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    Mutiny : a history of naval insurrection / Leonard F. Guttridge.

    • Title:Mutiny : a history of naval insurrection / Leonard F. Guttridge.
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    • Author/Creator:Guttridge, Leonard F., 1918-2009 author.
    • Published/Created:Annapolis, Md. : Naval Institute Press, ©1992.
    • Holdings

       
    • Library of Congress Subjects:Mutiny--History.
    • Description:318 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
    • Summary:Nothing is more terrifying to a seagoing captain than the specter of mutiny, and nothing more riveting than a tale of mutinous deeds. In this fascinating book, Leonard Guttridge provides a casebook of mutinies that have occurred over the past two hundred years, beginning with the mutiny on the Bounty. Peopled with colorful characters and filled with suspense, Mutiny brings these dramatic and often bloody events to life, alternately exciting our horror and arousing our sympathy. But this book is much more than a mere collection of stories. With a meticulous attention to historical accuracy, Guttridge examines the world's famous and not-so-famous mutinies - the bloody uprising aboard the Potemkin, the racial disturbances on the Constellation, the rebellion at the Nore, the hijacking of the Storozhevoy, to name but a few - and asks what these incidents, occurring in different navies and in different ages, have in common. His findings are both startling and illuminating. In his search for a single definition of mutiny, Guttridge came upon muddy waters. Contrary to popular belief, there is more to mutiny than solely the effort to seize control of a ship. Legal opinions are inconclusive. Some courts have ruled that simple disobedience qualifies. Some military legalists insist that a mutiny must be a cooperative act, others hold that one person can make a mutiny. As a result, the word "mutiny" has been laid to act as diverse as the murderous violence of the Hermione's men and the hunger strikes of the Friedrich der Grosse's crew. Guttridge charts a course through controversial if not always incontrovertibly mutinous waters, shedding fresh light on American episodes as widely separated in time as the Somers affair and the Vance tragi-comedy. He claims that discipline often depends more upon the crew's decision to obey than upon the officers' will to lead. Why, then, does mutiny occur only rarely in naval history? What are the forces that maintain discipline and sustain morale? And what are the factors that cause sailors to rebel against their officers? Guttridge's answers in this definitive study are sure to fascinate historians and naval leaders alike, suggesting that only communication between all levels of command can prevent mutiny, the greatest naval catastrophe of all.
    • Notes:Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-310) and index.
    • ISBN:0870212818 (acid free paper)
      9780870212819 (acid free paper)
    • Contents:The Georgian years
      Bligh and Chruistian
      "I am in hell"
      Flash point at Spithead
      Mischief at the Nore
      The nightmare ship
      The Somers
      A midshipman's mania
      A crime undefined
      The Potemkin
      Imperial fleets
      Cattaro to Kronstadt
      Red plots and pay cuts
      Invergordon
      Port Chicago
      No bulwarks of pride
      The calculated risk
      Nelsonian tradition or tyrannical whimsy
      The troubled carriers
      Beach detachment
      Mutiny and morale.
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