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5 Brave Republicans of the Ocean James Durand almost mutinied. He believed that there was a contradiction between a “government which boasts of liberty” and the autocracy of the quarterdeck. He complained bitterly of the midshipmen, no more than mere boys, who ordered grown men around with verbal abuse. And he declared that “no monarch in the world is more absolute than the Captain of a Man-of War.” He believed that flogging was an outrage “on human nature,” especially because a man might be punished “for a crime no more serious than spitting on the quarter deck.”1 When an injustice took place on the frigate Constitution in the Mediterranean in 1807, he was ready for action. The drama began after Lieutenant William Burrows, in command with Captain Hugh Campbell ashore at Catania, Sicily, confronted a sailor on deck in front of hundreds of the crew. The man had been out of earshot when the lieutenant had called him. Now Burrows wanted him flogged for insubordination , even though, like many of his shipmates, his term of service had expired. These seamen clung to the same contractual notions that had appeared among sailors and soldiers in the late eighteenth century. In the minds of the “people of the ship,” to punish unfairly a man who was not technically in the navy was too much to bear. Burrows ordered the man to take off his shirt. He refused. Burrows then grabbed a hand spike and swung it at him with all his might.The nimble tar ducked and Burrows missed.The crew supported their shipmate: the boatswain would not flog the man, and many seamen declared that there should be no punishment. Faced with disobedience, Burrows ordered the marines to fire on the crew. They sympathized with the sailors and did not obey him. All of the officers then armed themselves and ordered the crew below. That command was obeyed and peace was preserved. Upon his return to the ship, the captain sought to avert a full mutiny. He spoke to the men whose enlistment had expired and listened to their grievances , which centered around being flogged after their time had expired and Brave Republicans of the Ocean • 131 not yet returning home. The captain compromised, asking them to do their duty while promising to head for the United States as soon as he had finished his business at several Mediterranean ports. Campbell also pledged that “from now on, no man shall be published unless he deserves it.” Three sailors—the boatswain, the man who was to be flogged, and another man who spoke out during the confrontation—were placed in irons and kept there until the return to Boston.2 This little-known episode of American naval history represents only a small portion of James Durand’s experiences. Born in Connecticut in 1786, Durand first went to sea at age fourteen. His earliest voyages were to the West Indies, where he personally saw some of the bloodiest results of the Age of Revolution in St. Domingue. He even visited the site of one mass grave said to contain the bodies of 120 whites massacred by blacks during their revolt against slavery. At times he reaped large profits from wages and from his private ventures; he also survived shipwreck and the loss of all his worldly possessions . He served in the United States Navy in the Mediterranean, fighting the Barbary pirates.3 After the near mutiny and his return to the United States, Durand had had enough of the navy. Although he was a petty officer, he jumped ship before the final paying off after a young midshipman had him flogged for some imagined offense. This action appears irrational, since Durand lost money by it. But with his enlistment up, he was going to assert his liberty despite the cost.4 Durand turned to the merchant marine, sailing to France. At Nantes he claimed to have seen Napoleon Bonaparte, although he was singularly unimpressed . After leaving port the British captured the vessel. Kept as a prisoner for months, he was released after the ship was condemned as a blockade runner . Penniless again, he signed aboard a Swedish vessel. In March 1809 he signed aboard an English merchantman, but before it could sail a press-gang came aboard and seized him along with twelve other Americans. His protection —an official document stating that he was an American citizen—was of little help. Despondent, he ate nothing for twelve...

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