Hell Upon Water by Paul Chamberlain

Author:Paul Chamberlain
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2018-01-27T05:00:00+00:00

Comprehensive lists were compiled by the Transport Office giving full descriptions of all officers who had given their parole and been permitted to return to their own country. These lists were updated every three months, and a reward of one guinea was paid to anyone who discovered a named prisoner serving without having been exchanged. Separate lists were published for French, Spanish and Dutch prisoners who had given this undertaking. These nations also adopted this approach with British officers, and the system worked well during the 1790s but after 1803 the system was not employed so extensively.

This method of parole had distinct advantages over the procedure for keeping the officer on parole in Britain. First, the Admiralty did not have the expense of looking after the officer, and second, it speeded up the exchange process. Officers sent home could apply to their own governments for an enemy officer to be released in exchange for themselves, thus releasing that officer from their parole obligations. The more superior an officer sent home on parole, the more likely it was they had some influence in government circles, or had connections with senior military officials. Admiral de Winter was sent home to Holland in November 1797, having spent only a month on parole in England. He was able to use his influence to secure his release the following year.39 Jacques Durvial was an officer on parole in France, being released from his parole obligations in 1799, in exchange for Major Matthew Jenner of the 39th Foot who had arrived as a prisoner in France that year.40 When an officer was taken captive by someone who had a friend or relative held prisoner of war, it was common practice for the officer to be released on parole on the promise he would use his influence to secure the release of his counterpart. Provided the details of the transaction were sent to the Transport Office, there was no objection to this procedure, and in fact it was actively encouraged. To break the parole obligations was a slur on a man’s honour, so any officer who could not secure the release of a prisoner held by his own side was obliged to return to his captor’s country to reside there on parole until he was exchanged.

However, most officers taken prisoner had to endure periods of captivity, though not perhaps as arduous as their men, in the parole depots of Britain.

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