What was life like aboard a privateer ship?

Privateering and Piracy on the oceans waves are glorified in many books and movies. Though most of the man enjoyed being a board the Brigs, Scoops and Frigates, it was not always enjoyable. Though being a board a ship was often times profitable it did not come without many trials and hardships. The ships were hot and very humid. Below decks often times had a couple inches of water sloshing around, intensifying the humidity inside the ship’s hull. This in turn created an environment that bacteria, mold and infection thrived. The heat also caused the water barrels to grow slimy and do so rather quickly, usually within a couple weeks. The crew would add rum, ale or whiskey to the water to kill off any bacteria inside of the wooden barrels and keep if from spreading in the drinking drinking water. This combination of alcohol and water is commonly known as Grog. This was the main drink that sailors consumed. Rum and ale were the other two options sailors had but it was tightly rationed. When reading books or watching shows, you always hear the sailors asking for rum, this is because it was the least expensive of the beverages. If water spoiled so quickly, how did food fare without refrigeration? Simple, it was dried or coated so heavily in salt and other herbs that it masked the taste of the rancid meat. The biscuits were more like flat, hard disks and the vegetables were often times pickled. In the 1700’s they discovered oranges helped sailors stay healthier and prevented scurvy, which in fact is caused by vitamin c deficiency. Once this simple fact was realized, most ships carried crates of oranges that were served with every meal. Along with very tough and salty beef or pork, sailors would hunt or fish when they stopped at different islands that dotted the seas, most of which were not inhabited by people. In desperate times, the crew would catch the rats that ran around below deck and cook them in the small Galley. That is, if the cats, snakes or spiders that were put on board did not kill all of them first. These snakes and spiders kept the rat numbers down but brought trouble to the sailors. Occasionally they could not be found again to be removed from the ships before setting sail. This caused problems for the crew if they happened upon one of these small creatures and was bitten. Alright, let’s talk poop deck. We have all heard of it, but it in fact is it what you imagine. The poop deck is actually part of the stern or back of the ship that has been raised a bit higher to prevent large waves from spilling over and onto the ship. When a large wave would hit the ship at the stern and French it in foamy sea water, it was said your ship had been, “pooped”. Adding a poop deck to the ship made it harder for your vessel to get pooped. In all seriousness, Pirates and Privateers were a bit more sophisticated Han simply pooping over the side of the ship, though their methods were not a whole lot better. At the front or bow of the ship there was an area, known as the head. There the crew would relieve their bowels by sitting over a hole in the that allowed the contents to drop into the sea. Though some could use a bucket if preferred. Since toilet paper had not yet been invented, the sailors would use what they could find, this ranged from old fabric, pop sponges that were reused and placed in buckets of water, to ropes and rags. When is came to peeing, they would simply pee over the side or sometimes directly onto the the boards of the ship. If they were up in the rigging though and needed to relieve themselves, they would not bother climbing down, this proved to make situations a bit trickier. With all that, it did not help the poor hygiene or smell of the ship. As the urine and sea water seeped below decks, the smell grew worse, not to mention they all usually slept in one large room. At least their hammocks, pillows and blankets were typically their own that they brought on board with them. The poor hygiene made it hard for the ship’s surgeon to keep the crew healthy, they had little they could use to help them but did their best. Sailors faced many dangers; from battle wounds, cuts, burns and diseases, to illnesses, bites, stings and even falling from the rigging. Keep a look out for our next blog. It will go over the remedies, treatments, tools and methods used by the ship’s surgeon. It will also discuss fires aboard ships and the various punishments a sailor might face.

Photo by Kameron Kincade on Unsplash