It was another day and time.USN

[andyd]

It was brutal. English and lots of European water was polluted enough to kill you unless boiled. The Brits brewed beer to drink. The British Navy impressed farm boys, and any loose man to crew their ships. A now deceased friend of mine, worked on a refit of the Constitution in the 60s. They used white oak from the Carolinas. Trees downed by a hurricane. The local river had reputation for building ships 1700- 1850. It took a gallon of rum per ton of ship, it was reckoned. That was the norm in those days, it got worse as the 19th century wore on. Life was brutal and people died young. In the New Bedford City Hall entryway is a mural of some whalers taking a Nantucket sleigh ride. Getting pulled around in a rowboat by an enraged sperm whale somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. No thank you.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted By: andyd
It was brutal. English and lots of European water was polluted enough to kill you unless boiled. The Brits brewed beer to drink. The British Navy impressed farm boys, and any loose man to crew their ships. A now deceased friend of mine, worked on a refit of the Constitution in the 60s. They used white oak from the Carolinas. Trees downed by a hurricane. The local river had reputation for building ships 1700- 1850. It took a gallon of rum per ton of ship, it was reckoned. That was the norm in those days, it got worse as the 19th century wore on. Life was brutal and people died young. In the New Bedford City Hall entryway is a mural of some whalers taking a Nantucket sleigh ride. Getting pulled around in a rowboat by an enraged sperm whale somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. No thank you.

. Don't forget medical care on board was hit or miss. Infection, diseases (STD or otherwise), death, but the stories.

Scrubbing the decks with stones, hot pitch mixed with hemp (Oakum) to seal gaps in the decking.

 

[Jarlaxle]

To her dying day, my great-grandmother was never comfortable drinking water. That's because, when she was young and living just outside Paris, the water could kill you. (Parisian water could give you typhus into the 20th century.)

Yes, that's one reason the French drink so much wine.