Francis obtained his Lieutenant’s commission in 1792, serving for a year in the East Indies, and afterwards on the home station. Early promotions were frequent in those days of the Navy; and, in many ways, no doubt, this custom was a good one, as the younger men had the dash and assurance which was needed, when success lay mainly in the power of making rapid decisions. Very early advancement had nevertheless decided disadvantages, and it was among the causes that brought about the mutinies of 1797. There are four or five cases on record of boys being made captains before they were eighteen, and promotions often went so much by favour and so little by real merit that the discontent of the crews commanded by such inexperienced officers was not at all to be wondered at. There were many other long-standing abuses, not the least of which was the system of punishments, frightful in their severity. A few instances of these, taken at haphazard from the logs of the various ships on which Francis Austen served as Lieutenant will illustrate this point. _Glory, December 8, 1795._--“Punished P. C. Smith forty-nine lashes for theft.” _January 14, 1796._--“Punished sixteen seamen with one dozen lashes each for neglect of duty in being off the deck in their watch.” Punishments were made as public as possible. The following entry is typical: _Seahorse, December 9, 1797._--“Sent a boat to attend punishments round the fleet.” In the log of the _London_, one of the ships of the line blockading Cadiz, just after the fearful mutinies of 1797, we find, as might be expected, that punishments were more severe than ever. _August 16, 1798._--“_Marlborough_ made the signal for punishment. Sent three boats manned and armed to attend the punishment of Charles Moore (seaman belonging to the _Marlborough_), who was sentenced to receive one hundred lashes for insolence to his superior officer. Read the articles of war and sentence of Court-martial to the ship’s company. The prisoner received twenty-five lashes alongside this ship.” In the case of a midshipman court-martialled for robbing a Portuguese boat, “the charges having been proved, he was sentenced to be turned before the mast, to have his uniform stripped off him on the quarter-deck before all the ship’s company, to have his head shaved, and to be rendered for ever incapable of serving as a petty officer.” No fewer than six executions are recorded in the log of the _London_ as taking place among the ships of the fleet off Cadiz. Only one instance is mentioned where the offender was pardoned by the commander-in-chief on account of previous good conduct. Earl St. Vincent certainly deserved his reputation as a disciplinarian.