Civility at Sea: From Murmuring to Mutiny

Abstract

In 1749 the articles of war that regulated life aboard His Britannic Majesty’s vessels stipulated: If any Person in or belonging to the Fleet shall make or endeavor to make any mutinous Assembly upon any Pretense whatsoever, every Person offending herein, and being convicted thereof by the Sentence of the Court Martial, shall suffer Death: and if any Person in or belong-ing to the Fleet shall utter any Words of Sedition or Mutiny, he shall suffer Death, or such other Punishment as a Court Martial shall deem him to deserve. . . . [Moreover] if any Person in or belonging to the Fleet shall conceal any traitorous or mutinous Words spoken by any, to the Prejudice of His Majesty or Government, or any Words, Practice or Design tending to the Hindrance of the Service, and shall not forthwith reveal the same to the Commanding Officer; or being present at any Mutiny or Sedition, shall not use his utmost Endeavors to suppress the same, he shall be punished as a Court Martial shall think he deserves. These stern edicts inform a common image of the cowed life of ordinary sailors aboard vessels of the Royal Navy during its golden age, an image affirmed by the testimony of Jack Nastyface (also known as William Robinson, 1787–ca. 1836), for whom the sailor’s lot involved enforced silence under threat of barbarous and tyrannical punishment.