show as they could not bear out a strong wind without being carried over the side. [Anthony Vogl (abv@keene.edu)]

skylarking
Yet the Surprise, lying there in the road, had three midshipmen aboard, and what they lacked in intelligence they made up for in physical activity. R_____, having but one arm, could no longer go skylarking, hurling himself about the upper rigging regardless of gravity, but his messmates N_____ and W_____ would hoist him by an easy purchase to astonishing heights, and from these, having still one powerful hand and legs that could twist around any rope, he would plunge with infinite satisfaction. He was at the masthead, negligently holding the starboard main topgallant shrouds with the intention of sliding straight down the whole length of the topgallant backstay, well over a hundred feet, when his eye, wandering towards San Lorenzo, caught the odd spectacle of a very small boat trying to tow a much larger one... [Patrick O'Brian, The Wine-Dark Sea, pp.190-1]

toe the line
"[Amos Dray] ...shaded his mouth with his hand and in a deep rumble whispered, 'Toe the line, my dears.'
"The two little pudding-faced twin girls in clean pinafores stepped forward to a particular mark on the carpet, and together, piping high and shrill, they cried, 'Good morning, sir.'" [Patrick O'Brian, Desolation Island, p. 8, per Alison Fitts (af@gorge.net)]

freeze the balls of off a brass monkey
{This explanation has no basis in fact. Ed. } It is not what you think. On ships, cannon balls were sometimes stacked in what was called a monkey, usually made from brass. When it got really cold the monkey would contract forcing some of the cannon balls to fall off. [Steve Rose (rose@rtl.ENET.dec.com)]

scuttlebutt
'What are you a-thinking of, sir?' cried his steward? 'Don't you see he is bleeding like a pig from under his bandage?' Killick whipped into the quarter-gallery for a towel and thrust it under Dutuord's head. 'Now I must take all them covers off and soak them this directly minute in fresh cold water and there ain't no cold fresh water, which the scuttle-butt is empty till Chips comes back and shifts the hand-pump.' [Patrick O'Brian, The Wine-Dark Sea, p. 37]

Scuttle is a fairly old term for a small rectangular hole cut into the deck or side of a ship for light, ventilation, and sometimes communication between decks. A butt was simple a wooden cask for provisions. Traditionally, a butt of water was to last for two days. The problem was, how to keep the crew from drinking the whole cask in one day. Eventually, someone thought to scuttle a butt (put a hole in it halfway up), attach it to the upper deck, and have the water ration poured in each day up to the hole. Before long, the place to get a drink became known as the scuttled butt, and eventually, the scuttlebutt. The term came to be applied to rumors passed around while waiting to get a drink. [Rich Benedict (dick@dragonsys.com)]

Smyth's Sailor's Word-Book (1867) gives: "SCUTTLE or SCUTTLED BUTT. A cask having a square piece sawn out of its bilge, and lashed in a convenient place to hold water for present use." However, I don't recall ever hearing the term during my wartime service in the Royal Navy ....and am fairly sure that the sense of 'office rumor picked up at the water-cooler' is American rather than British. [John Harland (ylwm0161@cyberstore.ca)]

Scuttle. - To make holes in a ship's bottom to sink her. A round or square opening in the deck. [The Bluejackets' Manual, The United States Naval Institute, 1943]

More from The Bluejackets' Manual:
dismantle To unrig a vessel and discharge all stores.
field day Day for cleaning up all parts of a ship.
forging ahead Going ahead slowly.
overhaul To take apart, thoroughly examine, and repar; to overtake.
pipe down A boatswain's call denoting the completion of an all hands evolution, and that you can go below. This expression is also used to mean "Keep quiet."
water-logged When a vessel is so full of water as to be heavy and unmanageable.
windfall A rush of wind from the high land; a stroke of good luck.
up-take The enclosed trunk connecting a boiler or a group of boilers to the smokestack.
the bitter end
"Meanwhile the bosun and his mates, together with the most experienced forecastle hands and tierers, roused out the best cable the Diane possessed, the most nearly new and unfrayed, a seventeen-inch cable that they turned end for end - no small undertaking in that confined space, since it weighed three and a half tons - and bent it to the best bower anchor by the wholly unworn end that had always been abaft the bitts: the bitter end. There was thought to be good luck attached to the bitter end, as well as greater strength." [Patrick O'Brian, The Thirteen Gun Salute, p. 299, per David Peck (dpeck@world.std.com)]

Other everyday expressions with nautical origin:
aloof
bail out
bear up (down, off)
catch my drift
chock-a-block (chock full)
clear the deck
close quarters
cross the line
cruiser
deadwood
dog's body
down the hatch
fend off
first rate
from stem to stern
give leeway
go overboard
great guns
groggy
halcyon days
haul up short
hit the deck
hulk
in the doldrums
junk (chunk)
learn the ropes
logging on (disputed nautical origin)
loose cannon
lower the boom
main stay (as in "he was the mainstay of our team")
make a clean sweep
on an even keel
on another tack
plain sailing
run afoul of
shake a leg (or) show a leg
show your true colors
snub
sound out
standoff
stranded
take someone down a peg
take the wind out of his sails
weather a storm

Gibbons Burke's acknowledgement to the following Contributors:
Ace Brown (ABrown6864@aol.com)
Alison Fitts (af@gorge.net)
Anthony Vogl (abv@keene.edu)
Bill Strauss (wstrauss@frbchi.org)
Charles Keller (alfanso@roadrunner.com)
David P. Cooke (COOKED@mtomp001.allied.com)
David Peck (dpeck@world.std.com)
Denis McKeon (dmckeon@swcp.com)
Hope (IgClydus@aol.com)
James Gell (gellj@mary.iia.org)
Jill Dillon" (J_Dillon@msn.com)
JRMcE@aol.com (eponymous)
Kevin Masten (kevin@tyrell.net)
Michael Krugman (myriad@panix.com)
Rich Benedict (dick@dragonsys.com)
Scott Bayes (bayes@fortnet.org)
Scott Rosenthal (scott79@ix.netcom.com)
Spencer K. Whetstone (spencer@dgandf.com)
Stephen Cole (76570.2534@compuserve.com)
Steve Rose (rose@rtl.ENET.dec.com)
Sue Ruff (SueRuff@aol.com)
Walt Mazur (w_mazur@primenet.com)
Judith Franke (jfrankemlstg@aol.com)

The Articles of War - 1749

The Articles of War - 1749 by Gibbons Burke

The Articles of War on board a Royal Navy ship assumed the proportions and gravity of holy writ. It served as the law and axis mundi of the secular religion practiced upon His Majesty's Ships otherwise known as the Service. It was read at least once a month, usually when church was rigged on Sunday, and when punishment was inflicted.

The Articles were originally established in the 1650s, amended in 1749 (by an act of Parliament) and again in 1757. It is an amazing document to ponder, especially the number and degree of offenses which were punishable by death.

All commanders, captains, and officers, in or belonging to any of His Majesty's ships or vessels of war, shall cause the public worship of Almighty God, according to the liturgy of the Church of England established by law, to be solemnly, orderly and reverently performed in their respective ships; and shall take care that prayers and preaching, by the chaplains in holy orders of the respective ships, be performed diligently; and that the Lord's day be observed according to law.

All flag officers, and all persons in or belonging to His Majesty's ships or vessels of war, being guilty of profane oaths, cursings, execrations, drunkenness, uncleanness, or other scandalous actions, in derogation of God's honour, and corruption of good manners, shall incur such punishment as a court martial shall think fit to impose, and as the nature and degree of their offence shall deserve.

If any officer, mariner, soldier, or other person of the fleet, shall give, hold, or entertain intelligence to or with any enemy or rebel, without leave from the king's majesty, or the lord high admiral, or the commissioners for executing the office of lord high admiral, commander in chief, or his commanding officer, every such person so offending, and being thereof convicted by the sentence of a court martial, shall be punished with death.

If any letter of message from any enemy or rebel, be conveyed to any officer, mariner, or soldier or other in the fleet, and the said officer, mariner, or soldier, or other as aforesaid, shall not, within twelve hours, having opportunity so to do, acquaint his superior or a commanding officer, or if any superior officer being acquainted therewith, shall not in convenient time reveal the same to the commander in chief of the squadron, every such person so offending, and being convicted thereof by the sentence of the court martial, shall be punished with death, or such other punishment as the nature and degree of the offense shall deserve, and the court martial shall impose.

All spies, and all persons whatsoever, who shall come, or be found, in the nature of spies, to bring or deliver any seducing letters or messages from any enemy or rebel, or endeavor to corrupt any captain, officer, mariner, or other in the fleet, to betray his trust, being convicted of any such offense by the sentence of the court martial, shall be punished with death, or such other punishment, as the nature and degree of the offence shall deserve, and the court martial shall impose.

No person in the fleet shall receive an enemy or rebel with money, victuals, powder, shot, arms, ammunition, or any other supplies whatsoever, directly or indirectly, upon pain of death, or such other punishment as the court martial shall think fit to impose, and as the nature and degree of the crime shall deserve.

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 surprized or taken as prize, shall be duly preserved, and the very originals shall by the commanding officer of the ship which shall take such prize, be sent entirely, and without fraud, to the court of the admiralty, or such other court of 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 forfeit and lose his share of the capture, and shall suffer such further punishment, as the nature and degree of his offense shall be found to deserve, and the court martial shall impose.

No person in or belonging to the fleet 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 His Majesty's ships or 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 judgement passed entirely upon the whole without fraud, upon pain that every person offending hemin shall forfeit and lose his share of the capture, and suffer such further punishment as shall be imposed by a court martial, or such court of admiralty, according to the nature and degree of the offense.

If any ship or vessel 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 the pain that the person or persons so offending, shall be liable to such punishment as a court martial shall think fit to inflict.

Every flag officer, captain and commander in the fleet, who, upon signal or order of fight, or sight of any ship or ships which it may be his duty to engage, or who, upon likelihood of engagement, shall not make the necessary preparations for fight, and shall not in his own person, and according to his place, encourage the inferior officers and men to fight courageously, shall suffer death, or such other punishment, as from the nature and degree of the offence a court martial shall deem him to deserve; and if any person in the fleet shall treacherously or cowardly yield or cry for quarter, every person so offending, and being convicted thereof by the sentence of a court martial, shall suffer death.

Every person in the fleet, who shall not duly observe the orders of the admiral, flag officer, commander of any squadron or division, or other his superior officer, for assailing, joining battle with, or making defense against any fleet, squadron, or ship, or shall not obey the orders of his superior officer as aforesaid in the time of action, to the best of his power, or shall not use all possible endeavours to put the same effectually into execution, every person so offending, and being convicted thereof by the sentence of the court martial, shall suffer death, or such other punishment, as from the nature and degree of the offence a court martial shall deem him to deserve.

Every person in the fleet, who through cowardice, negligence, or disaffection, shall in time of action withdraw or keep back, or not come into the fight or engagement, or shall not do his utmost to take or destroy every ship which it shall be his duty to engage, and to assist and relieve all and every of His Majesty's ships, or those of his allies, which it shall be his duty to assist and relieve, every such person so offending, and being convicted thereof by the sentence of a court martial, shall suffer death.

Every person in the fleet, who though cowardice, negligence, or disaffection, shall forbear to pursue the chase of any enemy, pirate or rebel, beaten or flying; or shall not relieve or assist a known friend in view to the utmost of his power; being convicted of any such offense by the sentence of a court martial, shall suffer death.

If when action, or any service shall be commanded, any person in the fleet shall presume or to delay or discourage the said action or service, upon pretence of arrears of wages, or upon any pretence whatsoever, every person so offending, being convicted thereof by the sentence of the court martial, shall suffer death, or such other punishment, as from the nature and degree of the offense a court martial shall deem him to deserve.

Every person in or belonging to the fleet, who shall desert to the enemy, pirate, or rebel, or run away with any of His Majesty's ships or vessels of war, or any ordnance, ammunition, stores, or provision belonging thereto, to the weakening of the service, or yield up the same cowardly or treacherously to the enemy, pirate, or rebel, being convicted of any such offence by the sentence of the court martial, shall suffer death.

Every person in or belonging to the fleet, who shall desert or entice others so to do, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as the circumstances of the offense shall deserve, and a court martial shall judge fit: and if any commanding officer of any of His Majesty's ships or vessels of war shall receive or entertain a deserter from any other of His Majesty's ships or vessels, after discovering him to be such deserter, and shall not with all convenient speed give notice to the captain of the ship or vessel to which such deserter belongs; or if the said ships or vessels are at any considerable distance from each other, to the secretary of the admiralty, or to the commander in chief; every person so offending, and being convicted thereof by the sentence of the court martial, shall be cashiered.

The officers and seamen of all ships appointed for convoy and guard of merchant ships, or of any other, shall diligently attend upon that charge, without delay, according to their instructions in that behalf; and whosoever shall be faulty therein, and shall not faithfully perform their duty, and defend the ships and goods in their convoy, without either diverting to other parts or occasions, or refusing or neglecting to fight in their defence, if they be assailed, or running away cowardly, and submitting the ships in their convoy to peril and hazard; or shall demand or exact any money or other reward from any merchant or master for convoying any ships or vessels entrusted to their care, or shall misuse the masters or mariners thereof; shall be condemned to make reparation of the damage to the merchants, owners, and others, as the court of admiralty shall adjudge, and also be punished criminally according to the quality of their offences, be it by pains of death, or other punishment, according as shall be adjudged fit by the court martial.

If any captain, commander, or other officer of any of His Majesty's ships or vessels, shall receive on board, or permit to be received on board such ship or vessel, any goods or merchandizes whatsoever, other than for the sole use of the ship or vessel, except gold, silver, or jewels, and except the goods and merchandizes belonging to any merchant, or other ship or vessel which may be shipwrecked, or in imminent danger of being shipwrecked, either on the high seas, or in any port, creek, or harbour, in order to the preserving them for their proper owners, and except such goods or merchandizes as he shall at any time be ordered to take or receive on board by order of the lord high admiral of Great Britain, or the commissioners for executing the office of lord high admiral for the time being; every person so offending, being convicted thereof by the sentence of the court martial shall be cashiered, and be for ever afterwards rendered incapable to serve in any place or office in the naval service of His Majesty, his heirs and successors.

If any person in or belonging to the fleet shall make or endeavor to make any mutinous assembly upon any pretence whatsoever, every person offending herein, and being convicted thereof by the sentence of the court martial, shall suffer death: and if any person in or belonging to the fleet shall utter any words of sedition or mutiny, he shall suffer death, or such other punishment as a court martial shall deem him to deserve: and if any officer, mariner, or soldier on or belonging to the fleet, shall behave himself with contempt to his superior officer, being in the execution of his office, he shall be punished according to the nature of his offence by the judgement of a court martial.

If any person in the fleet shall conceal any traiterous or mutinous practice or design, being convicted thereof by the sentence of a court martial, he shall suffer death, or any other punishment as a court martial shall think fit; and if any person, in or belonging to the fleet, shall conceal any traiterous or mutinous words spoken by any, to the prejudice of His Majesty or government, or any words, practice, or design, tending to the hindrance of the service, and shall not forthwith reveal the same to the commanding officer, or being present at any mutiny or sedition, shall not use his utmost endeavours to suppress the same, he shall be punished as a court martial shall think he deserves.

If any person in the fleet shall find cause of complaint of the unwholesomeness of the victual, or upon other just ground, he shall quietly make the same known to his superior, or captain, or commander in chief, as the occasion may deserve, that such present remedy may be had as the matter may require; and the said superior, captain, or commander in chief, shall, as far as he is able, cause the same to be presently remedied; and no person in the fleet, upon any such or other pretence, shall attempt to stir up any disturbance, upon pain of such punishment, as a court martial shall think fit to inflict, according to the degree of the offence.

If any officer, mariner, soldier or other person in the fleet, shall strike any of his superior officers, or draw, or offer to draw, or lift up any weapon against him, being in the execution of his office, on any pretence whatsoever, every such person being convicted of any such offense, by the sentence of a court martial, shall suffer death; and if any officer, mariner, soldier or other person in the fleet, shall presume to quarrel with any of his superior officers, being in the execution of his office, or shall disobey any lawful command of any of his superior officers; every such person being convicted of any such offence, by the sentence of a court martial, shall suffer death, or such other punishment, as shall, according to the nature and degree of his offence, be inflicted upon him by the sentence of a court martial.

If any person in the fleet shall quarrel or fight with any other person in the fleet, or use reproachful or provoking speeches or gestures, tending to make any quarrel or disturbance, he shall, upon being convicted thereof, suffer such punishment as the offence shall deserve, and a court martial shall impose.

There shall be no wasteful expence of any powder, shot, ammunition, or other stores in the fleet, nor any embezzlement thereof, but the stores and provisions shall be careful preserved , upon pain of such punishment to be inflicted upon the offenders, abettors, buyers and receivers (being persons subject to naval discipline) as shall be by a court martial found just in that behalf.
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Every person in the fleet, who shall unlawfully burn or set fire to any magazine or store of powder, or ship, boat, ketch, hoy or vessel, or tackle or furniture thereunto belonging, not then appertaining to an enemy, pirate, or rebel, being convicted of any such offence, by the sentence of a court martial, shall suffer death.

Care shall be taken in the conducting and steering of any of His Majesty's ships, that through wilfulness, negligence, or other defaults, no ship be stranded, or run upon any rocks or sands, or split or hazarded, upon pain, that such as shall be found guilty therein, be punished by death, or such other punishment, as the offence by a court martial shall be judged to deserve.

No person in or belonging to the fleet shall sleep upon his watch, or negligently perform the duty imposed on him, or forsake his station, upon pain of death, or such other punishment as a court martial shall think fit to impose, and as the circumstances of the case shall require.
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All murders committed by any person in the fleet, shall be punished with death by the sentence of a court martial.

If any person in the fleet shall commit the unnatural and detestable sin of buggery and sodomy with man or beast, he shall be punished with death by the sentence of a court martial.
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All robbery committed by any person in the fleet, shall be punished with death, or otherwise, as a court martial, upon consideration of the circumstances, shall find meet.

Every officer or other person in the fleet, who shall knowingly make or sign a false muster or muster book, or who shall command, counsel, or procure the making or signing thereof, or who shall aid or abet any other person in the making or signing thereof, shall, upon proof of any such offence being made before a court martial, be cashiered, and rendered incapable of further employment in His Majesty's naval service.

No provost martial belonging to the fleet shall refuse to apprehend any criminal, whom he shall be authorized by legal warrant to apprehend, or to receive or keep any prisoner committed to his charge, or wilfully suffer him to escape, being once in his custody, or dismiss him without lawful order, upon pain of such punishment as a court martial shall deem him fit to deserve; and all captains, officers, and others in the fleet, shall do their endeavour to detect, apprehend, and bring to punishment all offenders, and shall assist the officers appointed for that purpose therein, upon pain of being proceeded against, and punished by a court martial, according to the nature and degree of the offence.

If any flag officer, captain, or commander, or lieutenant belonging to the fleet, shall be convicted before a court martial of behaving in a scandalous, infamous, cruel, oppressive, or fraudulent manner, unbecoming the character of an officer, he shall be dismissed from His Majesty's service.

Every person being in actual service and full pay, and part of the crew in or belonging to any of His Majesty's ships or vessels of war, who shall be guilty of mutiny, desertion, or disobedience to any lawful command, in any part of His Majesty's dominions on shore, when in actual service relative to the fleet, shall be liable to be tried by a court martial, and suffer the like punishment for every such offence, as if the same had been committed at sea on board any of His Majesty's ships or vessels of war.

If any person who shall be in the actual service and full pay of His Majesty' ships and vessels of war, shall commit upon the shore, in any place or places out of His Majesty's dominions, any of the crimes punishable by these articles and orders, the person so offending shall be liable to be tried and punished for the same, in like manner, to all intents and purposes, as if the same crimes had been committed at sea, on board any of His Majesty's ships or vessels of war.

All other crimes not capital committed by any person or persons in the fleet, which are not mentioned in this act, or for which no punishment is hereby directed to be inflicted, shall be punished by the laws and customs in such cases used at sea.