462/378 : les trois erreurs au sujet de la mention du « drumhead court » :

« A court-martial, originally held round an upturned drum, for immediate trials during a military operation. Though Vere, it appears later, would have preferred submitting the matter to his admiral, he was overruled by ‘a sense of the urgency of the case’; and ‘so thinking, he was glad it would not be at variance with usage to turn the matter over to a summary court of his own officers...’ Hayford and Sealts, however, make clear that, according to British naval regulations in effect at this time, the trial was threefold illegal [...]. First, a captain was not authorized to punish a seaman beyond ‘twelve lashes upon his bare back, with a cat-of-nine tails’; any greater punishment required a court-martial; but to convene a court-martial a captain needed the permission of his squadron commander. Secondly, a regular naval court-martial could consist of commanders and captains only. Thirdly, a sentence to death, for crimes others than mutiny, could not be executed ‘till after the report of the proceedings of the said court shall have been made to the lords commissioners of the admiralty, or to the commander of the fleet or squadron in which the sentence was passed, and their or his direction shall have been given therein. »

463/390, Somers

L'affaire du Somers dont se serait inspiré Melville ne crédibilise pas pour autant le cas Billy Budd puisque : « sur le Somers trois hommes ont été pendus et non un seul ; Philip Spencer avait confessé avoir fomenté une mutinerie (la question était : l'aurait-il menée à bien ? aurait-elle mis le navire en péril ?) ; et le capitaine Mackenzie ne convoqua pas une “ drumhead court ”, mais réunit ses officiers pour obtenir un conseil uni. Sur le Somers, les prisonniers n'avaient pas été traduits en justice, aucun témoin n'avait été entendu, les défenseurs n'avait pas eu droit à la parole, et aucune sentence dans les règles n'avait été passée. »

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