 These uprisings caused him to become even more vicious in his use of punishments and when he took his frigate HMS "Africaine" into action off Île Bourbon, his men failed to support him and may even have murdered him.In addition to his obsession with discipline and obedience, Corbet was regarded as an inefficient commander, whose standards of gunnery and training were so poor that when his ship did go into action it was ill-equipped to fight the French frigates stationed in the Indian Ocean.Corbet was born in Shropshire; otherwise little is known of his childhood and youth.