The punch houses in lower Jamestown formed the nucleus of a hedonistic culture that established St. Helena’s reputation among seamen as the principal place of amusement in the South Atlantic. They also seem to have represented the principal contact zones where seamen, soldiers, prostitutes, and other subalterns met and exchanged news and ideas. The island’s court spent a substantial portion of its sessions with cases of polygamy, brawls, and sodomy. Although women could be severely punished for extramarital sexual intercourse, prostitutes regularly served soldiers, seamen, and settlers. Not least because of these conditions, which its leaders interpreted as moral decay, the company in the early eighteenth century considered abandoning St. Helena.
Facing violence and sex crimes, refusals to obey orders, as well as a high rate of sickness and mortality related to the excessive consumption of alcohol, Governor Daniel Corneille in late 1783 prohibited all military personnel from entering the punch houses. Soldiers henceforth were to buy alcoholic beverages exclusively in the controlled environment of an official garrison canteen – only at certain times, only in limited rations, and without common rooms for drinking sessions. Corneille’s scheme was preceded by a series of desertions and rumors about imminent riots by seamen and soldiers during the years of the American Revolution. Soldiers protested during the Christmas season, but found Corneille relentless. On December 27, 200 drunken soldiers armed with rifles and bayonets attempted to seize the gun battery above Jamestown, which would give them control of the entire city. By making concessions, Corneille persuaded the men to retreat. However, although they regained access to the punch houses, the mutinous group on December 29 made a further attempt to occupy a gun battery, this time that at the Alarm House located southeast of Jamestown. Loyal units of the garrison won a night battle against the insurgents. In the aftermath, the court sentenced 99 soldiers to death, but only executed ten men. Having failed to enforce his restrictive line, Corneille left the island.