| Description | Titled "A short and Modest accompt of Captn Gunmans Cause who was sentenced at a Court Martiall, the 13th June 1682."
The document consists of two sides of text and a sketch plan showing the positions of three ships, the Charlotte, the Gloster and the Mary, with their courses, and a note about the wind direction and trenching of sand. The Gloucester ran aground on the "Lemond Sand". Gunman was the captain of the Mary and was accused of failing to give sufficient warning. The narrative contains a very detailed account of the incident and what happened afterwards, with reference to the behaviour of other seamen, witness tampering, activities of creditors and "phanaticks". |
| Related Material | This document features in an exhibition Feb-Sep 2023 at Norwich Castle Museum about the Wreck of the Gloucester, following its discovery off the Norfolk Coast. The following is the text from the exhibition, courtesy of Norfolk Museums which owns the copyright to the text, which also related to an illustration from the court martial in the same display case:
After the wreck of the Gloucester, determining blame for this major loss of life and property were significant political and naval questions. As a result, two courts martial were held to assign responsibility. The first, held on 6 June 1682 on the Charlotte yacht, was brought against the Gloucester's pilot, James Ayres, and was presided over by the senior naval administrator Sir Richard Haddock. Since the pilot's main responsibility was to navigate the ship safely, Ayres was found guilty of misconduct at his trial. He was condemned to life imprisonment but did not serve the full sentence. A year later, on 5 June 1683, Charles II ordered Ayres' release. This sentence was handed down despite James, Duke of York's expectation, as revealed in a letter to his son-in-law Prince William of Orange, that Ayres would receive his 'doom' through execution. Though he survived, the king ordered that Ayres should never serve in the navy again.
The evidence presented by Christopher Gunman, captain of the Mary yacht, at the case against Ayres led to accusations of misconduct being made about Gunman. Since the Mary was sailing ahead of the fleet, admiralty regulations required it to alert the Gloucester of shallow or shoal water by firing a gun. Gunman had ordered a flag to be waved instead. A week later, on 13 June, a second court martial was held against Gunman and his first mate, William Sturgeon, for failing to warn adequately an accompanying vessel of impending danger. Haddock presided over this court martial as well.
A previously overlooked sketch drawn by Gunman and displayed for the first time here shows what happened. It plots the courses that the Gloucester and the Mary and Charlotte yachts followed and shows their positions relative to the sandbank. It also records the depth of water measured in fathoms (one fathom being equal to 1.8 metres). When Gunman found the Mary to be in seven fathoms of shoal water, he ordered a jack flag to be waved five times in warning. To get into deeper water, Gunman's sketch shows the Mary changing direction to sail west to nine fathoms, as well as the course the yacht took after the Gloucester struck the sandbank, when it mounted a rescue effort.
At his trial, Gunman admitted that he had ordered flags to be waved as he claimed was normal. He was found guilty of misconduct though Sturgeon was acquitted. Gunman was imprisoned, fined, and dismissed from his post. Haddock also presided at this trial. An artist's representation of how the court martial of Gunman (seated, right foreground), might have looked is included here. Held on board the Charlotte yacht at Greenwich, Gunman is shown being questioned by Haddock (standing, centre). The drawing also shows other naval captains recruited to judge Gunman's conduct including Henry Williams, George Churchill, Thomas Allin, William Botham, Matthew Tennant, Ralph Wrenn, George St Loe, with Henry Croom as Judge Advocate.
Gunman's description of his court martial is detailed, and we include here the first page of his closely written four-page account. He was clearly furious. He claimed that witnesses who gave evidence against him at his trial had also attempted to intimidate others into giving false testimony. Gunman alleged that there was a conspiracy against him and suggested that Haddock, the President of both courts martial, was prejudiced. Though no direct evidence to support Gunman's claim about Haddock has been found, the President spoke in favour of Ayres' skills as a pilot, whilst identifying Gunman as culpable for the wreck.
Recent research has uncovered evidence of attempted witness tampering amongst members of Gunman's crew to increase the impression of the captain's culpability, but if senior figures arranged this conspiracy, their identity remains a mystery. One reason Gunman might have been scapegoated was his close relationship with the Duke of York, who was known to be reliant on him. It is possible that by convicting Gunman a message was being communicated to James concerning royal interference in the navy. The return of James to political power in London was likely to shake-up naval policy. Senior admiralty officers feared that he was likely to attempt to influence future strategy. Gunman did not languish in prison for long. James intervened on his behalf and Charles II reinstated him to his role as captain of the Mary yacht later in June. |