ABSTRACT
James Woolls, the acting second master of HMS Favourite, was involved in a series of conflicts that erupted on that ship in 1818. (An “acting” officer was one who held their rank only temporarily.) He was one of the followers of the ship’s schoolmaster, the Reverend Patrick Pounder, who led a group of evangelicals in its company. The group’s religious activities and aggressively-stated beliefs led to quarrels with officers, including the ship’s surgeon, James Hall, and its first lieutenant, Robert Pearce. In the end, Woolls and Pounder faced separate trials for their alleged misbehavior. 1
