The courts martial records from 1801 to 1831 presented a very different picture of junior officer crime from the cases recorded in the last decades of the eighteenth century. Crimes committed by junior officers between 1760 and 1800 identified a parallel between a heightened sensitivity to matters of gentlemanly honour and an increase in the number of charges for insubordination, disobedience, and insolence as the eighteenth century progressed. The increase in the proportion of attacks, verbal and physical, on superior officers appeared to be directly linked to concerns for social and professional honour. Evidence from the courts martial records, particularly those related to the Midshipmen's Mutiny, suggested that more aspirants felt the need to defend their gentlemanly honour, even if it challenged the strict observance of naval hierarchy and subordination.

The extent to which this phenomenon was visible during the first decades of the nineteenth century allowed a comparison between periods of war and peace, and enabled parallels to be drawn between the types of charges brought against junior officers and the changing social makeup of the midshipmen's berth.

The courts martial cases from 1801 to 1831 were, like those of the earlier period, taken from home station records and were categorized, wherever possible, in accordance with classifications and terminology used in the contemporary record. Of the 209 courts martial brought against junior officers between 1760 and 1831, 62 per cent (129 cases) occurred between 1801 and 1831.