Sylvia,
I think there are several things to consider here.
At the time Collingwood was captain of the Excellent and, although not knowing the circumstances, it would appear that Blecket was one of his 'young gentlemen', or midshipmen, and that he perhaps wrote the letter to his father, or his admiral. Can you confirm which? I have this impression both from Collingwood's having referred to him as 'Mr', and mentioning the man's 'interests' and regard for his family. Very likely he had taken him on board as one of his protogeés, and was thus understandably 'very much distressed and mortified' by his conduct. I doubt that Collingwood would talk in such terms if Blecket were just an ordinary member of the lower deck. If he were, I suggest he would have been treated very differently.
The date of the letter would seem to be of some significance here, since the June of 1797 was at the tale end of the Fleet Mutinies at Spithead and the Nore. At the time ship's captains, with good reason, were very wary of 'unbecoming conduct' and loose talk of any kind and Collingwood's reference to 'the present circumstances of the fleet' are an indication of this, as are his words that Blecket's outburst 'tended to mutiny'. Even with the two mutinies settled, the fleet was still on tenterhooks for any repetition and the infamous incident of the Hermione mutiny was still several months away. In these circumstances it is understandable that Collingwood was reluctant to keep him on his ship and it would also seem that, once Blecket's indiscretion was known, few other captain's would accept him either.
With the above in mind, this would seem to place rather different considerations on your questions. Under normal circumstances the conditions of service for, and the expectations of a midshipmen, an aspiring officer, were certainly rather different from from those of an ordinary, perhaps pressed, man. A midshipman's family and connections were of some importance thus, as here, the ship's captain would both take great pains to keep them informed, and to settle any such matter amicably. Having said that, and although I believe there was a certain amount of leeway, I doubt that a midshipman could do just as he pleased – he had after all been placed under the captain's charge and was 'learning his trade'. I believe most captain's would do their utmost to treat their midshipmen fairly, certainly with the young man's family to consider. In those circumstances it seems very unlikely that a captain could, or even would, transfer a midshipman to another ship and captain, just like that, or that another captain would accept him. After all the other captain had his own midshipmen to consider and he might not have a vacancy.
Your latter question seems unlikely but, if it did happen, then it would seem perhaps that the best solution was that the young man chose some other profession.
_________________ Kester.
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