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The New Hampshire Gazette Foreign News June 24, 1757
Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire
What is this article about?
Account of the execution of Admiral John Byng on board the Monarque: shot on the quarter deck after a brief delay; his body was wrapped in cotton so no blood appeared; he fell on his left side and died with one shudder.
Quality yellow The served text differs noticeably from the scanned original. show the numbers
- The served text differs noticeably from the scanned original.
- The extractor was unsure its transcription reads as real language, even though the scan measures clean.
Measured from the scan
— how cleanly the OCR engine read the characters
- Mean ink quality
- 96.0% The length-weighted average confidence across the OCR lines — the mean of exactly the per-line scores whose tails the two figures below report. Typical is 99%.
- Illegible ink
- 0.0% Text sitting in OCR-detected lines that scored below 80% confidence — very shaky reads. Weighted by line length, so one long bad line counts for more than a short one.
- Uncertain ink
- 8.57% Text in lines that scored 80–90% — somewhat shaky reads.
- Matches source
- 91.39% How closely the served text matches the raw OCR of the same boxes, letter by letter, after collapsing spacing and case. This measures agreement, not correctness: the OCR is often wrong and the extractor corrects it, so 100% does not mean perfect, and a low figure usually means poor scan text was rewritten rather than that text was lost (length vs source shows loss). Across pages, this is the worst fragment.
- Length vs source
- 100.73% Below 100% means text was dropped from the OCR; above means text was added to make it read.
Assembled by the extraction model
— whether the stitched-together text holds up; catches layout and segmentation errors, which the scores above cannot see
- Transcription confidence
- 90.0% (typical 96%) How cleanly the extractor could assemble what it was given. Low here with clean ink scores points at layout analysis — the characters were read correctly but grouped or ordered wrongly.
- Comprehension
- 95.0% Whether the piece reads coherently start to finish. Can stay high while transcription confidence drops, when only part of the component is affected.
Clippings
1 of 2
Full Text
Portsmouth, March 22. To satisfy your Enquiry, as to the Ceremony used in the Execution of the late Admiral Byng, I am to acquaint you, that the Place where Offenders generally die by shooting is on the Forecastle; but he was so far indulged as to suffer on the Quarter Deck.
Twelve o'Clock being the Time fixed for his Death, Capt. Montague looking at his Watch, acquainted him the Time was come. The Admiral returned for Answer, he wanted some Minutes, and he would stay to the last; however, soon came up with a becoming Steadiness, though there was a visible Trembling, as the Suggestions of Nature could not be hid from an observing Eye.
Three standing; five Shot went thro' his Body into the Ship's Side, and so far, that they could not be bored out with a Gimblet, and one lay in his Body.——The Reason assigned for no Blood issuing is, that his Body was wrapped round with Cotton in such a curious Manner, as that not one Drop appeared.-He fell on his Left Side, and made but one Shudder in the Agonies of Death, upon which a Cloak was thrown over him till the Coffin was ready to receive him, into which he was put.-with all the Cloaths he had on except his Coat. —The Chaplain of the Monarque attended him from Thursday Morning to the last, and it is said had a Present of six and thirty Shilling Pieces.—The Shot Holes in the Monarque's Sides have since been plugg'd up.— The Inscription on the Coffin is : The Hon. John Byng, died March 14, 1757, aged 52.
Twelve o'Clock being the Time fixed for his Death, Capt. Montague looking at his Watch, acquainted him the Time was come. The Admiral returned for Answer, he wanted some Minutes, and he would stay to the last; however, soon came up with a becoming Steadiness, though there was a visible Trembling, as the Suggestions of Nature could not be hid from an observing Eye.
Three standing; five Shot went thro' his Body into the Ship's Side, and so far, that they could not be bored out with a Gimblet, and one lay in his Body.——The Reason assigned for no Blood issuing is, that his Body was wrapped round with Cotton in such a curious Manner, as that not one Drop appeared.-He fell on his Left Side, and made but one Shudder in the Agonies of Death, upon which a Cloak was thrown over him till the Coffin was ready to receive him, into which he was put.-with all the Cloaths he had on except his Coat. —The Chaplain of the Monarque attended him from Thursday Morning to the last, and it is said had a Present of six and thirty Shilling Pieces.—The Shot Holes in the Monarque's Sides have since been plugg'd up.— The Inscription on the Coffin is : The Hon. John Byng, died March 14, 1757, aged 52.
What sub-type of article is it?
Execution
Naval Affairs
What keywords are associated?
Admiral Byng Execution
Monarque Execution
Naval Execution
What entities or persons were involved?
Admiral John Byng
Capt. Montague
Where did it happen?
Portsmouth, England
Foreign News Details
Primary Location
Portsmouth, England
Event Date
March 14, 1757
Key Persons
Admiral John Byng
Capt. Montague
Outcome
admiral byng shot and killed; five shots passed through his body, one remained; no blood issued due to cotton wrapping.