"The Revolt of the Whip": Discipline and Daily Life among the Sailors of the Brazilian Navy, 1889–1910

November 22, 2010 was the hundredth anniversary of the "Revolt of the Whip" in which the sailors from four warships, including Brazil's most powerful newly acquired vessels, rebelled against labor conditions in the Brazilian Navy. They demanded wage increases, education for sailors with bad comportment, the expulsion of officers who inflicted excessive punishments and, most importantly, the end of the use of corporal punishments such as the whip. After killing some officers in taking the ships, the rebels navigated the Guanabara Bay off Rio de Janeiro, the capital of the Republic. Over four successive days, they threatened to bombard the city if their demands were not met. The news of the revolt hit the front pages of various journals around the world.

The sailors' demands revealed a history of conflicts between officers and sailors, and among the sailors themselves. These day-to-day conflicts on the ships and in the ports could lead to terrible physical punishments. This paper will explore the environment in which the sailors lived that produced such conflicts on the ships and shore board. Examining the amorous and recreational activities of sailors, racism within the navy, gambling, alcoholism, and homoerotic relations reveal other aspects of the life of these men, which were until recently ignored in the historiography. This paper thus moves beyond traditional narratives of wars, coups, or political interventions, or the biography of generals and admirals, to explore how rank-and-file sailors made their own histories, whether in operating a cannon or in their daily lives. While recognizing the rules of comportment and discipline specific to labor in the navy, it will enrich our understanding by viewing sailors as laboring men possessed of moral principles, with needs in term of leisure and love, capable of lapses of fury, and possessed of a powerful sense of justice.