BIDEN, Christopher.

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Naval Discipline. First and sole edition. Biden uses numerous accounts of insubordination and mutiny to illustrate the need for a legal framework for responding to such events, arguing that HEIC captains often acted in wanton and excessively punitive ways when left to their own devices.Christopher Biden (c. 1789-1858), ancestor of former American president Joe Biden, was a British sailor for the HEIC. Between 1807 and 1818, he completed seven voyages to India on the Royal George. In 1821 he became captain of the Princess Charlotte of Wales and completed four more return journey between England and Kolkata. Biden retired in 1830 to publish this volume, using his significant experience of leading men at sea as well as stories from other captains. "The result is a kaleidoscope of dismal tales of drunkenness, insubordination, insolence, theft, murder and what we would now call mental health issues against a background of storms, dangerous reefs, men falling overboard, hostile ships, navigational errors and shipwrecks" (Willasey-Wilsey). He argued that if officer's respected their men they would not abuse that freedom, as long as one knows, "as I trust I always did, where to draw the line, where to stop" (p. 170). He also advised against the use of flogging except in the most serious of situations, when all other options have been exhausted.

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