![The Republic Afloat: Law, Honor, and Citizenship in Maritime America](https://cdn.statically.io/img/oup.silverchair-cdn.com/oup/backfile/content_public/books/15777/book/2/m_9780226924007.jpeg?Expires=1723509516&Signature=asx9vrPSZ10VdJ3GcJcGhGTyoeZxlLkZMw0xZzUuaQyyNug2KM50XEVhHZFFE8wDMBnAdF1saJd0v-JOG6LtO4jkKc2IfQyiIk2sAoAzWRqQyWzFYprKQC93SJuGmpyw4~hhWsZ-4-fRxv0JOGry5NQIs3e3dieyXIdoiCB9V16ADErVU4CqD1rgyW7QmkepSKeDSD~msX6OZqKP1wjqyoCgbgP3pOEmNvRDQliiMFtiTs2ULhlpDJwzdTbmYheMcyaGOcRgnfGfE7QsOywnUdeSj8KEMLhljYXyKI7JLQQ4GEvsADAgMzVW315PSnnnaiLn7uaSIMD~Mo4P4if4Cg__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIE5G5CRDK6RD3PGA)
Contents
Cite
Extract
Far more was at stake in disputes on American vessels than the mere details of the work environment. The difficult, dangerous labor of seafaring may have sparked many altercations, and the law may have sought to frame the responses of participants, and then to adjudicate their actions after the fact, but in the heat of anger on the decks, it was often the unwritten codes of personal honor and workplace convention that helped determine how well (or badly) an incident would turn out. Would the men back down before the challenges of their officers? Would other seamen join with a mutinous compatriot? Often, the answers to these questions were determined not by law but by the personal relationships and public sense of honor and authority of the participants, together with unwritten codes of expectations for all involved.
Clearly, much of what seamen and officers contested, negotiated, and fought over in cases of shipboard revolt had roots in attempts by both sides to assert control over the nature of labor on the ship. If nothing else were at stake, however, considerably fewer incidents would have gone as far as they did. A mere disagreement about labor cannot explain the savage brutality on the ship Colonel Taylor, when a seaman cut off the captain’s hands with an ax to loose his grip on the rigging and send him plummeting to his death.1Close Nor can poor food explain the senseless rage of the captain and mate of the David Pratt, who still “kicked and thumped” at the ship’s cook “while he was laying on the deck.”2Close Something larger was at stake than just the details of the seaman-officer working relationship. Cases became violent when they slipped out of the realm of contention over the logistics of labor on the ship and into the realm of personal pride and honor. When seamen or officers found their credibility as men called into question, violence became their only satisfactory means of settling the dispute.
Sign in
Personal account
- Sign in with email/username & password
- Get email alerts
- Save searches
- Purchase content
- Activate your purchase/trial code
- Add your ORCID iD
Purchase
Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.
Purchasing information
Get help with access
Institutional access
Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:
IP based access
Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.
Sign in through your institution
Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.
If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.
Sign in with a library card
Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.
Society Members
Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:
Sign in through society site
Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:
If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.
Sign in using a personal account
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.
Personal account
A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.
Viewing your signed in accounts
Click the account icon in the top right to:
Signed in but can't access content
Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.
Institutional account management
For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.