The Rescuing Sovereign at Sea: Historical Perspectives on Maritime Law, Morals, and Politics
Forum in: International Journal of Maritime History

This forum explores how maritime rescue has historically been bound up with questions of sovereignty. The contributions approach both concepts as constituted by concrete practice, normative order and cultural symbolism, tracing how efforts to save lives at sea became intertwined with law, morality and political authority. It is argued that maritime spaces have long served as laboratories for the articulation of sovereign power, while lifesaving practices simultaneously challenged and reinforced state legitimacy. Covering a wide chronological, geographical and thematic span—from nineteenth-century lifeboat organizations to imperial infrastructures, international arrangements and present-day border regimes—the articles situate the history of maritime rescue within broader debates on sovereignty, humanitarianism and normative orders. (Abstract)

Table of contents

• Introduction
  Lukas Schemper, Henning Trüper | 4–18
• Saving souls from the depths: The society for rescuing the drowning (Zhengnitang) in late imperial China
  Ronald C. Po | 19–45
• Lifesaving at Sea and the Imperial State: A Portrait of the Initial Donors of the Société Centrale de Sauvetage des Naufragés (1865)
  Nebiha Guiga | 46–66
• Sketching Configurations of Imperial Sovereignty through Nineteenth-Century Maritime Safety
  Lukas Schemper | 67–94
• Humanitarian and Legal Rupture in Maritime Lifesaving since 1800
  Henning Trüper | 95–115
• ‘Proceed to the Assistance of the Persons in Distress’: The Sinking of the Titanic and the International Regulation of Safety of Life at Sea
  Gard Paulsen | 116–129
• Restricting Boat Refugees at Sea – Rescuing the Sovereign? The Response to Boat Refugees across Time and Space, 1979–2001
  Irial Glynn | 130–156