Courts martial papers of the Royal Navy as sources for the life aboard eighteenth-century warships

With hundreds of men crammed into relatively small ships (by modern standards), conflicts aboard were inevitable in the eighteenth-century Royal Navy. The fact that sailors who were often impressed (forcibly recruited) into the service had to live by strict military rules all but invited breaches of these rules. Serious cases of norm-breaking behaviour were tried by courts martial, military courts in which superior officers acted as judges. A famous example is the trial against ten sailors who had been involved in the mutiny aboard the Bounty in 1789. Eighteenth-century courts martial papers provide fascinating insights into the life aboard warships during that period. Cases tried by these courts range from the spectacular (e.g., the trial of Admiral Byng for having lost a naval battle in the Mediterranean against the French that led to his execution in 1757) to the mundane: cases of drunkenness, theft, embezzlement, quarrelling with one’s superiors, neglect of duty, swearing and desertion, to name but a few instances. In effect, every imaginable way to break the Navy’s rules is documented in these records.
 A wealth of eighteenth-century courts martial papers has been preserved and is held today by the National Archives in Kew (London). A selection of digitized copies of such records will form the backbone of this course. We will read these papers together and learn to make sense of them, starting with transcriptions and proceeding to the digitized handwritten original documents. The study of sources will be complemented by the reading of research literature on the eighteenth-century Royal Navy. The course will be held in English language. Thus, its learning objective is twofold: Not only will it help students acquire the ability to use these specific source materials, but it will also enable them to practise the use of the English language in an academic context. Being proficient in English is not a precondition for taking part. Whenever we reach the limits of our grammar or vocabulary, it will be possible to switch to German. What is expected, though, is a readiness to express oneself in English, even if errors occur or the pronunciation is less than perfect.

Einschreibezeitraum für Studierende ab dem 2. Semester:
13.02.2023, 12:00 Uhr bis 17.03.2023, 16:00 Uhr
Loszeitpunkt:
17.03.2023, 16:10 Uhr

Adkins, Roy; Adkins, Leslie: Jack Tar. The Extraordinary Lives of Ordinary Seamen in Nelson’s Navy. London 2008.
Davies, J. David: Pepys’s Navy. Ships, Men & Warfare 1649-1689. Barnsley 2008.
Rodger, Nicholas: The Wooden World. An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy. New York; London 1986.