Irish sailors and the limits of abusive shipboard authority

Fiction that treats hostility toward Irish sailors as a consequence-free habit for naval officers overlooks the demands of command. Irish sailors are said to have formed roughly a quarter of Royal Navy crews at various points, making their support materially important; no single period is specified for that estimate. Close living conditions also left officers dependent on the people they commanded. Imagined accidents and retaliation illustrate the danger of destroying that relationship, without establishing any particular incident. The brief reference to Bligh is a comparison with mutiny, rather than a full explanation of the Bounty affair.