"RRRR matey!" One of my favorite college research essays, this paper dives into an analysis of the "company culture" aboard a variety of pirate sea vessels of the 16th century.
Setting Sail
The sun’s rays gleam off the reflective blue sea as the protruding mast of a vessel runs parallel to the sunsets horizon. Powered by the currents and the whipping winds, the boat moves swiftly through the seas. Laughter and banter of men can be heard from its decks and the salty stench on board reeks through the cabins. This in itself, is life on the sea and for the most part it is seen to have been the origins of a unique North American work ethic and culture on the Atlantic Ocean. Although their labor did see variations in the work done, Anglo-American Pirates and Merchant marines saw similar and recognizable traits in how they were treated by government and society and the culture of work that became established on and off board their ships. Whether to escape the wretches of the authoritarian world or "drawn by high wages and wanderlust” (Lesmich, pg 373) associated with sea life, both pirates and merchant marines had their reasons for leaving the homeland for the sea in an effort to “make a new”, and it is through this journey that the formation of their work culture and ethics can be visibly seen. Both parties where criticized and categorized by their societies and governments in various ways and took actions to secure their individual liberties and protect themselves against the unlawful rule of captains and overseers through methods both diplomatic, such as having democratic crew votes by pirates aboard their vessels, to more hostile methods, such as merchant marines marching with clubs through the streets of major New England cities. As to each their own, Anglo-American Pirates and Merchant marines shared a common sense of individualism against higher-powers and injustices, an individualism that fought to establish suitable working conditions and freedoms that would aid in establishing a unique North American work culture, as well as seemingly setting a blueprint for labor unions in the future to follow.
Pirates Life for Me
“Ho, Ho, and up she rises. Ho, Ho, and up she rises. Ho, Ho, and up she rises, early in the morning” was a common sea shanty sung by many sea farers on their voyages in the Atlantic. The “she” in this small excerpt from “Drunken Sailor”, a famous nautical tune, may very well be referring to the laboring of raising the sails in the early morning for the ships voyage that day, or it could also be hinting at a certain kind of woman waking up in the morning after a “long night” of work. To each his own but for the sake of this essay, lets excuse the latter of the two to help examine the development of a pirate’s work culture.
For many, a pirate’s life was relatively rigorous and both physically and mentally demanding of every man on board as, “Men who became pirates were grimly familiar with the rigors of life at sea and with a single sex community of work” (Rediker, pg 208). These tough working conditions, paired with the common backgrounds of numerous pirates wanting to escape the reaches of society where most were out casted, created a sense of brotherhood among fellow pirates, a sense of comradery against unruly powers. Pirates despised the corrupted laws that governed the mainland and vowed to create conditions on the ship that benefited the likes of everyone equally. “This social order, articulated in the organization of the pirate ship, was conceived and deliberately constructed by the pirates themselves. Its hallmark was a rough, improvised, but effective egalitarianism that placed authority in the collective hands of the crew” (Rediker, pg 208-209). Pirates saw the imbalance of power associated with work-masters and head officials and created a society on-board that retracted power from their captain and placed the strength in numbers with many of the decisions pertaining to pirate life being democratically decided by the crew as a whole. This collaborative action to take to the sea and establish a miniature society in which all people shared the same working rights and benefits could be seen as the initial steps towards union conditions in North America. Just like how the unions of the 20th century were birthed from injustices in the work place, pirates saw the same characteristics of labor on land, and took it upon themselves to seclude themselves from such behaviors and establish conditions more inclined to the benefit of everyone on board, a mentality quite revolutionary for its time period. This individual awareness of worker safety and rights contributed to the unique work culture and environment shared by both pirates and merchantmen alike.
The Middle Men of the Sea
Similar to their drunken counterparts, Sea merchants also faced harsh conditions at the work place as well. Put fittingly, “The merchant marine was a place full of forces beyond the seaman's control: death and disease, storms, and fluctuations in employment” (Lesmich, pg 375) Men who joined the forces of the merchants had origins of various backgrounds, from wanderlust young men, to impressed sailors to even society’s criminals. Yet, just like the AngloAmerican pirates, society viewed harshly upon the seamen, categorizing them as loud mouth children who were only concerned for selling of their current product and nothing else. Besides the generalizations associated with the profession, sea men also faced brutal conditions because of the lack of individualism being part of a merchant crew ship. Unlike pirate vessels, where the traces of democracy were present amongst the governing of the men, merchant marine ships upheld the values most closely related to that of European trade ships with the captain having upmost authority. The implementation of laws such as “providing for the whipping of disobedient seamen” (Lesmich, pg 378) or “prohibiting seamen in port from leaving their vessels after sundown and from travelling on land without certificates of dis charge from their last job” (Lesmich, pg 378) clearly restricted the freedoms of working sea men. In addition to these atrocities, the taxation of goods from acts such as the Stamp Act was another source of frustration amongst sea men. A tax of any kind would inhibit revenue accumulated by the selling of goods by sea men, making the job ever more strenuous and difficult. Thus, with all of this in mind, sea men started to riot in major cities across the colonies against this oppression in the work field. This fighting for one’s rights demonstrated the signs of democratic methods to dealing with issues faced in the work place, and although some riots turned hostile and were viewed as “barbaric”, the revolts on land against the taxation, impressment of sailors or the working conditions, where an expression against injustice, the same expressions represented by labor unions formed centuries later. Just like the pirates, sea merchants saw the situation around them and protested it with their ability to be individuals in society, providing a preliminary foundation for a culture of work in North America that fought for the bettering of a workers well-being.
Land (and worker rights) Ahoy!
Although variation in their distinct occupations, pirates and merchant marines not only shared the sea, but they also shared a sense individualism against authoritarian society, which helped create a work culture in North America based on the principles of basic worker rights and the ability to secure a safe working environment. Through their resilient protesting to the restricting casts of the working conditions of their times, pirates and sea merchants fought against not only their oppressors but the idea of being oppressed itself. Whether it’s through the isolation from society by the establishment of small scale democratic “voyage-societies” by the Anglo-American pirates or the uprising riots against the burden-some conditions faced by sea merchants, a common theme of protesting unfairness for the bettering of oneself and their coworkers can be seen evident. In all, they may not have known it, but the actions of the Blackbeard’s and Jack Tar’s of their day would beneficially influence the North American work culture and indirectly set the blueprints for labor and worker unions in the future.
Sources Utilized
• Rediker, Marcus - Under the Banner of King Death.pdf
• Lemisch, Jesse - Jack Tar in the Streets.pdf
Comentarios