So I'm sailing for tomorrow, my dreams are
a-dyin',
And my love is an anchor tied to you, tied with a silver chain
I have my ship and all her flags are a-flyin'
She is all that I have left and music is her name
And my love is an anchor tied to you, tied with a silver chain
I have my ship and all her flags are a-flyin'
She is all that I have left and music is her name
Though the 15th to 17th
centuries, life on land would be considered tough enough, but life at sea
during the Age of Exploration was aggrandized. Men and boys at sea would be cut
off from land and their families for months and years at a time. They lived on
a cramped ship, were prone to diseases and had poor food, were forced to sleep
on the open deck of the ship, preformed treacherous duties and received little to
no pay.[1]
Moreover, the mariners were also at the mercy of the sea and weather and
whatever danger they would present. With all these dangers in mind, people
would regularly join a crew or even captain a ship in hopes of acquiring
enormous wealth and fame. The primary reason to sail during this time was to
gain wealth, discover new lands and new riches that were waiting to be
plundered.
Mariners such as Christopher
Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Henry Hudson and Sir Francis Drake lead
explorations in hopes of gaining wealth from the Spice Islands and other lands.
A hope that was originally spurred on by The
Adventures of Marco Polo, the chronicle of 13th century Italian
merchant Marco Polo who spent over 20 years traveling Asia.[2]
A single bag of rare goods from the Spice Islands located in Indonesia would
give a sailor enough money to buy a home and live comfortably. One main focus
of explorers and sailors was finding a sea route to the islands, even if it
meant subjecting themselves to years at sea and even death. The prospects of
adventure and wealth would outweigh the dangers of the sea for those who
committed themselves to sailing. In one idea it is a form of Russian roulette, except
with three or four bullets loaded into a revolver instead of just one.
Several famous voyages featured mutinies,
which was a surprisingly common occurrence for the extreme punishments it would
result it. The literal definition of mutiny is, “revolt or rebellion
against constituted authority, especially by sailors against their officers.” This act happened and failed against Ferdinand
Magellan and Sir Francis Drake, resulting in the execution of the mutineers.
Often subversive and open rebellion at sea was rewarded with the death penalty;
mutiny was often equated to treason, such as when Juan de Cartagena rebelled
against Magellan.[3]
Other punishable offenses would be as simple as singing a rebellious sea shanty
to striking a superior officer. These were punishable with floggings, keel-hauling’s
(“dragged round the underneath of the ship”[4])
or even being tarred and feathered.
Once the recalcitrant
nature of men is put to the side, the other facts of life at sea are observed. Food,
or rations, were typically salted meat, biscuits, ale and sometimes fish. The
quality of the food deteriorated because of storage problems, lack of
ventilation and poor drainage. The existence of rats and vermin on the ships
also affected this; additionally it was not unusual for biscuits to be filled
with maggots or weevils.[5]
When Magellan sailed through the Pacific Ocean the sailors, in desperate
measures, “ate only old biscuit reduced to powder, all full of worms and
stinking of the urine that the rats made on it. And we drank water that was
yellow and stinking.”[6]
Sailors would be so desperate for food during long voyages they would hunt down
and sell rats to each other as fresh meat.
In collaboration with the lack of
fresh food, vitamin C in particular, is the disease scurvy. It is an easily
prevented and cured disease with fresh fruits and vegetables, but lethal if
left untreated. It was not until the early 17th century that citrus
and a need for vitamin C was discovered as a direct result of scurvy. During
this age, scurvy was common because of the lack of fresh food during voyages. It
has been estimated that scurvy killed at least two million sailors during the
Age of Exploration, more than the amount that succumbed to storms, shipwrecks,
and hostile encounters combined.[7]
As the disease progresses, the victim becomes increasingly weak and bed ridden,
their teeth fall out and old scars will reopen.
Duties aboard a ship from this time
would range from cooks (who cooked on an open fire on the top deck of the ship)
and barbers (who were also surgeons) to carpenters and gunners. By far the
worst duty young sailors, often still apprentices, would have to preform was
manning the bilge pump. Bilge pumps
would bail out the bilge water; this is water that does not drain off the deck
from rough waters, rain or leaks in the hull. It accumulates inside the ship
and would often mix with pitch, urine and other materials on board the ship. Bilge
water was notoriously vile and had an overpowering stench that was even lethal
at times. A lantern with a burning candle would be lowered down into the bilge
and if the candle went out it was a sign of bad air, meaning that whoever went
down would possibly die, and sometimes would.[8]
The water would also have to be pumped out by hand, difficult and exhausting work
to even the strongest seaman.
All of these are just a simple
summary of what life on the open sea would entail, and the financial rewards
that sometimes awaited those lucky enough to survive a successful voyage. Life
at sea was brutal, deadly and treacherous. Even still, people would regularly
join a crew or even captain a ship in hopes of acquiring enormous wealth; which
did not happen as often as it seems in the history books. For every voyage
bringing back millions of pounds or ducats there were many more that only
brought back broken and battered mariners.
A letter of marque come from the king,
To the scummiest vessel I'd ever seen,
I was told we'd cruise the seas for American gold
We'd fire no guns-shed no tears
Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier
To the scummiest vessel I'd ever seen,
I was told we'd cruise the seas for American gold
We'd fire no guns-shed no tears
Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier
[1]
"Ships, Seafarers & Life at Sea." Royal Museums Greenwich.
National Maritime Museum, 1 Feb. 2000. Web. 10 Aug. 2013.
<http://www1.rmg.co.uk/>.
[2]
Corn, Charles. The Scents of Eden (1998),
p.4
[3]
Woodman, Richard, Mutiny: A Brief History
(2005). P. 17
[4] "Ships,
Seafarers & Life at Sea." Royal Museums Greenwich. National
Maritime Museum, 1 Feb. 2000. Web. 10 Aug. 2013.
<http://www1.rmg.co.uk/>.
[5]
Ibid
[6] Pigafetta, Antonio, Magellan’s Voyage: A Narrative Account of the First Circumnavigation (1994)
[7] Drymon, M.M. Disguised As the Devil: How Lyme Disease Created
Witches and Changed History (2008)
p. 114
[8]
Oertling, Thomas Ships’ Bilge Pumps: A
History of their Development, 1500-1900 (1996), p. 7
