If you think that punishment was barbaric, you should see what other cultures employed as punishment under similar circumstances. This is not the 21st century, it’s the 1800s, floggimg was considered standard punishment for infractions like that. As to what they did... the Captain laid the charges out very clearly I believe. Abandoning their posts, disobeying direct orders, assault, and dereliction of duty, in what actually amount to wartime conditions, could get everyone on the ship killed. A full court martial could have resulted in harsher punishment.
