Joseph Miller comments on Explaining British Naval Dominance During the Age of Sail

[Joseph Miller]

The unemployment pool that resulted from this efficiency wage made it easier to discipline officers by moving them back to the captains list.

I don’t understand this point or how it explains captains’ willingness to fight.

[Arjun Panickssery]

That part encourages captains to avoid shirking in general (rather than to use aggressive tactics in particular) because it increases the costs of job loss (due to high compensation) and because there are captains in reserve that can replace them quickly.