He is well-liked, and makes friendships quickly. Though less a center of attention than he was aboard the merchant ship, Billy does not notice the difference. He becomes a foretopman, and loves his new position. Life aboard the new ship agrees with Billy. As he leaves, he cries out with unknowing prophecy, 'And goodbye to you too, old Rights-of-Man' (297). Nonetheless, Billy and his captain have no choice, and Billy is set on his way. By his mere beauty and goodness he puts the men into good spirits. Even so, Captain Graveling protests: Billy, he says, is the ship's peacemaker. Bellipotent, but the boarding officer, Lieutenant Ratcliffe, chooses only Billy for impressment.

The navy continues to depend on impressments, or forced conscriptions, to fill its rosters.īilly's merchant ship is boarded by the H.M.S. The navy is extremely short-handed, and recent mutinies have threatened the force that is the foundation of Britain's prosperity and defense. The time is one of dread for the British Empire: from the continent, Napoleon's ambitions and France's revolutionary fervor menace the world. The narrator tells us of Billy's one serious weakness: when seized by strong emotion, he stutters. He is young, simple, innocent, a foundling with no real family, and his charm and good nature put the men around him at ease. Billy is a beautiful young man, a specimen of what Melville calls the Handsome Sailor. It is the end of the eighteenth century, and Billy Budd is a young sailor on a merchant ship called the Rights-of-Man.

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