“In Poseidon's Curse Christopher P. Magra shows how the waterfront struggle against body-snatching profoundly shaped the course of history. Once again he illuminates the Atlantic and maritime origins of the American Revolution.”
— Marcus Rediker, Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History
Guest Post on the British Tars Blog
This blog explores common British and American sailors in the half century prior to the French Revolutionary Wars.
Guest Post on the Page 99 Test Blog
This blog challenges authors to open their books to page 99 and discuss their work.
Contents
Part One
A Seaborne Empire In The Atlantic World
By the eighteenth century, Britons had established one of the most powerful seaborne empires in the world. Overseas territorial possessions, trade routes, and naval convoys stretched across multiple bodies of water. The British government worked closely with the business community in this part of the world to provide protection for overseas colonies and maritime commerce. Merchants valued the British navy’s efforts in this regard. But, this security was not free. There were costs associated with defending colonies and trade routes. The state appropriation of free labor and private property ranked high among these charges.
Seapower and Commerce: An Atlantic Minuet
British Naval Impressment in the Atlantic World
Part Two
Resentment In The Atlantic World
The shared burdens of a seaborne empire generated resentment among Britons living and working in different regions around the Atlantic World. The British state commonly used impressment to man, supply, and transport military forces across watery highways. But, conventionality did not foster widespread acceptance. The military appropriation of labor and property generated a significant amount of resentment and resistance across the social spectrum in regions around the world over the course of the early modern era. Maritime employers resented the ways in which impressment jeopardized profit margins and private property. They equated their ability to pursue profit and control property with political liberty. Mariners resented press gangs because they curtailed their earning potential and employment options. For these Britons, liberty was connected to wage rates and occupational mobility. This sea of resentment provided the basis for a significant portion of the material and ideological origins of the American Revolution.
Merchants and Maritime Profits
Merchants and Maritime Property
Merchants and Mare Liberum
Mariners and Maritime Earnings
Mariners and Maritime Employment
Mariners and Liberty
Part Three
Rebellion In North America
British naval impressment generated resentment around the Atlantic World, but it only inspired rebellion in North America. Changes in imperial policy and new impressment legislation go a long way toward explaining why and how this happened. Americans perceived the policy changes and the legislation as benefiting other colonies in the Atlantic World at the expense of the Thirteen Colonies. This perception combined with the shared transatlantic resentment toward impressment to help produce a spirit of rebellion in America that led to seditious acts such as the destruction of the British navy’s property, the incarceration of press gangs, and the Declaration of Independence.
A Spirit of Rebellion
Rebellious Acts
What People Are Saying
“Offering a fresh account of the American Revolution’s origins, Poseidon’s Curse is maritime history at its best.”
— Eliga Gould, University of New Hampshire
“Christopher P. Magra brings a fresh and welcome perspective to the political and economic origins of the American Revolution, drawing upon his wide-ranging knowledge of the eighteenth-century Atlantic and his acute sensitivity to the many sides of this story.”
— Benjamin L. Carp, City University of New York
“In Poseidon's Curse…Magra makes a compelling case that 'the press', as the abduction of mariners was colloquially known, played a pivotal role in justifying the movement for American independence.”
— Brian Rouleau, Texas A&M
“Christopher P. Magra paints a vivid picture of the ways in which the impressment of men and property by the Royal Navy caused resentment in the eighteenth century British Atlantic world...His book should therefore interest and enlighten anyone who studies maritime history.”
— Stephen Conway, University College London
“Few provide anything like the detailed examination of merchants’ commercial relationships that Magra supplies. Merchants’ economic experiences are reconstructed in powerful and engaging detail in Poseidon’s Curse.”
— Timothy Jenks, East Carolina University
“The book is based on exhaustive research in archives, journals, memoirs, contemporary newspapers, online databases, published manuscript material, and secondary studies. The result is a detailed study with rich descriptions of the events and characters.”