Aboard British Royal Naval ships, in the eighteenth century, the day began
at noon when, by tradition, the date and day of the week were changed on the log
board.
On clear days, just before noon, the master, master's mate and midshipmen measured, with their quadrants, the angle of the sun as it reached
its highest point off the horizon. This determined the latitude of the ship and enabled them to correct the
'dead reckoning' of the previous day.
At noon, eight bells were struck, followed by the boatswains 'pipe to
dinner' (lunch) using his high pitched silver whistle.
The day was divided into 'watches' of four hours apiece, measured by a sandglass. Sailors stood
their duty hours in watches, four hours on and four hours off,
throughout the day and night.
Shortly before four a.m., the quartermasters, who had the duties of keeping time and steering the ship,
awoke the midshipmen, lieutenants and mates of the watch that were due on duty and
these relieved the previous watch.
The boatswain and carpenter would begin their repair work. The cook would organise and prepare breakfast,
consisting of tea, coffee, oatmeal gruel, ships biscuits, bread, cheese and
butter.
At about five a.m., the decks were washed down and
'holystoned' - a soft sandstone was used for scouring the decks of
ships. Small stones were referred to as 'prayer books' and large ones 'bibles',
possibly because sailors often scrubbed the decks on their hands and
knees, in a 'holy' attitude. Those using the 'holystones' moved steadily
ahead of other sailors who, with swabs, brooms and buckets, dried the decks, creating a smooth,
blanched and spotless appearance.
Other sailors polished the ships bell and all brass
fittings. All lines were tidied into neat and orderly coils. At 7.30
a.m., the Boatswains mate piped all 'hands up hammocks' and the rest of the crew came on deck.
After hammock stowing, the Boatswain piped breakfast for the crew, who
had approximately half an hour in which to consume it before they returned to
their duty.
The new watch came on deck, bringing with them chests and bags from below, to allow for the cleaning
there. Those not 'on watch' could sleep, mend their clothes or socialise.
All crew in the British Royal Navy had to be self-sufficient and most could make a serviceable pair of trousers in a
morning.
It was preferable to mend, and make, rather than to purchase ready-made clothes from the
purser's slop chest. The slop chest clothes were plain and workmanlike
(as a result of the Admiralty view "We should not make them so vain as to desert the ship and parade
ashore.") but after the purser had added his increment, the clothes were more expensive
than fashionable clothes in Portsmouth!
Few seaman could not put a meal together and, in their spare time,
most turned their hands to some kind of craft to while away their
leisure hours. Some would create a scrimshaw souvenir of their voyages,
engraving intricate scenes or patterns on a whale tooth or bone. Others
made exquisite miniature ships from mutton (sheep) bones discarded by
the cook after the last of their edible content had been extracted
from them, in a soup. Some created masterpieces of embroidery
or highly decorative rope-work.
Those with creative and artistic abilities were never scorned by
their fellow seamen. Their view was that a man who was reliant on a woman for his clothes each day, and his evening meal,
had best stay at home with his wife or mother!
During the hours before noon, the crew worked in
'messes', with the Master organizing some of the crew to re-stow provisions, lumber,
ship's stores and ballast, trimming the ship so that she would sail
better. Others, the Master would direct to prepare the main meal of the day, to be served at
noon.
Many more of the crew would be attending to the maintenance of the ship,
engaged in chores such as re-tarring the rigging and re-painting chipped
paint, all to keep the warship resplendent and the crew occupied.
By eleven o'clock, the captain would have studied the
midshipman's Logs and, probably, discussed with the carpenter, gunners,
pursers and boatswains, their duties of the day.
It was usual, in the event of a miscreant sentenced to be flogged, that he be punished before
noon. A grating would be erected and sand spread around the area of the grating to absorb the blood that would,
otherwise, inevitably drip on the immaculate decks. All hands were required to witness the punishment.
After the noon observance, dinner (lunch) would be served and
the noon rum ration would be served from a wooden barrel placed near the scuttle-butt
(water barrel, or cask) on the main deck.
In 1687, following the conquest of Jamaica, rum was introduced into the Royal Navy in place of
brandy. It has been said that the Admiralty preferred not just the cheapness
but also the tendency to violence that rum seemed to engender in their crews which, channeled in the right direction
(i.e. against Britain's enemies), was preferable to the soporific
effects of French brandy. The ration at that time was one pint of neat rum per man, per day,
and half a pint of rum per boy, per day.
In 1740, the Admiralty ordered admiral Vernon (known as
'Old Grogram') to dilute the rum ration by mixing it with one quart
(just over a litre) of water. This diluted rum ration became known by the sailors
as 'grog', for obvious reasons. Rations were issued at noon and again at six o'clock
in the evenings. Rum was not the only drink available to the sailors.
Beer, rationed out at the rate of one gallon a day per man, half a gallon per boy,
was far more popular than grog but was usually available only in home waters or up to a month out at
sea. In the Mediterranean, the seamen often received a pint of wine as
their alcohol ration.
The crew ate below, on weekly rations of ship's soups,
salt pork, beef, ship's biscuits and cheese. Officers, instead of sharing the Admiralty rations, chose to
elect a fellow officer to purchase their food ashore, using their pooled
mess subscriptions. This enabled them to enjoy fine wine, good port,
smoked meats and fish, coffee, tea, sugar and, of course, London Gin.
All served at a finely set table with comfortable chairs and often attended by
servants.
These mess subscriptions, however, billed to each officer, sometimes ran to seventy pounds sterling
per year - more than half a lieutenant's annual pay.
At 1.30 p.m., the watch on deck was called to duty,
leaving those off watch' to do as they pleased although sometimes all hands were called to drill, for ships gunnery
practice, sail-handling, boarding party tactics and fire drill.
At four in the afternoon, the watch changed again. This four hour period was divided in two, two-hour, watches called
'dog' watches.
At six o'clock, the evening meal was served, with the second grog ration of the
day. Just before sunset, the drummer beat to quarters and all hands went to
their battle stations for inspection by the officers. The master at arms
would arrest anyone he deemed to have drunk too much grog, usually as a
result of having acquired extra rations from one of the younger crew or
illicitly hoarding part of earlier rations and consuming both stashed
and current rations together.
The arrested man would spend the following day in irons and be blacklisted,
in the case of a first offence, for a flogging should a second offence
be committed. A repeat offender would be flogged the following day, as
an example to the rest of the crew that the captain wished to deter them
from emulating. After the ship was reported to be in good order the men could stand down and
recover their hammocks from their stowage in the netting.
At eight o'clock, the watch was changed. Those relieved could catch a few hours sleep before the middle watch
-midnight to four a.m.
The master-at-arms would do his rounds and, apart from sentry reports,
of "All's well", from around the ship, all was quiet.
This was the pattern of life, day in, day out, week after week, month after month, year after
year, punctuated only by battle, emergencies, storms and occasional calls at port.
It should be remembered that, apart from the seaman's clothes in the
purser's slop chest, a sailor's pay could not be spent at sea.
A wise seaman, upon making landfall, would have the purser
hold two thirds of the money due to him, lest he be separated from it by some welcoming and ever-eager
'lady' of low virtue, or by one of the quay-side gangs of thugs that preyed, the world over, on drunken and exhausted sailors returning to their ships.
Many historians refer to the hardships, cruelty and monotony of life at sea in the eighteenth century British Royal
Navy.
It is my feeling that, with the exception of men pressed into service (some married,
others in trade and many with dependants), one could probably have done far worse than to
enlist. Sailors of the era wrote home to parents and siblings in terms
that suggested an enjoyment of the daily life aboard and the opportunity
of seeing other lands.
Oft quoted are the floggings, meted out by captains for
breaches of the rules of their ships. With notable exceptions, most punishments were carried out as a result of individuals interfering with the smooth running of one of His Majesties
Ships, i.e. stealing, brawling, shirking duties, cursing and drunkenness which, by definition, endangers the ship, officers and crew and was, therefore deserving of
punishment.
It might be noted that, in today's civilian life, since the abolition of corporal punishment, the boundaries of social behaviour are so vague that people from
dysfunctional families, or who are just plain bad, now have carte blanche to wreak havoc.
Modern society is so democratic that it is in danger of being swamped by
ne'er-do-wells who, if apprehended, will be 'sentenced' to 'community service',
not noted for its great results, instead of receiving a good old-fashioned flogging that
might deter them, and any onlookers, from bullying their way through life and causing misery and fear to all in their path.
If the current situation had been allowed in Hood's or Nelson's day, Great Britain as we knew it, would have collapsed two and a half centuries before it did.
Instead, the natural aggression of the British 'Tar', as sailors were
then called, was channeled in the direction that the Admiralty wanted -
against Britain's foreign enemies.
Some officers blatantly fanned the flame of hatred and nationalism to inspire their men to great
heroism. In the Admiralty Archives there are numerous accounts from ship's surgeons, telling of severely wounded
men and even amputees, struggling to get back into the fray and cursing
at the delay in getting back on deck, resulting from the slowness of the
surgeon's stitching.
These reports hardly seem an indication of reluctance
to be part of the British Royal Navy in the eighteenth century and are a
far cry from the 'Post-Traumatic Stress' culture of some of today's
services.
If you are interested in the period in question you
may already know about the Historical
Maritime Society which is also featured in this issue.
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