This book explores ideas of masculinity in the maritime world in the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. During this time commerce, politics and technology supported male privilege, while simultaneously creating the polite, consumerist and sedentary lifestyles that were perceived as damaging the minds and bodies of men. This volume explores this paradox through the figure of the sailor, a working-class man whose representation fulfilled numerous political and social ends in this period. It begins with the enduring image of romantic, heroic veterans of the Napeolonic wars, takes the reader through the challenges to masculinities created by encounters with other races and ethnicities, and with technological change, shifting geopolitical and cultural contexts, and ends with the fragile portrayal of masculinity in the imagined Nelson. In doing so, this edited collection shows that maritime masculinities (ideals, representations and the seamen themselves) were highly visible and volatile sites for negotiating the tensions of masculinities with civilisation, race, technology, patriotism, citizenship, and respectability during the long nineteenth century.
Author(s): Karen Downing, Johnathan Thayer, Joanne Begiato
Series: Global Studies in Social and Cultural Maritime History
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 317
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
Introduction: A Sailor’s Progress?
Negotiation and Change
Technology and Contestation
Patriotism, Citizenship, and Respectability
Nascent and Fragile Masculinities
Historicising Masculinities
Regency Masculinity? Napoleonic War Veterans and Explaining Change in the History of Masculinities
Choosing Naval Veterans to Explain Change
The Royal Navy as a Communication Community
Naval Veterans at Home
Military Masculinity and Families
Conclusion
Part I: Negotiation and Change
Displaying the Wooden Walls of Old England: The HMS Foudroyant as a Monument to Lost Skills and Manhood, 1892–1897
Lighting German Fires
Nostalgia in the Era of Navalism
“Our Nelson’s Ship”
Planning for Exhibition
The Capacity for Heroism
‘He Was Possessed of the Very First Natural Abilities’: American Mariners’ Construction of Masculinity on the Far Side of the World
Gender and Gentility
Samuel Shaw’s Reception
The Cosmopolitan Gentility of Amasa Delano
Edmund Fanning, ‘d____d Yankee’
Richard Cleveland’s ‘Great Civility’
Conclusion
‘A Splendid Body of Men’: Fishermen as Model Males in Late-Nineteenth-Century British Imagery
Introduction
Independence: The Dignified Breadwinner
Domesticity: Fishermen and the Ties of Home
‘A Splendid Body of Men’: Physique, Costume, Sobriety
Model Britons: Loyal, Hardy, Bold and Skilful
Conclusion
Part II: Technology and Contestation
‘Our Future Lies Upon the Water’: Redemptive Manhood and Maritime Labour Reform in the Wilhelmine Era in Germany
Popular Depictions of the Seaman: Alienated Rogue or Emblem of Empire?
Reconnecting the Prodigal Seaman to the Fatherland
From Stepsons of Society to the Brotherhood of Citizens
Making ‘Real Seamen’ for War
Conclusion
‘A Real Men’s Profession’: Finnish Sailors and Masculinities at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
Sources
Finnish Ships at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
Sailor Masculinity on Board
Skills, Strength, and Sisu
Domestic Tasks and Routines
Sail Versus Steam
Emphasising Freedom
Sailor Masculinity Ashore
Differing Attitudes
Bachelor Sailors?
Conclusion
Row, Row, Row Your Boat: How the Marine Corps Engendered Landing Parties, 1898–1918
Existential Crises and Public Relations Solutions
The Rowboat in Rhetoric: The Corps’ Changing Depictions of Landing Parties
Marines and Sailors in the Veracruz Incident
Internalising and Intensifying Identity: How Marines Evaluated Their Performance in Contrast to the Navy
The Publicity Bureau Gets to Work: Capitalising on the Veracruz Incident
Different Men at Work: How the Navy and the Marine Corps Depicted Their Men in Recruiting Posters
Conclusion
Part III: Patriotism, Citizenship, and Respectability
Navalism and Masculinity Before the First World War
Introduction
Emergence and Development of the Navy League
Imperial Maritime League
The Navy League and Youth
British Seamen for British Ships
Conclusion
‘Sailors’ Homes’: Sailors’ Boarding Houses, Maritime Reform, and Contested Domestic Space in New York’s Sailortown
Introduction
Sailors’ Boarding Houses: The Epicentres of Sailortown
The Board of Commissioners for Licensing Sailors’ Hotels and Boarding Houses
25 South Street
Conclusion
Saving H.M.S. Victory: Admiral Nelson, Anti-socialism, and Heroic Masculinity
Hero-Worship and Imperialist Education
The Anglo-Saxons and Admiral Nelson
Modest Heroism and Collective Duty
Conclusion
Part IV: Nascent and Fragile Masculinities
Nelson Was No Milksop: Overcoming Frailty on Film in 1918
Introduction
Our Duties as Citizens
The Boy Nelson
The Handsome Romantic Lead
The Scarred Sailor
There Will Never Be Another Hero Like Nelson
Educating and Entertaining
Jack Will Welcome Nelson
Epilogue: Manhood Found and Lost at Sea: The Loss of the Eurydice
Index
