Mutiny Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...mutiny—the men had real grievances—turned into a seizure-of-power and secession mutiny. Two hardly known mutinies, with all the characteristics of work stoppages, are the 1809 mutiny on the British frigate Nereide off Madagascar and the 1750 mutiny on the Dutch East Indiaman Hartekamp at the roadstead on the Dutch island of Texel. The captain of Nereide had revealed himself as an extremely cruel man, and several crew members prepared a work stoppage. The captain immediately instructed his marines to arrest the leaders, which ended the mutiny. The...
Labor Conditions for Seafarers Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...circumstances, they could mutiny. Most mutinies were similar to modern labor strikes: work stoppage was typical, with only a minority of mutinies becoming violent. Usually mutinies were preceded by informal or formal petitions. Given shipboard conditions before the modern age, it is surprising that mutinies were not more common (although countless mutinies apparently did not make it into the historical record). They were an effective weapon to pressure for improved shipboard and employment conditions. The history of mutinies reveals that seamen were vocal...
Drama, English and American Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...Two plays dramatize wartime life on board American navy minesweepers: Mister Roberts ( 1948 ), by Thomas Heggen (based on his 1946 novel; made into a 1955 movie), focuses on comic squabbles; Herman Wouk ’s The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial ( 1953 , play; based on his 1951 novel The Caine Mutiny ) determines whether a mutiny occurred. Other major dramatizations of books deserve mention. The dangers faced by convoying ships during World War II can be seen from the British point of view in The Cruel Sea , a 1953 movie directed by Charles Frend ,...
Howe, Richard (1726–1799) Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...a still-extant reputation for caution), the “Glorious First of June” was an important psychological victory. For most of the rest of his command Howe was ashore and inactive, but the king would not allow him to resign his commission. He was in Bath when he heard of the Spithead mutiny in March 1797 , and his role in finding a compromise with the men in April , though largely symbolic, was important. His professional reputation rested as an organizer of fleets, as one of those officers who established the divisional system aboard ships, and in his improvement...
Fiction Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...voyages’ events or who sought simply to capitalize on their popularity. Sometimes, multiple accounts of a voyage resulted from efforts to establish the truth surrounding mutinies and disasters, such as works around the mutiny on board HMS Bounty in 1789 , from the time Captain William Bligh ’s trial was first published in 1794 , or offering the truth concerning the shipwreck and mutiny on board HMS Wager , a ship in the squadron of George Anson when he sailed to make war on the Spanish in the Pacific in 1740–1744 . Accounts of this latter disaster...
Steamship Literature Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...drew from a civilian element that included some with literary inclinations. The many short stories of Nicholas Monsarrat , particularly his novel The Cruel Sea ( 1951 ), Thomas Heggen ’s novel ( 1946 ) and play ( 1948 ) Mister Roberts , and Herman Wouk ’s novel The Caine Mutiny ( 1951 ) came out of the authors’ World War II naval experiences. The novel The Good Shepherd ( 1955 ) presents C. S. Forester ’s keen observation of the world of an American destroyer captain. These are fine tales of life at sea in steam-propelled naval vessels, but their...
Shipwreck Accounts Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...and others placed extraordinary events in a recognizable format, and most important, in one readily available to a wide audience. The narratives commended virtue, self-sacrifice, and bravery on board vessels, while greed and cowardice produced condemnation. Often surrounded by mutiny and murder, a few brave and heroic individuals represented the remnants of civilization, and they lived to tell their version of the story. Cowardice or naïve behavior could result in death, not only for the individual but for the entire crew and any passengers. Class played an...
Wages and Salaries Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...times of war, for deserting sailors could well leave the vessel without sufficient ship’s company to put to sea again. Comparatively higher wages and an easier time might be had in merchant ships, and indeed concern over the falling value of wages was a factor behind the Spithead mutiny of 1797 . However, the wages system overall did little to encourage the navy as a permanent vocation. Seafarers were discharged if the ship went out of commission, and the officers were put on half-pay. The end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 meant hardship for many: sailors...
Recruitment Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...a sailor, or whether he stayed close to the officer and was prepared for higher ranks. The nineteenth-century U.S. Navy also attempted to solve its manning problem by starting training programs for boys; it too experienced problems with discipline, the low point being the 1842 mutiny on the training ship Somers . In the end the recruitment of fully trained sailors remained the preferred option, the training of boys and landsmen being less safe and more costly. Foreigners, Women, and New Recruitment Practices Foreign volunteers provided not just for the...
Americas Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...into the Ocean Sea on September 8 . Columbus maintained his westward course for a month with minor variations, but sighted no land. In response to grumbling among the crew, he agreed to shift more toward the southwest on October 7 . He seems to have thwarted a serious threat of mutiny on October 10 , and the next night a crewman sighted land. The voyage from the Canaries had taken only thirty-three days of mostly clear sailing. On October 12 , European assumptions about the vastness of the Ocean Sea disappeared with the first landfall. The identity of the...
Music Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...This entry contains two subentries: Maritime Themes in Music , Seafarers’ Music Maritime Themes in Music Sea gods and mythical beings, the life of ordinary people dependent on the sea, the hustle and bustle at a busy sea-port, pirates, ghost ships and mutinies, naval themes, and, of course, the sea itself are just a few of the maritime themes to be found in music ranging from opera and song to symphonic and orchestral music, through to light opera and musical comedy. The potential in the wide variety of themes relating to the sea is enormous and has...
Ocean Governance Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
... over ships on the high seas is subject to some exceptions, notably piracy, the right of hot pursuit, and the right of visit. In other words, freedom of the high seas does not extend to license to plunder or flee from law-enforcement agencies around the coast. Piracy, mutiny, and maritime terrorism. Throughout modern history, there have been attacks upon ships sailing the open seas by pirates, persons engaged in violence, robbery, and plunder. Pirates are regarded as hostis humani generis (enemies of all mankind), and all states are required to...
Northwest Passage Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...the icy strait named after him into the great inland sea, which also bears his name. However, rather than continue on a westward course, he turned south to winter at the southern end of Hudson Bay. The little Discovery escaped from the ice in June 1611 , but soon afterward a mutiny took place and Hudson, his son, the sick, and the loyal were set adrift in a boat and never seen again. Plausible accounts were given on Discovery ’s return to England , and the following year she was sent north again with Resolution , Captain Thomas Button commanding. This...
Education and Training Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...shipboard experience under the guidance of a schoolmaster, modeled after the example of the Royal Navy. The establishment of the U.S. Naval School at Annapolis, Maryland , in 1845 was a consequence of the USS Somers incident in 1842 , when a midshipman was executed for mutiny. In 1850 the Naval School was transformed into the United States Naval Academy. The cadets were trained in sciences, languages, navigation, and engineering. Changes in education and training have reflected the evolution of technology; thus since 1933 , U.S. Naval Academy...
Whaling Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...) and by Nathaniel Philbrick in the best-selling In the Heart of the Sea ( 2000 ; National Book Award). A brutal mutiny on the whaleboat Globe ( 1824 ), originally narrated by sole survivors William Lay and Cyrus M. Hussey ( 1828 ), then retold in 1840 by William Comstock , brother of perpetrator Samuel Comstock , has been differently reinterpreted by Gregory Gibson ( Demon of the Waters , 2002 ) and Thomas Heffernan ( Mutiny on the Globe , 2002 ), while Joan Druett has revisited murder and rebellion on the whaleboat Sharon in ...
Wars, Maritime Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...inflation had contributed to the financial crisis and also provoked a naval mutiny, the sailors demanding an increase in wages. In these circumstances news of Sir John Jervis ’s victory over a Spanish fleet off Cape Saint Vincent, in which young Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson played a daring role, was extremely welcome. But the British situation was fearful. To keep the Dutch fleet from getting to sea Admiral Adam Duncan bravely positioned his only two ships that had not mutinied off the Texel, employing false signals to suggest that a greater British fleet...
Shipboard Organization Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...longer shared in the decision about the route that was to be taken, this medieval custom now being replaced by a new disciplinary regime. Crew members who wanted to make use of their traditional privilege to have a say in the decisions about navigation would now be charged with “mutiny.” In theory, if not always in practice, the captains on these ships could command far-reaching discipline. Though the traditional term “master” (or “skipper”), together with the older concept of his role, lingered on in coastal seafaring as well as on small sailing vessels until...
Shipboard Life Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...to their way of life. The rituals of everyday life introduced newcomers to this very specific world. In time, some of them came to feel that this was home to them. [ See also Communities ; Discipline and Punishment ; Health and Health Care ; Homosexuality among Sailors ; Mutiny ; and Victualling .] Creighton, Margaret S. American Mariners and the Rites of Manhood, 1830–1870. In Jack Tar in History: Essays in the History of Maritime Life and Labour , edited by Colin Howell and Richard Twomey , pp. 143–163. Fredericton, New Brunswick: Acadiensis...
Navies, Great Powers Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Maritime History
...the United States into the war in April 1917 , completing the blockade and promising a massive new army for a decisive campaign of 1919 . Since the Royal Navy kept the shipping lanes open and seriously damaged the U-boat force, Germany was doomed. That the High Seas Fleet mutinied when ordered to sea in October 1918 , and sparked a wave of revolutions that brought down the Imperial regime, was both ironic and highly revealing. The German fleet finally steamed into captivity at the Grand Fleet base of Scapa Flow and scuttled itself in 1919 . Under the...
Mutinies Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History (2 ed.)
...could be punished by death ( see Death penalty ) and under the Defence Force Disciplinary Act 1982 ( see Law, Military ) the maximum penalty for mutiny is life imprisonment. The Australian armed forces have not experienced mutinies of the scale that afflicted the French Army in 1917 , when the troops of 54 divisions refused to obey orders, but Australian personnel have staged in excess of 40 mutinies, some involving over 100 personnel. Australian mutinies, however, have generally occurred in rear areas and been peaceful and short-lived. The most...
