In the golden age of piracy there was no electricity, air conditioning, sunblock, refrigeration,
radio, or TV. We know what pirates did but how did they really live? What did they do
when they weren’t attacking merchant ships? I guess a good place to start would be the
most essential needs: food and water. We often take food and water for granted today but
for a sailor in the 18th century it was totally different. These sailors were at sea for weeks
or months at a time and with no freezers or refrigerators they were limited in what they
could store. Food staples for ships of the day would have included salted meats and fish,
sauerkraut, bone soup, and ships biscuit.
Ships biscuit, also known as hardtack, is a simple type of biscuit made from flour,
water, and salt. This stuff lasted forever! In fact, there are still surviving biscuits
from the 1850’s! The downside was that ship biscuits were very bland and VERY HARD. The
sailors would soften in by dunking it in coffee, brine, or other liquids, or cooked into meals.
It was common to put some ships biscuit in a bag and pound it with a mallet to crumble
it in to fine particles and used to thicken soups, and it was a key ingredient in chowders
from the 1700’s.
Another gross feature of ships biscuit was the reality that it often contained insect
larvae like weevils. Sailors commonly referred to the biscuits as worm castles. Imagine picking
the bugs out of your food being a daily ritual before dinner. Occasionally, the sailors might
also have mixed powdered biscuits with sugar, hot water, and some rum to create a desert.
Speaking of water, that was another problem for pirates. Water was stored in wooden barrels
but spoiled quickly on board a ship. Contamination was another issue because men would dip their
cups directly into the barrels to get a drink. Often times on a pirate ship the men would
drink straight rum, beer, or wine as well. Rum was readily available in the Caribbean
and was often being transported on merchant ships so it made a lot of sense for pirates
to have developed a taste for it. I should mention that the mixing of rum with water,
known as grog, was not yet invented in the golden age of piracy. That’s not to say
that it was never done, but it was not typical and not referred to as grog until after 1740.
Some ships would have also carried livestock like chickens, goats, and sometimes a cow.
If they had goats or cows they would have a source of milk and, if they had to, they
could slaughter the cow for beef as well.
As far as shelter goes, when at sea obviously the pirates lived onboard their ships. They
would sleep wherever they could find room, amongst the stolen cargo either on deck or
below deck. Below deck would have stunk! In addition to the body odors of the men, because
deodorant had not been invented yet, the bilge had a terrible odor. The bilge is the lowest
point on a ship where water naturally settles. This water came from tiny leaks in the hull,
spills, and rain and would carry dirt, oil, and grime with it. In rough seas pirates would
inevitably get seasick and some of their vomit would get washed into the bilge as well. This
water would turn putrid quick and would definitely add to the smell.
Another issue would have been the heat. Ships were not built for comfort and there really
was no way to provide adequate ventilation in the hold of a ship aside from the gun ports.
The hot, tropical sun would have been beating down on the deck all day and any light would
be coming from candles or lanterns which would also add to it. Combined with the body heat
that a large crew produced I’m sure it was absolutely awful to be down there. If the
pirates had hammocks they would have slept in them, strung between the guns and cargo.
The crew would have slept together aside from maybe the captain who would have gotten a
private room. It wouldn’t have been anything fancy, but he would have had a little more
privacy. It really would have depended on the ship and crew; some captains slept with
the crew while some did not.Going to the bathroom was done at the bow, or the front of the ship,
on either side of the bowsprit. Some ships would have had simple toilets there while
others would have had nothing more than some rope for a sailor to hold on it while he did
his business. The reason they were located in the front was because the wind was primarily
behind the ship and this way they wouldn’t get waste on the hull. The captains quarters
might have a toilet for his personal use and, if so, it would have been in the stern of
the ship.Personal hygiene was not well practiced aboard a ship as the water was reserved for
drinking and watering the animals. Most of the sailors could not swim and even if they
were able to, they would not dare jump into the water for fear of sharks. Sharks routinely
follow ships because the waste is dumped overboard which would attract all types of fish that
sharks would feed on. They likely wouldn’t have been brushing their teeth much either.
Laundry wouldn’t have been done unless the pirate was in port.
pirates would listen to music when they were looking to pass the time. A crew would usually
have several musicians and in addition sailors would often sing sea shanties during monotonous
work. pirates would also smoke pipes on the open decks, read, gamble, and tell stories
when they had some down time. A pirate needed to main their weapons and that meant sharpening
their swords and knives as well as oiling their pistols. They might also engage in target
practice with both their pistols as well as the cannons.
All ships needed to be kept in good working order so pirates would tar the lines, mend
the sails, scrub the decks, and so on. Every few months a ship would need to be beached
so the pirates could careened. This meant removing barnacles and other growth from the
hull and it was a very dangerous job. The ship was brought in at high tide and when
the water receded it would be pulled over to one side so they could scrape the hull.
Aside from the danger of the ship accidentally sliding back and crushing someone it also
left them vulnerable to pirate hunters or military patrols. Any legal merchant ship
would have this done in port, so it would be very obvious that the pirates were up to
no good if a ship caught them in the act.
"A short life and a merry one” was a saying amongst many pirates and it isn’t hard to
see why. pirates certainly had more freedom than the average sailor of their day along
with the opportunity to make considerable money, but in almost all cases the trade-off
was a shorter life. Do you think the trade was worth it? Let us know in the comments
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