The Royal Navy in the Pacific Islands

THE STATUS AND PRESTIGE OF 19TH CENTURY BRITAIN WERE FIRMLY BASED UPON the command of sea power; as the greatest thalassocracy the world had yet seen Britain was able to impose upon that world her concepts of Free Trade and the Pax Britannica. The fact, and, sometimes, the fiction of her maritime supremacy deeply influenced the lives of vast numbers of humanity, both civilized and primitive. French admirals, colonial governors, island chiefs and African slaves were equally aware of the presence of that power which, according to their condition, they welcomed or feared but which they could never ignore. Indeed, the influence of the Royal Navy is everywhere to be seen but particularly in the development of Australian society, whose social and political concepts were in the main fashioned in an atmosphere of security from external threat that was the gift of English sea power. Few societies have been so privileged as to be able to concentrate their energies and re sources almost entirely upon the problems of peaceful internal development without the overwhelming distraction and expense of self defence. The purpose of this article is to look briefly at one aspect of the so called Pax Britannica at close quarters, as shown in the attitudes and behaviour of Royal Navy captains stationed in the waters of the Pacific Ocean where, during the middle 50 years of the last century, they were usually the sole representatives of English power. When seen against the great philosophical debates of the century, the actions of such relatively junior officers in a remote ocean might seem naive and unsophisticated, and the moral principles that motivated them either jejune or irrelevant. Yet these officers were also men of their time and their beliefs and decisions often reflected the deep seated convictions of their society. Indeed the very isolation they suffered, as a consequence of distance and slow communications, lends a special significance to their behaviour. Invested with a substantial part of the imperium of the world's greatest power these commanders, faced with the inseparable nature of power and responsibility, were often called upon to meet philosophical and moral dilemmas without any clear guidance from others. The more remote his station and the deeper his comprehension of the issues confronting him, the less probable was it that an officer would find a complete answer, yet answers he was compelled to 3

Ancient history · Colonialism · Economic history · Humanity · Navy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Prestige · History · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Law

• Naval power and diplomacy in the nineteenth century

  C I Hamilton•Journal of Strategic Studies•1980

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