What was life like on an 18th century ship?

Answer 1

Life on an 18th century ship???

Take a visit to HMS Victory in Portsmouth Dockyard in England.

There would be several hundred men(jolly jack tars) and boys(monkeys) to man the ship.

There would be a Master( Captain/Commanding Officer), with a Mate(Chief/1st Officer), and other sub-ordinate officers, then a Bosun(foreman of the men) and Bosun's mates, a Carpenter(Chippy), Cook and possibly a Surgeon.

Men/boys did not have private cabins, but slept in hammocks on their working decks. If you wanted a 'wee' or a 'pooh' you just did it over the side, through the gun ports. There was no privacy. You never got washed, except when the ship 'heaved-to; (stopped) and you had a swim in the sea/ocean. Men and boys had to climb the masts and rigging in all weathers to tend the sails and rigging, with the ship possibly listing/leaning and moving.

There were no refrigerators, so fresh food and water was a serious problem on long sea passages. To get round this problem, sheep cows and chickens were taken on ships to provide milk and eggs, and when the animal stopped producing , they were butchered for their meat. After that it was salt pork , bully beef, biscuit, possibly full of weevils. Fresh water was a serious problem, so most men and boys drank beer wines and spirits. Fresh vegetables a fruit was taken on board, but when consumed there was none left till the next port. In suitable cool conditions root vegetables might last for up to two months. Salad vegetables maybe 10 days. Similarly fruit. Fish caught from the ship might provide some fresh food.

Boys would be sent to sea at the age of eleven. As trainee officers they would be midshipmen, to assist on deck they were 'Deck apes', with the guns they were 'Powder monkeys', and with the surgeon ' Lob-Lolly Boys'.

Women generally were not on the ships, but some women masqueraded as men. In port there would be any number of women. As for homosexual activity between men and boys , one cannot discount it , because of the long voyages.

England's most famous admiral , Viscount (Horatio) Nelson (& Bronte) was sent to sea at the age of eleven and was shot dead a Trafalgar, aged 45. Pickled in a barrel of rum (Known to this day as 'Nelson's Blood' to the Royal Navy, and brought back to England and interred in St. Paul's Cathedral.