“The Test of Salt Water”: Literature of the Sea and Social Class in Antebellum America Bryan Charles Sinche A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English. Chapel Hill 2006 Approved by Advisor: Philip F. Gura Reader: William L. Andrews Reader: Joy S. Kasson Reader: Timothy Marr Reader: Eliza C. Richards © 2006 Bryan C. Sinche ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii Abstract Bryan C. Sinche: “The Test of Salt Water”: Literature of the Sea and Social Class in Antebellum America (Under the direction of Philip F. Gura) In “The Test of Salt Water”: Literature of the Sea and Social Class in Antebellum America, I argue that fictional and non-fictional antebellum sea literature offers a valuable lens through which to critique authorial responses to race, social class, and economic mobility. The antebellum sailor populating the pages of the sea narrative was often celebrated as a representative American figure and a source of national pride despite the fact that, as a member of the antebellum working classes, he was a living testament to the limits of economic and social advancement in a nation where such limits were supposedly nonexistent. Authors used this disconnect, as well as the extra-national settings and generic conventions unique to the sea narrative, both to illuminate foundational American ideals and expose the failure of those ideals to improve materially the lives of sailors. In first section of The Test of Salt Water, I draw on writings by common sailors as well as well- known narratives authored by upper-class former seamen such as James Fenimore Cooper and Richard Henry Dana to map the rhetorical battles that helped to define the sailor within antebellum class hierarchies. In the second section, I evaluate sea narratives by Herman Melville, Frederick Douglass, and Martin Delany, each of whom utilized the sailor’s social and economic marginality to investigate the racial dimensions of class, labor, and freedom. Ultimately, these authors confront the limits of opportunity for many Americans by iii positioning the sailor as a liminal figure who—despite showing qualities of both—is neither slave nor citizen. iv For Melanie v Acknowledgements So many wonderful people have assisted me through my years in graduate school, I would just as soon write a dissertation on them. Among those people, there is no one who is or has been more important to my academic development than my advisor, Philip F. Gura, a remarkable mentor and an accomplished scholar. Through his irrepressible curiosity, his unflagging enthusiasm, and his resolute devotion to the continuous intellectual development of both his students and himself, he has shown me how to be a professional. I am both proud and thankful to have worked with him. The other members of my dissertation committee have been remarkably generous with their time, energy, and wisdom, which speaks to the talent and dedication of the unparalleled Americanist faculty at the University of North Carolina. I began working for Bill Andrews in 2001, and since that time he has become a trusted advisor, a loyal mentor, and, I am happy to report, a friend. I owe much of my development as a graduate student to his knowledge, insight, and kindness. Joy Kasson has supported my work before I knew what my work was, and her positive demeanor and probing comments have been of vital importance to this project. Tim Marr, my companion in Melville studies, has also been a companion in many important discussions over the past two years, and he has introduced me to a variety of resources (both human and textual) that have made this endeavor easier and its product vastly better. Finally, Eliza Richards, who arrived at Carolina as this project was just beginning, has been a welcome addition to the department and an incredibly insightful reader and mentor. The best way to thank each of these wonderful colleagues is to demonstrate the same union of kindness, generosity, and intellectual rigor in my own scholarly career. I would also like to thank other scholars, both at UNC and other institutions, who also contributed to this project: Paul Gilje, John Kasson, Kerry Larson, Bob Madison, Samuel Otter, Ryan Schneider, Jane Thrailkill, and Linda Wagner-Martin. Additionally, I would like to thank my fellow scholars Todd Butler, Philip Gura, Jim Piazza, and Eliza Richards for their patience, advice, and good humor during my job search. This project was completed with assistance from the Graduate School of the University of North Carolina which provided a year-long dissertation completion fellowship. The department of English at UNC-Chapel Hill contributed a Moose Family research grant along with various grants supporting my travel to libraries and conferences. The department also did me the great favor of allowing me to come to graduate school in the first place. My colleagues at the University of North Carolina are an impressive bunch, both in terms of their scholarly endeavors and their sociable collegiality. I would like to thank Anne Bruder, Jennifer Connerly, Maura D’Amore, Michael Everton, Timothy Jecmen, Jennifer Larson, Laura Mielke, Karah Rempe, Tara Robbins, Kelly Ross, and Elizabeth vi Stockton for their companionship on Wednesday evenings as well as their willingness to read a paragraph, loan a book, or hash out a difficult problem. My friends at Carolina have made graduate school far more than a scholarly challenge; they have made it a wonderful place to live and work for six years. Kurt Spurlock and I have had more discussions about more inanities than I can every recall, but I will surely miss them. Jonathan D’Amore, who got started in the book writing business before I, is a kind and generous friend who once saved my house from certain destruction. Kurt and Jonathan have been friends in all things, and our Thursday evenings over beer and banter have been a source of enjoyment, relaxation, and renewal. The best compliment I can give these learned men is this: You crack me up. Maura D’Amore has been a trusted “source” over these many years; I will miss her laugh, her energy, and her sincerity. My friend and colleague Anne Bruder has been honest, acerbic, and usually correct. Additionally, it has been my pleasure to share the basketball court, a long lunch, or an evening of laughter with Mitzi Boswell, Todd Butler, Michael Everton, Andy Leiter, Robert Martinez, Derek Maus, Jim and Traci Piazza, Rob Spirko, and Don Wells. My family has supported me without fail even though the academic world remains foreign and mysterious to most of them (as it does to even seasoned professionals, I suppose). My brothers and sisters in-law, Joe and Fawn Boyd Vigil, Brian and Pam Vigil, and Nadine King have shared their joys with me for over a decade now, and they have shared their homes with me during my many travels to and from Boston for conferences and research. Jerry and Lorraine Vigil, the second set of loving parents with whom I have been blessed, are the very model of what in-laws can be: generous, welcoming, loving, and forgiving. I thank them all with all my love. My grandmothers, Edna Sinche and Ardith Long, nurtured my curiosity for many years, and today they nurture me with love. For this, I will not require them to call me “doctor.” Eric Smidt, the finest friend a person could hope to meet in the seventh—or any other—grade, showed me something of the persistence and stubbornness I would need to finish graduate school when he ran the Boston Marathon around the time I took my exams; I look forward to our third decade of friendship and more moments of inspiration. My sister, Laura Sinche-Vitucci, and her husband, Anthony Vitucci, have shared with me their love, their concern for social justice, and their silliness, all of which have been refreshing and sustaining. My mother, Sheryl Sinche, and my father, Charles Sinche, blessed me with their affection as well a childhood filled with visits to libraries, battlefields, maritime museums, and historic homes, contributing to my interest in American history and literature from a very early age. With loving appreciation, I thank them for the enormous amounts of time, energy, and love that they bestowed upon me; I am happy to be their son and proud to call them my parents. My son Charles was born exactly one year before my doctoral exams, and he and I have grown with this project. These days, we both like to look at ships, and I love looking at them through his eyes. My friend in raising Charles—as in everything else—is my wife Melanie Sinche. More than twelve years ago, in a café in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she encouraged me to abandon economics in favor of an English major. Mel has been living with the consequences of that conversation since then. I am grateful for her advice, but I am even more grateful for the subsequent years of laughter, affection, companionship, and love. Each day, I am excited to see what comes next, knowing we will enjoy it together. She has my love, always. vii Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction ………………………………………….……………………1 Chapter Two: Sailors at Sea and on Land ……………………………………………16 Chapter Three: Before the Mast ………………………………………………………70 Chapter Four: Melville’s Forecastle Savages ………………………………………..117 Chapter Five: Sailors and Slaves………………………………………………………176 Epilogue: At Sea on Land ……………………………………………………………226 Bibliography ……………………………………………………….…………………233 List of Abbreviations The following abbreviations refer to the Northwestern-Newberry editions of the Works of Herman Melville: BC—“Benito Cereno” in The Piazza Tales M—Mardi M-D—Moby-Dick O—Omoo R—Redburn T—Typee W-J—White-Jacket The following abbreviations refer to editions listed in the bibliography: B—Blake E—“The Encantadas” in Great Short Works of Herman Melville HS—“The Heroic Slave” in The Oxford Frederick Douglass Reader JM—“John Marr and Other Sailors” in The Poems of Herman Melville NM—Ned Myers; or, A Life Before the Mast TY—Two Years Before the Mast I was a sailor ashore as well as on board.