Exploration and Determination

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

 

 Though the 15^th to 17^th 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 13^th 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 17^th 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

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[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