Working the Waters

Connor Birkeland

Working the Waters

April 16, 2007

Life or Death

            Fighting for the Queen and country, many a young man was fighting for a country other than their own and against their will.  At the time period of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Sailor many sailors, such as Billy Budd, were fighting for England against their will.  At the time the British navy was in the habit of impressing men into their service, meaning they would stop innocent merchant ships and steal men from their crew in order to beef up their own crew depleted from fighting and general losses.  It is this large number of sailors fighting against their will that lead to many uprisings and mutinies during this time period, something that England tried everything in its power to prevent in the future.  It’s England’s need to prevent future unrest that leads them to create the English mutiny act, plus the articles of war which were based off the above act.  It is this act and the corresponding articles that give a commanding officer the right to discipline his crew as he sees appropriate when dealing with mutiny aboard his vessel.  It was in this time of unrest that our Billy Budd was himself impressed aboard the H.M.S Bellipontent under the fine command of Captain Vere that many fellow captains in the British navy “would frankly concede that His Majesty’s navy mustered no more efficient officer of their grade than Starry Vere.” (Melville, 95)  The tragedy of this story is of the life aboard the Bellipontent and how Billy Budd grew to love it, even as an impressed sailor.  The tragedy is how this life was to quickly ended by the offense that insured Billy Budd’s Death.  In conjunction with the English mutiny act Billy Budd was condemned to death for the striking and killing of a superior officer that even with the incredible circumstances that lead to the event the sentence given was the only possible action.  It was this choice of death over life that was necessary to the safety of Captain Vere’s vessel.

            In the debate of if Billy Budd deserved the fate that was given to him, I would hope that there not be one person that says Billy deserved death.  In a normal world, a world not under material law and in the presence of a jury Billy Budd would most likely have lived a completely happy life sailing until he couldn’t sail any more.  That being said, concerning the circumstances the sentence that Billy was given as I said before was the only viable option.  The sentence was not given without thought for Billy’s extraordinary personality, even the ones doing the condemning were asking themselves “how can we adjudge to summary and shameful death a fellow creature innocent before God, and whom we feel to be so?” (Melville, 96)  It’s this inability at sea to correctly judge a man that leads causes more pain to the accuser than to the accused, knowing you just killed a innocent man.  But it is this strength of will to do that what must be done that could have saved many lives in the avoidance of mutiny.  As a captain it is all about the possibility, not surety, which causes a captain to make his decisions for the betterment of his ship.                                         

            In accordance with the laws set down by the English government, Billy Budd was hung till dead from the rigging.  It is this example of how a flawed system can be the death of the best of us that is the lesson that I received from this book.  With the corrections made to date this event is becoming less and less common, but the death by law of an innocent man is still something that happens in this age.  To summarize, justice is not always just