§ MR. BIGGARasked the Secretary to the Admiralty, Is it a fact that when the Fleet recently visited Castletown, Berehaven, a notice was posted up in every 1920 vessel in the Fleet, ordering all hands not to visit the hotel of a man named James Murphy, now confined in Clonmel Gaol under the Coercion Act, during the visit on shore on leave; whether sentries were posted near his hotel to take the names of any sailors or marines who visited it; and, if above statements are true, will he state by whose authority they were done?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, it is the case that in the usual Circular issued to the Channel Squadron at Berehaven, relating to the circumstances under which leave would be granted to the crews, Admiral Hood inserted a paragraph to the following effect:—
The houses of James Murphy, hotel keeper, and Denis 0'Shea, publican, are to he considered out of hounds, and the men going on leave are informed accordingly.Sentries were not posted to take the names of any sailors or marines who went there; but a picket was sent on shore, as is always the case when large numbers of men are landed on leave, in order to preserve order. That there are other irregularities to which sailors are somewhat addicted when they get on shore, and which the picket has to check, besides going into houses which are out of bounds, is shown by the last sentence of the Circular, in which "the liberty men are to be cautioned not to gallop through Castletown."