The maximum penalty for mutiny was at the time, I believe, death by hanging.
In the book though, Maryk is not charged with mutiny at all.
When Greenwald is assigned the case by Captain Breakstone -the presiding Judge Advocate of the local district- he's asked his assessment of the case. Greenwald says that the charge of mutiny is absurd. Maryk used an Article in Naval Regulations to relieve Queeg -he may have misapplied it to commit a mutinous act, but the Article IS there. There was never a hint of violence or even disrespect. Etc. He sums it up by saying that Maryk was very careful to stay within the legal grounds covered by the Article. He says that the strongest charge that could apply is conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline. Captain Breakstone -who'd previously been irked by Greenwald's shambling demeanor and quiet self-assurance he could get Maryk acquitted- had a sharp increase in his opinion of Greenwald, as those were points he'd noted himself. He tells Greenwald that a charge of mutiny was just the recommendation by the Board of Inquiry (a one man board; an old captain from the mine force who'd never even looked at Courts & Boards -the book on legal matter- before being sent to the Caine). He -Breakstone- is drawing up the formal charge, and it in fact would be conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline.
The charge is described in the book as a catch-all charge for such incidents that fall between the cracks of standard charges.
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