ABSTRACT
In 1873, Navigating Sub-Lieutenant William Renwick of HMS Impregnable faced a remarkable fifteen counts of indecent assault against nine different boys. The charges against Renwick were seen as particularly heinous because the young sailors belonged to a naval training ship, used to prepare youths for their careers at sea. The court found Renwick guilty of a dozen of the fifteen charges, sentencing him to a decade of penal servitude. As one newspaper put it, his crime had been a “foul offence” and his sentence was an “exemplary punishment.” 1 After the trial, Renwick escaped from confinement on HMS Royal Adelaide and fled custody; a court later convicted the marine who had stood sentry when Renwick made his escape. 2
