diately ordered to return to England in any ship in which he may be at the receipt of this letter. I am, Sir, your most humble servant,
“The senior officer of H.M. ships, East Indies.”
Previous to the receipt of the above. Commodore George Sayer had written to the Admiralty informing the Secretary for their Lordships’ information, that it was his intention to try Captain O’Brien by a Court-Martial, for “pursuing a course of conduct subversive of the first principles of the Service, grounded on pretensions as futile as irreconcileable with the Discipline of the Navy.” To this communication he received the following reply:
“Sir,– I have received and laid before my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, your letter of the 20th March last, representing the conduct of Captain O’Brien acting in the command of H.M.S. Cornwallis, and stating that you had ordered a Court-Martial to assemble and try him for his conduct; and I am commanded by their Lordships to acquaint you that they approve of your ordering the Court-Martial in question. I am, Sir, &c,
“To Commodore Sayer, &c.”
Captain O’Brien’s trial commenced April 6, 1816; a Court-Martial having been assembled for that purpose on board the Cornwallis 74, at Madras, in pursuance of an order addressed to Captain Henry Weir, of the Thais, by “Commodore George Sayer, senior officer in the command of H.M.’s ships and vessels employed in the East Indies and seas adjacent.” The charges preferred against him on that occasion, were in substance as follow:
“For having carried a distinguishing Broad Pendant, and officially designated himself Commodore and Senior Officer of H.M.’s ships and vessels in the East Indies and Indian seas, in direct disregard and violation of the Naval Instructions, and in contempt and defiance of the command and authority which had devolved on Captain George Sayer, his senior officer, by the decease of Rear-Admiral Sir George Burlton, K.C.B.
“For sending to England, in the Wellesley[1], the leaders of a mutiny on board the Cornwallis, without reference to Commodore Sayer, the only competent authority to have taken legal measures thereon; a proceeding striking at the foundation of all discipline, and fraught with danger to his Majesty’s naval service.
- ↑ Captain O’Brien removed himself from the Wellesley to the Cornwallis about Nov. 1, 1815.
