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Democracy test

On a ship
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A ship has a captain and a command structure.

I propose to experiment with a democratic system on a large sailing ship.

Just to see how that would work out.

zeno, Nov 18 2011

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       [marked-for-mutiny]
swimswim, Nov 18 2011
  

       "Brothers, sisters, sailors! You know who I am! I've grown up on this ship. I was her cabin boy under Smith's Second Journey to Portsmouth, and today I am asking for your vote to go north in order to best escape from this bloody Bermuda Triangle."
RayfordSteele, Nov 18 2011
  

       Do you think it would not work? Why not? I imagine that the members of the ship might elect a captain and associated command structure and proceed. Should there be a crisis of confidence they could hold elections again.
bungston, Nov 18 2011
  

       What if they need a *bail out*?
xandram, Nov 18 2011
  

       They would rig the elections.
pocmloc, Nov 18 2011
  

       First, you'd need to get the winds and the water out of sailing. Then you can do this.
theircompetitor, Nov 18 2011
  

       <Envisions members of 'Occupy the Queen Mary' trying to get around the Horn of Africa, freezing in tent encapments on deck, doing their 'repeat what the speaker says' routine> "We should head towards an island where they have vitamin C." "WE SHOULD HEAD TOWARDS AN ISLAND WHERE THEY HAVE VITAMIN C!"
RayfordSteele, Nov 18 2011
  

       Baked. Supposedly, pirate ships were traditionally run as democracies, exactly as [bungston] describes.
spidermother, Nov 18 2011
  

       What [theircompetitor] said.
8th of 7, Nov 18 2011
  

       Thanks for those nice annotations. I was to lazy when I posted this but you guys saved the day.
zeno, Nov 19 2011
  

       What spidermother said.
DrBob, Nov 21 2011
  

       There's some anecdotal evidence that pirates ran their ships along largely democratic lines. Certainly they were more democratic than the official fleets of the various empires, but any mutiny is essentially a case of democracy in action - so I'd suggest it's been tried before - just ask Mr Christian!
zen_tom, Nov 21 2011
  

       The Halfbakery - welcome to demicracy.
MaxwellBuchanan, Nov 21 2011
  

       The 2012 election: welcome to dumbocracy...
RayfordSteele, Nov 21 2011
  

       Also baked, I seem to recall, on ships of the Tzar's navy during the Russian Revolution.
BunsenHoneydew, Nov 21 2011
  

       I love how the Bounty is the only case of mutiny included in the cannon, and that the one fictional account is the primary source. It's awesome and pathetic at the same time.
WcW, Nov 21 2011
  

       //The Halfbakery - welcome to demicracy.// Angling for a [marked-for-tagline]. And deserves one, too.
mouseposture, Nov 22 2011
  

       This wouldn't work well at all; things can go wrong very, very quickly on the high seas. When an the fate of entire ship's crew depends upon a snap decision, it's no time to discuss the matter in committee.
Alterother, Nov 22 2011
  

       That's okay, you're not a ship captain either.
Alterother, Nov 22 2011
  

       //I am not a committee!// That would have been funnier if [8th of 7] had said it.
marklar, Nov 23 2011
  

       It started looking like a committee on the "Lost..." boat.
theleopard, Nov 23 2011
  


 

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