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Sailing with Columbus

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Discovery Education Techbook Discovery Communications, LLC 1
Sailing with Columbus
A Day in the Life
What was life like for the men who traveled aboard ships with great explorers
such as Christopher Columbus in the late 1400s and 1500s? Let’s travel back in
time, awakening at dawn aboard the deck of a Spanish galleon as she sails
across the Atlantic, far out of sight of land. . . .
Dawn
Sailors in the 1500s awoke at dawn, usually
on deck. If it had been a rainy night, they may
have slept below deck, but only the captain had
private sleeping quarters. The rest of the men
slept wherever they could find a comfortable spot.
The day began with prayers and the singing of
hymns. Afterward, the men may have eaten a
small meal of hard biscuits and water.
Morning
Men who signed up to sail on a particular
expedition knew they had hard work ahead of them. They were responsible not
only for sailing the ship but also for maintaining it. One of the sailors’ main
duties involved pumping bilge water. The bilge is the lowest part of a ship’s hull
where water collects because of rain or rough seas. This water had to be
removed by pumping. Other jobs involved cleaning the deck, keeping watch,
working the sails, and checking the ropes.
The merchant ships of the great voyages of discovery were manned by a crew of
about 80 men. The men were often quite young. A young man had to be only
16 years old to sign up to be a sailor. Although most of the men on board were
regular sailors who performed the duties listed above, there were also some
special positions. Every ship’s crew included a parson, who was responsible
for leading the religious services. Other jobs included a cook and a surgeon, who
was the ship’s doctor. The crew also had a master gunner, who supervised the
maintenance and firing of the ship’s guns. The boatswain was in charge of the
sails. Carpenters were also on the boat during the voyage.
Midday
At midday the main meal was served. Because sailors went for months without
eating any fresh fruit or vegetables, they were susceptible to scurvy. By the time
Columbus sailed to the Americas, the dangers of scurvy were known, but not all
captains took the necessary steps to try to prevent it. Scurvy is a disease caused
by a lack of vitamin C. Scurvy is very painful. It makes a person’s teeth fall out
This drawing shows a fleet of Portuguese
sailing ships from around the year 1500.
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Discovery Education Techbook Discovery Communications, LLC 2
Sailing with Columbus
A Day in the Life
and can cause death. In an attempt to avoid this horrible disease, some ships
were stocked with fresh fruit. Even for those ships that did provide fruit,
however, it was difficult to keep the fruit
from spoiling for the long months of the
voyage. This meant that it was often
infested with bugs or covered in mold.
All the ship’s rations, in fact, were usually
eaten as much by maggots, beetles, and
rats as they were by the men themselves.
Most ships’ crews included at least one cat,
whose job it was to kill mice and rats on
the ship.
Other than whatever fruit was still edible,
the midday meal consisted of salted beef or
pork, hard biscuits, dried peas, and cheese.
When fresh fish could be caught, it was
cooked on deck over a fire built in a
sandbox. The main beverage aboard ship
was beer, which survived long voyages better than water because the hops in
the beer helped to preserve it.
Afternoon
After the midday meal, work resumed. The day’s routine was usually the same
day after day, unless something unusual happened. One such event, dreaded by
most, was the punishment of a fellow crew member. Because the men all
depended on one another for their survival, the captain of each ship insisted on
strict discipline. Punishments were handed out for even small offenses,
including falling asleep while on duty. Other crimes included refusing to follow
orders and failure to do one’s duty.
Each punishment was carried out with the entire crew watching, including both
officers and seamen. This was meant to further shame the offender. It also
discouraged other crew members from breaking the rules. The most common
form of punishment was flogging. Flogging involved a beating with a cat-o’-
nine-tails—a handle with nine knotted cords attached. Today this sort of
punishment is unthinkable, but at the time, physical punishments were
common both at sea and on land. Those punishments could be harsh.
This is a woodcut from the mid-1500s. It
shows European sailors aboard ship.
They are using some of the sailing
instruments of the time, including a cross
staff and an astrolabe. Both instruments
were used to help the captain navigate.
Sailing with Columbus
A Day in the Life
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Throughout Europe at this time, even stealing something small could be
punished by hanging.
As the afternoon wore on, one or two men may have been taken to see the ship’s
surgeon. Illness and injury were common onboard a ship. Sickness often
resulted from the lack of fresh food and from diseases carried by rats. Any
minor injury ran the risk of infection, which could lead to the diseased limb
being amputated. Because there were no painkillers at that time, an amputation
was a nightmarish experience.
Evening
After the sun set, the sailors were again given a small portion of biscuit and
water. The men worked four-hour shifts, and those hours were measured by an
hourglass. Between shifts, they sat on deck, playing cards, singing sea songs or
shanties, playing instruments, telling stories, carving, and practicing tying
different types of knots.
At some point before or after the evening meal, men were called to the evening
prayer service. They may have also been given a report of how many miles had
been covered that day. During the 1500s, distance was measured by an
instrument called a chip log. This was a length of knotted rope on a reel with a
wooden weight at its end. A member of the crew had the job of counting how
many knots were let off the reel in a certain amount of time. This information
was then used to calculate the distance the ship had traveled. The use of this
method is the reason that a ship’s speed, even today, is measured in a unit
called knots. In Columbus’s day, a ship could travel about 150 miles a day, or
about 13 knots per hour. In comparison, consider that today’s aircraft carriers
travel at about 30 knots per hour and an ocean liner at more than 35 knots per
hour.
Day’s End
Those men who were working the next four-hour shift after evening prayers
reported for duty, while the others slept or relaxed. Once night fell, much of the
work ended as well, because it would have been hard to perform duties such as
cleaning the deck and checking the ropes by lantern. The men settled in to get
some rest, knowing that tomorrow would bring another day of hard work,
danger, adventure, and—who knew? Maybe even the sight of land!
Discovery Education Techbook Discovery Communications, LLC 3
Sailing with Columbus
A Day in the Life
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After reading the passage, answer the following questions:
1. What is bilge water?
A. stored drinking water for the crew
B. the sea or ocean that surrounds a ship
C. water found at high points on the ship’s hull
D. water that collects at the lowest point on a ship
2. Spending time with the ship’s parson would most likely involve
A. helping an injured sailor
B. repairing torn sails and ropes
C. navigating the course of the ship
D. participating in a religious service
3. Which of the following activities would take place in the evening?
A. eating a biscuit
B. eating a large meal
C. pumping the bilge water
D. checking the ropes by lantern light
4. Life can be hard aboard a ship. Imagine you are a sailor on a ship
during the 1500s. What might be your least favorite part of living on a
ship? What might be the best part about making landfall in a new
land? Write a paragraph in first-person point of view and use details
from the reading passage when possible.
Discovery Education Techbook Discovery Communications, LLC 4
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Completed 26 October 2021

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