What was life like on an Explorers ship?

What was life like on an Explorers ship?

All the crew slept below the deck where it was dark and smelly. They rarely had baths and hardly ever washed their clothes. At mealtime, they ate hard dry bread along with salted meat, dried peas, and dried fruit like raisins or prunes. Fresh water often went stale quickly, so everyone drank beer.

What did sailors do in the age of exploration?

Between the mid-15th and 17th centuries, European sailors explored the seas in search of new lands, riches, and trade routes that connected their countries with the Far East. Today, historians refer to this period as the Age of Exploration, or the Age of Discovery.

What was ocean travel like in the early 1600s?

Early migration Sea travel during the 1600s was long and often unpleasant. When the Pilgrims sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, conditions aboard were cramped and seasickness was rife, as the crossing took place during the Atlantic storm season. Passengers shared the space with livestock and other cargo.

What did sailors eat during the age of exploration?

Sailors consumed about 3,000 calories a day, which they got from: 1 lb. Salted beef or pork; flour mixed with fat was served when meat rations ran low. 1 lb. Biscuit or hardtack; hardtack was infested with weevils and bugs, which sailors ate as additional food.

What skills did early explorers need?

What skills did early explorers need?

• First, they had to be skilled cartographers, or mapmakers. …
• Second, they needed exemplary management skills.
• Third, explorers needed strong observational, writing, and speaking skills.

What did sailors eat out at sea?

Dried or salted beef, pork, and fish were the sailor’s main foods. This meat was kept in large salt barrels in the ship’s hold. The sailors also brought live animals, such as pigs, chickens and goats, for fresh meat and milk. Along with their meat, they would also eat hard biscuits, dried beans, peas and onions.

What did sailors do for water?

Greek voyagers often accumulated fresh water by hanging sheep pelts off the sides of ships to collect water vapor while sailing at night, then wringing them out into containers in the morning—a natural distillation process.

What was life at sea like?

Life at sea during the age of sail was filled with hardship. Sailors had to accept cramped conditions, disease, poor food and pay, and bad weather. Men working at sea had much to endure; cut off from normal life on shore for months, even years, they had to accept cramped conditions, disease, poor food and pay.

What was life like on a galleon?

On board would be the sailing crew and their commanders, numbering about 80, and soldiers with their officers, about 120. With so many people (and animals, kept for fresh meat, milk and eggs) crowded together in a small space, conditions on board a galleon could become extremely unpleasant—noisy, filthy and smelly.

What did sailors drink at sea?

A Brief History of the Rum Ration This was especially true on long voyages at sea, when water supplies could turn rancid (or run out). A gallon of beer was the original rationed drink for sailors, but it too could spoil easily at sea. Around 1655, many ships switched over to rum rations instead.

What was life like for a sailor in the age of exploration?

THE AGE OF EXPLORATION LIFE ON THE OPEN SEAS A HARD DAY’S WORK 16 was the minimum age for sailors, but some boys started working on ships as Life was pretty difficult for a sailor in the age of exploration. Crews worked around the clock in young as 7 or 8. shifts minding the ship.

What was the impact of the age of exploration on geography?

The period is characterized as a time when Europeans began exploring the world by sea in search of new trading routes, wealth, and knowledge. The impact of the Age of Exploration would permanently alter the world and transform geography into the modern science it is today.

What was the life of a seaman like on a ship?

A seaman’s life was hard, and he had to be tough to survive, so ship’s officers kept strict discipline on board. In this way they hoped to keep morale high and prevent mutiny. Seamen could be ‘tarred and feathered’, tied to a rope, swung overboard and ducked or ‘keel-hauled’, dragged round the underneath of the ship.

What were the dangers of sea life for men?

Men working at sea had much to endure; cut off from normal life on shore for months, even years, they had to accept cramped conditions, disease, poor food and pay. Above all, they faced the daily dangers of sea and weather. What was scurvy?