| Note 1: If the 3 crewmen flogged through the fleet, whose combined total no. of lashes amounted to 414, were included in 1813's data, this would give an average no. of lashes per flogging that year (from 61 legible entries)
of 25.05 lashes. The table shows that the most floggings carried out on board HMS Magnificent - and the greatest number of lashes - in a single year happened
in 1811; this comfortably exceeds the next most 'eventful' year – 1807 – by some 32 floggings and the next highest in terms of lashes handed out – 1810 – by a whopping 1,848 lashes! The mean (average) number of lashes in 1810, however,
was slightly higher - 24.42, compared to 24.18 in 1811; though this data is not strictly relevant, since a man could not be given "part" of a lash, and both of these figures rounded to the closest integer are identical – 24 lashes. (This number is not
surprising since two dozen appears to have been the standard sentence for the majority of offences, e.g. drunkenness, and indeed also proved to be the modal figure.) It can also be clearly seen that the average no. of lashes increased year on year, under Captain Eyre (who resigned his command in early 1812 on ship's return to England from the Med.), from just 14.3 lashes average per flogging in the first
three months of the ship's commission (1806), up to 16.6 for the whole of 1807, then to almost exactly 23 lashes in 1808, around 23.5 in 1809, till it reached its peak during 1810 & 1811, which averaged at 24.4 & 24.2 average lashes per flogging, respectively.
It appears that following Captain Lake's appointment to the command (and indeed Captain Hayes' temporary command from August 1812 to early January 1813), that the harsh flogging
regime was abolished. The numbers speak for themselves: 237 floggings in 1811 compared with 104 in 1812 – over 50% less, and only 65 in 1813 – that's just a shade over a quarter of 1811's figure. By 1814 the flogging rate had reached an incredibly low level. Maybe this was due to the long war with Napoleon having finally been won, and the officers and men were in such good spirits that they decided to be
kinder/better behaved?! However, upon sailing to the West Indies with a convoy - and an almost entirely new set of Marines, and a few new seamen - indiscipline flared up aboard Magnificent again, and Captain Lake had to resort to the lash on
34 occasions within four months - as compared to just twelve in the first seven and a half months of 1814. On the whole his regime seems milder, although those he did punish usually got quite a heavy sentence, averaging 25 lashes. |