Louverture, Toussaint, 27
Lovejoy, David S., 111
Low, Edward, 72, 82
Lowther, George, 72, 80
Loyal George (ship), 120, 125
Lyne, Philip, 74
MacIntosh, Ebenezer, 108
Mackenthun, Gesa, 184n4
Madagascar, 65, 78
Madison, James, 115, 116
Magellan, 1
Magnus, Olaus, 20
Malê Revolt, Bahia, Brazil, 168
Mandinka people, 163
Many-Headed Hydra, The (Rediker and Linebaugh), xi
maritime history: assumption that landed spaces are most important, 2; “bottom up” influence of seafaring people, 177–78; historians’ failure to recognize sailors, 1–2; role of perspective in the interpretation of, 176–77; vs. terracentric view of the world, 2–3
maroons: marooning as punishment, 71; outlaws’ building of communities, 178; survival story (see Pitman, Henry)
Marryat, Frederick, 150
Marshall, Thomas, 124
Marx, Karl, 62
Mather, Cotton, 151
Matthews, John, 143
Mayhew, Jonathan, 96
McConachie, Bruce, 171
medical knowledge shared by sailors, 16–17
Melville, Herman, 150
Mende people, 163
Mercer, Charles Fenton, 166
merchant seamen. See sailors
Mexican (ship), 152
Microcosmus marinus (Kraken), 20
Middle Passage, 2, 139, 144, 171, 172
Milton, John, 20, 24
Miskito Indians, 58
Mitchell the Pirate, 152
“Moco” (Ibibio of the Bight of Biafra), 133
Moffat, Thomas, 108
Monmouth’s Rebellion (1685), 46, 47, 48, 58
Montaigne, Michel de, 23
Montes, Pedro, 155, 165, 166, 215n6
Montfort, Pierre Dénys de, 20
Montgomery, David, 29
Moore, Captain, 80
More, Thomas, 23
Morgan, Jeremiah, 107
Morison, Samuel Eliot, 177
Morley, James, 123
Morris, Nicholas, 96
Morris, Richard B., 111
Morris, William, 96
Morton, Thomas, 157
motley crews: African Americans’ fight against press gangs, 107; African slaves’ protests in Charleston, 89–90; arguments for human freedom emerging from uprisings, 105–6; circulation of revolutionary ideas in port cities, 105; co-existence of a revolutionary spirit in England and America, 99–100; contributions to abolitionist movement in London, 98–99; defiance of slavery, 99; deserting sailors’ fight against press men, 96–97; disconnect with intellectuals’ vision for obtaining independence, 112–16; enthusiasm for anti-imperial insurrection, 110–11; exclusion from new republic, 115–16, 119; history of, 90; ideology of “the people” derived from, 94–95; impact of their resistance to the Stamp Act, 107–8; inauguration of an age of revolution worldwide, 117–19; inspiration for English Revolution, 111–12; intimidation of British officials, 108–9; legislation as focus of mob protests, 106, 107–8; literal and social meanings of, 91–92; lives framed as unjust slavery, 98; Mayhew’s defense of the right to revolution and, 96; multiethnicity of members, 91, 99, 111; multiracial mobs’ contribution to the revolutionary movement, 107, 110–11; navy mutiny-from-below encouraged by sailors’ yarns, 28; and propagation of antinomian notion of moral conscience, 111–12; role in revolutionary crisis of 1760s and 1770s, 90–91, 110–11; sailors’ participation in, 92, 93–94, 96–97, 107, 108–10; seamen’s strikes targeting wages, 97–98; slaves’ place in revolutionary movement, 105–6, 114–15; upsurge during a slave rebellion in Jamaica (see Tacky’s Revolt)
Moulthrop, Sidney, 147
Muslims, 163–64, 168, 220n40, 220n43
Nassau (ship), 127
Nassau Street riot, 109
Nathans, Heather, 218n26
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England, 30
Native Americans, 23, 57–58, 61
Nauticus (writer), 98
Nelson, Horatio, 1
New Britannia (ship), 128, 130
New Orleans Bee (newspaper), 147
newspapers: Charleston Courier, 147; chronicling of slave uprisings, 138; Colored American, 174; Connecticut Courant, 152; connection to sailors’ yarns, 28; coverage of abolitionist speeches, 103; coverage of pirate captures, 152, 217n15; framing of Amistad rebellion, 146–47, 150, 154, 161–62, 166, 168; image of pirate, 86, 150, 169; Independent Advertiser, 95; New Orleans Bee, 147; New York Commercial Advertiser, 147; New York Journal of Commerce, 147; New York Morning Herald, 146, 147, 161; proslavery positions of, 161, 166
New Voyage Around the World, A (Dampier), 16, 22–23, 24
New Worlds for Old (Brandon), 23
New York Commercial Advertiser (newspaper), 147
New York Journal of Commerce (newspaper), 147
New York Morning Herald (newspaper), 146, 147, 161
New York Revenge’s Revenge (ship), 74
New York Sun (newspaper), 147, 154, 161, 171
Nightingale (ship), 129
Nuthall, John, 52, 61
obeahmen, 101
Obi; or Three-Finger’d Jack (play), 157
“Of Canibals” (Montaigne), 23
Oliver, Andrew, 108
Oliver, Peter, 108
Oration on the Beauties of Liberty, An (Allen), 105
Osagie, Iyunolu Folayan, 148
Otis, James, Jr., 103, 111
Paine, Thomas, 92, 106, 111, 113–14, 119
Panda (ship), 151, 152, 153
Paradise Lost (Milton), 20, 24
Parker, Isaac, 123–24
Peale’s Museum and Portrait Gallery, New York, 148
Pembroke Prize (ship), 93
Petty, William, 5–7
Phillip, John, 72
Phillips, Jonas B., 154, 158
Philmore, J., 102–3, 111, 119
picking oakum, 13–14
Pickney’s Treaty (1795), 165
Pilot, The (Cooper), 150
Pirate, The (Marryat), 150
Pirate, The (Scott), 150
pirates: acceptance of new members, 71; age distribution, 67; backgrounds, 64, 65–67, 190n3; “black pirates” (see Amistad rebellion); captains’ status, 68; characteristics, 86–87; code of honor, 56; consciousness of kind and community, 78–79, 80–81, 82–83; culture, 87–88; distribution of plunder, 69–70; effects of post-war surplus of navy labor on the economy, 83–84; fraternity expressed through revenge, 79–80, 198n73; genealogical connection between crews, 72, 73f, 195n39; governance structure on ships, 67–71; heroic status of, 150–51, 153, 176, 178 (see also Cinqué, Joseph); influence of Muslim pirates on depictions of the Amistad, 163–64, 220n40, 220n43; institutionalization of egalitarianism, 68; Jolly Roger, 16, 64, 81–83, 198–99n76; key features of their social order and practices, 86, 87; legal battle over piracy, 165–67; marital and class status, 67, 192–93nn15–16; merchantmen’s motivation for becoming, 66–67, 76; messages sent by names of ships, 72, 74, 195–96n42; multiethnicity of crews, 151; multiethnicity of members, 79; naval campaign against, 84–86, 200nn95–96; newspaper coverage of captures, 152, 217n15; ocean travelers’ fear of, 63, 74; organization of space and privilege aboard the ship, 68; penalties for crimes against property, 77, 84–86, 151–52, 200nn95–96; Pitman’s encounter with, 55–56; popularity as literary subject, 150, 152–53, 156–57, 217n17; population estimates (1716–1726), 64, 190–91n4; preference for piracy over the navy, 66; preferred waters for bases, 64–65; quartermasters’ powers, 69; regulation of discipline, 70–71; role of perspective in the interpretation of history, 177–79; ship life conditions, 66; social code, 82–83; social uniformity on ships, 71–72, 195n39; symbolic affirmation of unity through speech, 80–81; symbolism of flag, 82, 198–99n76; system of reciprocal terror with royal authorities, 77–78; and theme of a “life of liberty” in litera
ture, 153; treatment of captured merchant captains, 74–77, 196n47; treatment of well-regarded captains, 75–76, 196n52; use of councils, 69; use of written articles for governance, 68–71; view of justice, 72, 74, 76; welfare system, 70
Pirates’ Own Book, The (Ellms), 152
Pitman, Henry: background, 46–47; capture by royalists, 47–48; collective nature of escape story, 62; conviction and exile, 48–49; encounter with pirates, 55–56; escape by boat, 53–55; escape plan and preparation, 51–53; exploitation by his owner, 50–51; knowledge used in escape, 60–61; legislation of slavery in Barbados, 49–50; modes of production essential to escape, 61–62; parallels to Robinson Crusoe, 62; political changes upon return, 60; return to England, 58–59; survival as maroon, 56–58
Plan of an African Ship’s Lower Deck (lithograph), 6f
Plunkett (British official), 80–81
Pontoppidan, Erik, 20
Porteous, John, 94
press men. See impressment
Preston, Thomas, 109
Prince of Orange (ship), 127
Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English, The (Hakluyt), 24
Proctor, Joseph, 155
Putney Debates, 98
Quakers, 46, 103, 105
Quartering Acts (1765, 1774), 106
quartermasters on pirate ships, 69
“Quaws” (Ibibio of the Bight of Biafra), 133
Queen Anne’s Revenge (ship), 74
Rainborough, Thomas, 111
Randolph, Isham, 74
Ray, Charles Bennett, 174
Rediker, Marcus, x, xi
Red Rover (Cooper), 150
Reed, Peter, 157
Revere, Paul, 96, 110
Richardson, David, 138
Richmond Enquirer (newspaper), 147
Rigaud, André, 117
Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved, The (Otis), 103
Rights of the Sailors Vindicated, The (Nauticus), 98
Riland, John, 123
Riot Act (1786), 114
Roberts, Bartholomew “Black Bart,” 70, 74, 79–81, 86
Robertson, Lucille Fadell, ix–x
Robinson, Samuel, 15
Robinson Crusoe (Defoe), 24, 62
Rogers, Nathaniel, 170
Rogers, Woodes, 15–16, 65
Royal Navy: African Americans’ fight against press gangs, 107; average employment, 64; campaign against pirates, 84–86, 200nn95–96; contrast with social order of pirates, 68; corruption in, 37–38; impact of demobilization on the economy, 83–84; impressment of merchant seamen, 39, 65, 191n7; mutinies inspired by battles against press gangs, 117; mutiny-from-below encouraged by sailors’ yarns, 28; offensive weakness due to shipboard conditions, 66; relation of rise in piracy to demobilization of, 83–84; remobilization after 1725, 84; sailors’ fight against press men, 93–94, 96–97; treatment of captured deserters, 96
Royal Sovereign (ship), 187–88n2
Ruez, Juan, 155
Ruggles, David, 174
Ruiz, José, 165, 166, 215n6
Rush, Benjamin, 111
Russellville, Kentucky, ix–x
Sailor and His Hammock, A (lithograph), 100f
sailors: contribution to creation of a cosmopolitan community, 10; depiction of, as labor power, 6–7; disparagement of, by Madison, 115; entrenched militant attitude, 92, 96–97; framing of, lives as unjust slavery, 98; leadership of mass actions, 108–10; life of merchant seamen, 65; maritime historians’ failure to recognize, 1–2; origin of first strike and, 8; positioning to speak about global experiences, 9–10; post-1763 deserters fight against press men, 96–97; role of perspective in interpretation of history, 177–79; Royal Navy’s treatment of captured deserters, 96; seafaring life of Edward Barlow (see Barlow, Edward); self-identification with “the poor,” 43; storytelling by (see the sailor’s yarn); strikes targeting wages, 97–98; view of their labor as a commodity, 5–7; violent resistance to impressment, 93–94, 96–97, 107
the sailor’s yarn: basis of the authority given to, 12, 20–21; belief in spirits, 19–20; characteristics of, 11–12; contribution to the abolition movement, 26–27; in the courtroom, 22; functions of, 14; genesis of, 12–14; heroic depictions of protagonists in, 11, 14, 25, 60; impact on the development of drama and literature, 23–26; impact on Western philosophy, 23; impact on world history, 29; information-based role of, 16–17; lessons passed on through scars and tattoos, 17–18; migration into printed form, 22–23; mobile nature of, 21–22; navy mutiny-from-below encouraged by, 28; new workers using, to socialize, 16; political and economic effects of, 17; reproduction of maritime culture by, 14–16; ruling classes’ reaction against a dependency on, 28; sailors’ positioning to speak about global experiences, 9–10; sea monsters mentioned in, 20–21; significance as means of communication, 22, 27; storytelling typology based on work experience, 11; themes of freedom and fantasy in, 18–19
sangaree, 130
Santa Maria (ship), 1
Saturday Night at Sea (lithograph), 14, 15f
Scott, Julius, 27, 117
Scott, Walter, 150
Scott’s Hall maroons, 101
Sea Changes: Historicizing the Ocean (Klein and Mackenthun), 184n4
“Sea Is History, The” (Walcott), 3
sea monsters in sailors’ yarns, 20–21
Selkirk, Alexander, 24, 62
Senegambia, 132, 139, 163
Seven Years’ War (1763), 90, 96, 113–14
Severin, Tim, 62
Shakespeare, William, and use of sailors’ tales, 23
Sharp, Granville, 98–99, 118
Sharpe, Sam, 168
Shays’ Rebellion, 114, 115
Sheffield, J., 159
Ship of War, of the Third Rate, with Rigging, &c. at Anchor, A (lithograph), 4f ships. See European deep-sailing ships
Shirley, William, 94
Sierra Leone River, 65, 78, 118, 143
Sketchley, J., 158
Slave, The (opera), 157, 171
Slave Carrying Bill (1788), 128
slavery: circulation of revolutionary ideas in port cities, 105; escape from bondage (see African rebels; Amistad rebellion; Pitman, Henry); facilitation of, by ships, 6; framing of slave resistance as entertainment, 147–48; influence of sailors’ stories on antislavery movement, 26–27; legislation of, in Barbados, 49–50; place of slaves in the revolutionary movement, 114–15; political effects of slave resistance, 105–6; popularity of slave-rebels as literary subjects, 156–57; a sailor’s sentiments about slaves, 43; slave rebellion in Jamaica (see Tacky’s Revolt); slave revolt in Saint-Domingue, 27; slaves’ place in the revolutionary movement, 105–6, 114–15; spread of the view that slavery is contrary to nature and equality, 102–3, 106; strengthening of, in Constitution, 116; strikes demonstrating a defiance of, 99; use of nascent colonial rebellion to attempt escape, 104–6. See also abolitionist movement
Slave Ship, The (Rediker), xi
Slush, Barnaby, 87–88
Smith, Abel, 93
Smith, William, 132
Smollett, Tobias, 25–26
Snelgrave, William, 75–76, 125, 141
social bandits, x, 153
Solgard, Captain, 80
Somerset, James, 99
Somersetshire, England, 46
Sons of Liberty, 100, 111, 112
Sons of Neptune, 111
South Carolina Council of Safety, 110
Spain, 28, 83, 93, 98, 165, 166
Spanish American Wars of Independence, 151
Spitalfields silk weavers, 105
Spotswood, Alexander, 63, 72, 74, 77, 80
Spriggs, Francis, 80
Stamp Act (1765), 89, 106, 107–8, 110
Steele, Henry K., 172
Stirling (ship), 26
Story, Joseph, 167
“Storyteller, The” (Benjamin), 10–11
strikes: in defiance of slavery, 99; hunger (see hunger strikes on slave ships); by seamen over wages, 97–98
Strong, Ezra, 152
Strong, Jonathan, 98–99
Stubbs, James, 76
Sturge, Joseph, 173
superstitions in sailors’ yarns, 19–20
Supreme Court, US, 153, 167, 169
Swallow (ship), 66
Swift, Jonathan, 25
Systema Naturae (Linnaeus), 20
Tacky’s Revolt: contribution to tradition of revolutionary thought, 102–3; half-hearted participation of impressed seamen in, 101–2; as inspiration for Otis’s speech advocating emancipation, 103; subsequent instances of slave resistance, 104; timeline of, 101
Tappan, Lewis, 173, 220n40
tattooing, 17–18
Tea Act (1773), 106
Teach, Edward (Blackbeard), 63, 72, 74, 79, 151
Teçora (ship), 172
Tempest, The (Shakespeare), 23
terracentrism, 2–3
Terrible (ship), 113–14
Thistlewood, Thomas, 102
Thomas (ship), 130, 132
Thompson, E. P., 87
Thompson, Smith, 167
Thornton, John, 142
Three-Finger’d Jack (play), 171
Timothy, Peter, 110
Told, Silas, 120–21, 125
Towne, James, 137
Townshend Revenue Act (1767), 106, 108
Tripolitan War, 151
Trott, Nicholas, 77
Trotter, Thomas, 133, 144
True History of the African Chief Jingua and His Comrades, A (pamphlet), 149, 162, 164, 171–72
Trumbull, John, 115
Tucker, Timothy, 120–21, 126
Tuffin, John, 96
Turner, Nat, 148, 149, 168
Two Dialogues on the Man-Trade (Philmore), 102–3
Unity (ship), 130
Unsworth, Barry, 3
US Constitution, 116
Utopia (More), 23
Vane, Charles, 79
Victoria (ship), 1
Villains of All Nations (Rediker), xi
Voyage to Botany Bay, A (Barrington), 19
Waker, Thomas, 53, 56
Walcott, Derek, 3
Walker, David, 168
Walpole, Robert, 198n73
Walton, Perry, 218n23
Ward, Ned, 17
War of Jenkins’ Ear, 25
War of the Spanish Succession, 83
Warren, Peter, 93, 112
Outlaws of the Atlantic Page 27