The Articles of War were originally issued by the English Admiralty in 1653, after the English defeat at Dungeness, in the first Anglo-Dutch war. That battle was a disaster for the English, whose fleet was largely comprised of "impressed" ships (that is, civilian ships taken into RN service); the captains of those ships refused or were reluctant to engage the Dutch, while some regular State's Navy captains left the line of battle to attempt to secure prizes. The first edition of the Articles of War were essentially fighting instructions for the fleet, and emphasized heavy penalties for cowardice in the face of the enemy, although only one sailor appears to have been hung under those Articles.

The Articles of War were revised in 1749 and resulted in the execution of John Byng, the British admiral shot on his own quarterdeck for "failing to do his utmost to take or destroy the enemy’s ships." The Articles were amended further several times during the period I study, and eventually converted into the Naval Discipline Act in the mid-1850s.

You can see a copy the 1757 Articles here: https://www.hmsrichmond.org/rnarticles.htm Of the 35 total articles, 27 carry with them a death sentence, which could only be imposed after the decision of a court martial. (There's some badhistory on the Web that captains had life and death power over their men; they did not.)

Of some other interest is probably the 35th:

All other crimes not capital committed by any person or persons in the fleet, which are not mentioned in this act, or for which no punishment is hereby directed to be inflicted, shall be punished by the laws and customs in such cases used at sea.

Sometimes called the "captain's catch-all," this allowed captains to offer a wide range of punishments, from cutting rations all the way up to flogging, for minor offenses aboard ship.