Pirates and Privateers
The History of Maritime Piracy

Cindy Vallar, Editor & Reviewer
P.O. Box 425, Keller, TX  76244-0425

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In March 2004, I presented an online workshop about life at sea during the Golden Age of Piracy and in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Era for Romance Writers of America's Hearts Through History Chapter. Wooden sailing ships were an integral part of both these periods. These photographs demonstrate some of the material covered in the workshop. While these ships -- the USS Constellation (Baltimore, MD) and the Elissa (Galveston Island, TX) -- sailed after the periods discussed in the workshop, they still provide insight into life at sea in the Age of Sail. The links provide information about and glimpses of other notable ships -- USS Constitution, HMS Victory, and Schooner Sultana -- that represent the time period.

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The Spar Deck

Figurehead of the USS Constellation, a sloop-of-war built in 1854	Before the 1800s, figureheads depicted kings, warriors, naval heroes, Greek gods, lions, tigers, eagles, unicorns, birds, and monsters. Female figures slowly joined other figureheads and by the 1780s were quite popular. Schooner Sultana's figurehead HMS Victory's figurehead
The seaman inserts a capstan bar (long pole) into one of the pigeon holes of the capstan. A number of men manned each bar and slowly marched in a circle to hoist the anchor. HMS Victory's Anchors and Cables USS Constitution's Capstan USS Constitution's Helm USS Constitution's Main Hatch	USS Constellation
Elissa	Built in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1877, this iron-hulled freighter from the Age of Sail transported cargo around the world. Rigged as a barque, her mainmast towers almost one hundred feet above her deck. Her 174 lines total 4.5 miles of rigging. The distance between the top of HMS Victory's mainmast and the waterline is 205 feet.
Sailors climbed aloft on the ratlines, horizontal ropes that provided steps. The shrouds, tarred vertical ropes, supported the mast.	USS Constellation
USS Constellation	Her three masts, from bow to stern, are the foremast, the mainmast, and the mizzenmast. When sailing in hotter climates or during the summer, a canvas could be rigged across the deck to provide shade from the sun and heat. USS Constitution's Spars

The Gun Deck

USS Constellation	In the foreground is the locked arms chest. During the Civil War, this ship's armament included four thirty-pound long guns, one twenty-pound and one thirty-pound Parrot rifle, and three twelve-pound howitzers. Armament in Nelson's Navy Danger of a loose gun HMS Victory - Gundecks and Main Armament Sequence for loading and firing guns
The HMS Victory was a First Rate warship with one hundred guns on three decks -- the upper deck, middle deck, and lower or gun deck. The USS Constitution, a frigate, carried forty guns. HMS Victory - Raising the anchor HMS Victory's Gun Deck - Exterior view Long guns aboard USS Constitution	Capstan on gun deck of USS Constellation
Rammer and Sponge	The rammer was flat headed and used to load shot and wad. The damp sponge, made of sheep skin, extinguished smoldering embers lodged in the bore of the gun. HMS Victory's gun decks and main armament
Situated in the aft section of the gun deck, the captain's cabin consisted of a large day cabin with a table where the captain entertained officers or guests and where charts and maps could be spread out to examine, and several smaller cabins on the starboard and port sides of the ship. Great Cabin on HMS Victory	USS Constellation
Quarter Galley on USS Constellation	The captain's mess was cooked in the Galley, then brought here before being served to the captain.
Guest's berth on USS Constellation	Captain's Office on USS Constellation
USS Constellation	The captain's rank permitted him private sleeping quarters that were more luxurious than those of his officers and the enlisted men. HMS Victory's Admiral's Cabin
The captain also had his own washroom complete with a bathtub (the dark box seen through the door) and the head (toilet - see below) with a fancier seat of ease than those used by the enlisted men.	USS Constellation
	HMS Victory's Crew's Heads

The Berth or Lower Gun Deck

Hammocks for enlisted men	Just below the gun deck is where the men slept, messed, and relaxed.  On the USS Constellation lived 255 sailors, 44 Marines, and 19 officers. While the US Navy called this the berth deck, the British Royal Navy referred to it as a gun deck, although no guns were on it because it was below the water line. HMS Victory's Lower Deck
The typical diet for a seaman was bland, boring, and not necessarily healthy. Among the items seen here are hard tack, molasses, canned beans with bacon, tea, and coffee. Galley stove smokestack on USS Constitution USS Constitution's Galley stove Maggots and Weevils Cheese in Nelson's Navy The Cook	Enlisted men's fare
Enlisted men's fare	The bottle with the darker liquid is sauerkraut juice. The can contains milk. The galley stove aboard the HMS Victory could roast a pig on a six-foot spit and bake 80 pounds of ship's biscuits at one time. Its distiller provided the surgeon with six quarts of water every day.  Ships' Galley Stoves HMS Victory's Galley
The officers' quarters were directly below those of the captain. A removable bulkhead separated these cabins from the rest of the deck. Directly below the berth deck was the Orlop deck, which was where the surgeon worked. Below that were the hold and powder magazines. USS Constitution's Wardroom USS Constitution's Sickbay USS Constitution's Magazine USS Constitution's Access to Magazine USS Constitution's Carpenter's Walk HMS Victory's Hold HMS Victory's Sickbay	USS Constellation's Wardroom

© 2004 Cindy Vallar

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