To Swear like a Sailor
Maritime Culture in America, 1750–1850

This book explores American maritime world, including cursing, language, logbooks, storytelling, sailor songs, reading, and material culture.

Paul A. Gilje (Author)

9780521746168, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 15 February 2016

394 pages, 31 b/w illus.
22.7 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.55 kg

'… a wide-ranging look at the culture of the common seaman and its connections to mainstream culture ashore through an extensive examination of print, literary, and material culture of the period, with particular emphasis on the mariner's own voice in logbooks, journals, and personal narratives. … In examining successively the language, writing, yarning, singing, reading, and artistry of the seaman, Gilje achieves both a portrait of the American sailor and a history of nationalism in the early Republic.' Kathryn Mudgett, Early American Literature

Anyone could swear like a sailor! Within the larger culture, sailors had pride of place in swearing. But how they swore and the reasons for their bad language were not strictly wedded to maritime things. Instead, sailor swearing, indeed all swearing in this period, was connected to larger developments. This book traces the interaction between the maritime and mainstream world in the United States while examining cursing, language, logbooks, storytelling, sailor songs, reading, images, and material goods. To Swear Like a Sailor offers insight into the character of Jack Tar - the common seaman - and into the early republic. It illuminates the cultural connections between Great Britain and the United States and the appearance of a distinct American national identity. The book explores the emergence of sentimental notions about the common man - through the guise of the sailor - appearing on stage, in song, in literature, and in images.

Introduction
1. To swear like a sailor
2. The language of Jack Tar
3. The logbook of memory
4. Spinning yarns
5. Songs of the sailorman
6. The pirates' own book
7. Tar-stained images
Epilogue. The sea chest.

Subject Areas: Maritime history [HBTM], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], History of the Americas [HBJK]