Location and Maritime Law?

The physical locations and the state that these locations are in is something to examine more deeply within the context of Benito Cereno. As Captain Cereno tells the initial story of what had happened as he rounded Cape Horn, one thing is for certain, this path is one of the most dangerous the ocean has to offer. It is a passage of blistering winds, the roughest of waves and a general danger set forth by its physical impediments. This was an area where ships were known to have accidents and be lost as a common occurrence. Even so, when Cereno is discussing the length of his journey around the Cape, the amount of time it takes to make the trip doesn’t add up to what would be the “normal” amount. This being one of the many factors contributing to the sense that not every aboard the San Dominick.

            As a reader we also have to realize that nearly the entirety of the story happens on two ships completely off shore. The kinds of laws that the crews would have on land, don’t apply here. Does that leave the sense that anything could go? Or as we discussed in class, a sense of gray to the entire idea of “law” on the ocean. If that were the case, would the captains of the Bachelor’s Delight and the San Dominick be the actual lawmakers and enforcers of what would be described as a moral code rather than a strict set of laws. We briefly touched upon this on class this last Tuesday, but is it the responsibility of a captain to make sure that all order is in accordance to these codes or is the crew capable of self governing themselves and it’s only when things get out of hand that the a leader must step forward. The hierarchy of a ship can be closest compared to that one of a military structure, which furthers the question, how bad would things have to get aboard a ship in order for the captain to come in. Now as the story progresses we learn that the slaves overthrow the white crewmembers but keep Cereno and a few crewmembers alive. Should Cereno have been informed of a rising tide of discourse before the actual overthrow occurred?

            On a different topic altogether, Captain Delano was given more than enough signs to stay away from the San Dominic, yet his character was unable to leave the ship alone, his more code could not let another vessel sit idly if he thought assistance would be welcome. The initial warning that the ship was “on the verge of the leaded-hued swells, with the shreds of fog here and there raggedly furring her,” paints the picture of something completely ominous and not worth inquiring about. The idea that something is not completely shown to a character marks that a sense of warning should be under consideration. Upon boarding the San Dominick still, the description of something horrifying is given to the ship itself, “The spars, ropes and great part of the bulwarks, looked wooly, from long acquaintance with the scraper, tar and the brush. Her keep seemed laid, her ribs put together, and she launched, from Ezekiel’s Valley of Dry Bones.” The imagery of a skeleton and death itself hangs about all aspects of the ship, foreshadowing the things to come in the rest of the story. Also another example of death being the comparison to a “hearse-like roll of the hull,” of page 165. Another question I have though is a historical context issue; did a hearse represent the same thing in 1855 as it does to modern readers?