Other officers might order about one hundred lashes and allow a surgeon to stop the punishment. Jervis could order five hundred and resisted medical interference unless the sailor's condition became extreme. Even then, he blamed improper administration rather than reconsidering the sentence and threatened to demonstrate the correct method to the boatswain's mate. His severity was exceptional even by the standards of his own service, and his obsession with performance extended to punishment itself.
Notable Point · 22:11-23:12
Jervis's flogging regime exceeded naval norms
A disturbing example shows how Jervis pushed corporal punishment beyond already harsh Georgian naval practice and demanded exactness even from those administering it.