I'm working on an Age of Sail novel (the year is 1803/04), mostly taking place in an English squadron holding up blockade.
At the climax I have a court martial over an officer killing another, and I'm not sure how the court would handle it.
The circumstances were, briefly, that the first lieutenant of a ship tried to kill his captain during a battle (and blame it on the enemy). Only the sailing master saw him shoot but he kept silent because the lieutenant was blackmailing him. The captain survived, not suspecting the truth, but one of the younger lieutenants eventually found out, had a confrontation with the first lieutenant and ended up killing him. Not even in a duel, just went berserk and stabbed the bastard.
Afterwards he surrendered to the captain, who, after finding out about the whole story, got the admiral involved. My question is, would the court take into consideration that the victim was guilty of a murder attempt against a superior? Our young lieutenant is certainly in a lot of trouble, although his captain tries to help as much as he can. (These two are secretly in a relationship, which, of course, they have to hide from the court.)
Also: would they have the court-martial right there at the blockade fleet (they have more than enough captains present) or would something like this warrant a return to Endland at least for those involved?
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