A pirate's life may be romanticized in literature, television and movies, but in reality it was dangerous way to make a living. Use this page to paint a picture of life at sea, from what pirates wore and ate, to money and pecking order.

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Food and drink:

• Grog:
• Rum:
• Hardtack:

• Saltpork
• saltbeef
• oranges, when available

• gruel
• insects
• rats
  
• Chickens (More common in standing navies than pirates)
  

• Goats (More common in standing navies than pirates)

Larger ships would actually carry a quantity of livestock onboard, primarily chickens, goats and/or pigs. These would be slaughtered at need aboard ship to provide food, and of course the chickens would provide eggs.

Kegs of lemon juice would often be kept to mix with the rum and seawater to create grog, in order to fend off scurvy. But grog was a later invention. In earlier years the primary drink would actually have been ale, with wine for the captain and officers. Butts of water would have been shipped, but would not have lasted long for long sea voyages as kegged water only keeps several weeks at most before becoming undrinkable.

Health/sickness:

• Scurvy

• Syphilis
• Gonorrhea

Medicine/The ship's Surgeon:

• amputation
• bandages

• alcohol
• mercury
  

Recreation
Recreation time aboard a ship was usually limited, there always being tasks needing doing. Off-duty time would often be used mending sails and clothing, fixing and splicing lines, and picking apart old rope for the hemp fibres which would be used to fill gaps in the ship's planking.

Pure recreation, when it was possible, usually happened in the evening after dark. Many sailors played some sort of instrument such as a small flute, hand drum, fiddle or squeeze box. So evenings of music and dancing on the fo'c'sle or below decks in colder and nastier weather were common. Some captains would permit gambling or similar games. These usually involved dice or cards. On the wreck of the Mary Rose, the British flagship that sank intact during the reign of Elizabeth I, divers found what was clearly a backgammon board.

Most sailors actually could not swim. But ships at sea which were not in a hurry to get anywhere would sometimes rig a safe bathing area for the crew using a surplus sail suspended in the water from the rigging to create a shallow pool alonside the ship.

Songs (aka shanties):Barnicle Bill the Sailor



Law and order:
varied by ship and captain. Often would be enforced by Lieutenants, or Botswains (Bosuns).



Punishment:
punishment for infractions aboard ship in the 19th century were harsh, although pirates were often more fair than the Royal Navy. Whippings with a cat-o-nine tails were common (hence the phrase "the cat's out of the bag"). Other punishments might include swabbing decks, restricted rations, hangings (from the yardarm). The phrase to "take someone down a peg" also originates with shipboard punishment, more common in the Royal Navy than pirates, a ship would have a kind of status board for the crew with positions, behaviours, etc. When a crewman committed an infraction his indentifier would be moved down. A lashing was likely to follow. Common punishment amongst pirates was marooning, flogging was also used frequently.


Pecking order on the ship:
(Roles, from the Captain on down to the cabin boy.)

Captain
Lieutenant (Master,Sailing master, master-at-arms)
Boatswain
Gunner
Quartermaster
Carpenter
mate
ship's surgeon
cook
seamen
cabin boy (ship's boy)

Bathroom facilities:
Toilet facilities were very limited aboard a sailing ship of the age of pirates. The captain would probably have a 'head' off his cabin at the aft of the ship, and the room where the officers bunked might also include a head. But for most of the crew there were no formal bathroom facilities. They had to make their own arrangements. This usually involved going into forepeak, or into the chains (rails alongside the ship to which the shrouds were anchored), holding onto the lines there, and hanging one's back end out over the water to do one's business.

On a ship with a formal watch rotation, where a watch duty could last 4-8 hours, the crew members going on watch would all take their toilet break at the same time, right before beginning their watch. They would all go 'hang out' together - a possible origin of the modern expression "hanging out".

Sources:
Oxford Illustrated History of the Royal Navy, Oxford University Press, 1995 ed.


BBC Worldservice