What was life like for a sailor 1700s?

What was life like for a sailor 1700s?

The experience of naval life in the 18th century has often been portrayed as one of suffering in something little more than a floating concentration camp, where an unwilling crew, raised by the press-gang, was systematically beaten, starved and terrorised into doing their duty. Meanwhile disease was ever present.

What did a sailor do in Colonial times?

Some sailors worked as a cook, minister, doctor, carpenter, boatswain (worked the sails), and a quartermaster who kept an eye on the supplies. Captains were in charge of everything! Before we set sail, you need to pick a job. Ahoy mateys!

What did sailors eat in the 1400s?

Sailors would eat hard tack, a biscuit made from flour, water and salt, and stews thickened with water. In contrast, captains and officers would eat freshly baked bread, meat from live chickens and pigs, and had supplements such as spices, flour, sugar, butter, canned milk and alcohol.

What did sailors do in their free time?

What did seamen do off duty? Traditionally hard-drinking and tough, seamen made the best of their cramped living quarters, enjoying games of dice and cards, telling tales, playing musical instruments, carving, drawing, practising knots or model making.

What did sailors carry?

Sailors carried their ‘beds’ from ship to ship, but a bed might have been provided for the officers, especially if they had sailed with the same ship for many voyages….Capacity

• Cloth Bags.
• Blankets.
• Body Flannels (full body underwear)
• Books.
• Boots.
• Braces.
• Caps.
• Coat.

What did sailors eat in the 1700s?

Dried or salted beef, pork, and fish were the sailor’s main foods. This meat was kept in large salt barrels in the ship’s hold. The sailors also brought live animals, such as pigs, chickens and goats, for fresh meat and milk. Along with their meat, they would also eat hard biscuits, dried beans, peas and onions.

What did sailors do for fun?

Traditionally hard-drinking and tough, seamen made the best of their cramped living quarters, enjoying games of dice and cards, telling tales, playing musical instruments, carving, drawing, practising knots or model making.

What did sailors do in the 18th century?

Many of these men turned to piracy as a way of life. Sailors in the 18th century had a choice: they could join the navy, work on a merchant ship, or become a pirate or privateer. Conditions on board the naval and merchant vessels were abominable.

What foods did sailors in the 17th century eat?

All aboard the Elissa! Sailors in the 17th century had it rough. For months, they were away at sea, sustaining themselves on an unsteady diet that included brined beef, dirty water, and tough crackers known as ship biscuit. In the days before pasteurization, seasickness likely came more often from the food than the waves.

What was life like during the age of sail?

Life at sea during the age of sail was filled with hardship. Sailors had to accept cramped conditions, disease, poor food and pay, and bad weather. Over a period of hundreds of years, seafarers from the age of the early explorers to the time of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, shared many common experiences.

Are there any women in the Navy in the 18th century?

Snell wasn’t the only woman to sneak into the navy in the 18th century, and the fact that few of them were discovered is “very revealing of the low incidence of bathing among the seafarers, either on deck or in the sea,” Andrew Lambert, a professor of naval history, writes for the BBC.