Freiheit auf der schwarzen Burg. Soziale Dynamiken von Zwischenhalten amerikanischer Walfänger in Jamestown (St. Helena), 1776–1907

This article investigates how the South Atlantic harbour of St. Helena shaped the experiences, practices, and tactics of seamen from American whalers on shore leave. Based on logbooks, diaries, and other sources mainly from the nineteenth century, it argues that the harbour’s reputation as a place of longing as well as a number of distinctive features – among them the US consulate and the last residence of Napoleon – encouraged seamen to revolt against the impositions of working life at sea by means of strikes, petitions, and desertions.

19th century · Desertion · maritime labor · Napoleon Bonaparte · petitions · Sailors · shore leave · Social dynamics · South Atlantic · St. Helena · strikes · Whaling · Colonial History and Postcolonial Studies · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Legal and cultural studies analysis