Charles Sawyer

Posted by jude de angulo on Sunday 13th of March 2022 07:58

There is some speculation that Forester models Captain James Sawyer, in 'Lieutenant Hornblower', upon Captain Charles Sawyer and events upon the Hermione-class HMS Blanche.
In his book 'The Pursuit of Victory', author Roger Knight writes:
" The [Blanche] had been in Nelson's squadron since
March 1796, but her crew had
recently experienced the unsettling and unusual matter
of having captain, Charles Sawyer, court martialed
for homosexuality- 'having a fondness for young men
and boys', the words of Jacob Nagle, a seaman in the
Blanche. The court martial found that Sawyer had been
found in bed with his coxswain several times;
two midshipmen and a seaman were also involved. This
homosexuality had become known in the ship, the
coxswain having denounced the captain publicly. The
facts went beyond the ship as a result of a quarrel
between the captain and his first lieutenant in the
last rush of the evacuation from Corsica: at one point
Sawyer ordered several officers, including all the
lieutenants, to be confined."
Archibald Cowan, the first lieutenant aboard HMS Blanche, wrote to Captain George Cockburn, senior captain of the fleet regarding the court-martial Sawyer eventually faced that the charges against him were:
"odious misconduct, and for not taking public notice of
mutinous expressions muttered against him."
The court martial dismissed Sawyer from the Royal Navy's service on 17 October 1796, with a ruling that he was:
"incapable of ever serving in any military capacity
whatever."