# What did the sailors on Columbus' ships do all day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 14, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214 "2015-09-14T16:16:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/21 "2015-09-14T19:15:39Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Would people work in shifts? I believe that is a “watch”. I don’t know if there would be two or three. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/22 "2015-09-14T19:20:19Z")
Just think of what it would have been like for the crew of an English man-of-war on picket duty off the coast of Toulon during the Napoleonic era. These ships were crewed up to be able to man all the (100) guns, sail the ship, and still have enough men to make up boarding parties. 500 dudes with almost nothing to do, sailing back and forth, day after day, year after year. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/23 "2015-09-14T19:24:27Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I believe that is a “watch”. I don’t know if there would be two or three. The English watch system comprised two watchs ( Starboard and larboard ), 4 hours on and four hours off. Only four hours sleep at a time for years on end. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/24 "2015-09-14T19:28:25Z")
😕 “Tossing the log”? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/25 "2015-09-14T19:35:13Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Just think of what it would have been like for the crew of an English man-of-war on picket duty off the coast of Toulon during the Napoleonic era. These ships were crewed up to be able to man all the (100) guns, sail the ship, and still have enough men to make up boarding parties. 500 dudes with almost nothing to do, sailing back and forth, day after day, year after year. I’m listening to a Patrick O’Brian book right now, and just today I ran across a passage describing this various situation. According to him, it was tedious, but also very busy. In a big fleet of ships like that, they were all constantly having to adjust the sailing of the ship to keep the correct position relative to the two neighbors on top of doing the back-and-forth sweep of the fleet as a whole and accounting for the ever-changing wind. So there was constant adjusting of sails and trim and other nautical terms I don’t know how to use, but the captains had no big decisions to make. All of the nitpicky annoying parts of sailing and none of the fun. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/26 "2015-09-14T19:35:38Z")
‘Do you see that barrel down there on the deck? The one with the bung hole?’ ‘Aye, Captain.’ ‘We use that. Go ahead and give it a try.’ [After ‘using’ the barrel] ‘That was great, Captain! I’m going to do that every day!’ ‘You may do every day but Thursday.’ ‘Why can’t I use it Thursday, Sir?’ ‘Thursday is your day in the barrel.’ ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/27 "2015-09-14T19:39:04Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > If this was Columbus’ first voyage, how did he choose a suitable interpreter (i. e. what languages did he speak)? Columbus thought he was going to Asia, so the interpreter must have been chosen with that in mind. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/28 "2015-09-14T19:39:14Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 😕 “Tossing the log”? A piece of wood on a string was used to determine speed. The amount of string that was pulled away with the stick in a certain time. Hence “knots” from the number of spaced knots that ran out. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/29 "2015-09-14T19:42:00Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > JThese ships were crewed up to be able to man all the (100) guns, sail the ship, and still have enough men to make up boarding parties. Marines as boarding party perhaps, but were there enough crew to fight guns on both side and attend to sail? Some of each gun crew were called upon to adjust sail. Were they replacements for riggers killed or wounded? ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/30 "2015-09-14T19:43:28Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > "Our day began at dawn, where, after a hearty breakfast, we had punishment 'til lunchtime. After lunch, there was more punishment 'til dinner. After dinner, we would pull up anchor and sail for an hour, then drop anchor again for some verbal humiliation, followed by evening punishment. " > > “Sir? I was thinking, wouldn’t we make better progress if we was under sail 14 hours a day, and had punishment only two hours a day, instead of the other way 'round?” Beat me to it… “Perhaps this isn’t the routine of an ordinary sailor: floggings, stockings, keelhaulings, kneeling on our knuckles, having things dropped on our heads, being pushed down stairs, and so on. But occasionally, there would be time for activities such as steering the ship, and trying to make the sails fill up with wind. Captain Ned took a warm, personal interest in my welfare, and if a night was stormy, or even mildly choppy, he would come to my cabin to comfort me.” ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/31 "2015-09-14T19:44:03Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/32 "2015-09-14T19:53:48Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Not sure what a goldsmith would do all day long. [HerbieTheDentist] “But Captain Columbus… I don’t Want to be a Goldsmith. I want to be a Dentist…!” [/HerbieTheDentist] [/MrSnowmanNarator]“Oh, life on the voyage wasn’t happy for Herbie after that. Not happy at All…” [/MrSnowmanNarator] ---
**Author:** ![Oukile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@Oukile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oukile)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/33 "2015-09-14T19:54:22Z")
Not quite the same period, but you can check out [“Two Years Before the Mast”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Years_Before_the_Mast) for a good account of a sailor’s everyday life (in 1834). The second half of Chapter III, [available on gutenberg.org](http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4277/pg4277-images.html), describes how adjusting the sails regularly and maintaining the ship keeps the crew busy pretty much full time: [QUOTE=R.H.Dana] When I first left port, and found that we were kept regularly employed for a week or two, I supposed that we were getting the vessel into sea trim, and that it would soon be over, and we should have nothing to do but to sail the ship; but I found that it continued so for two years, and at the end of the two years there was as much to be done as ever. […] When first leaving port, studding-sail gear is to be rove, all the running rigging to be examined, that which is unfit for use to be got down, and new rigging rove in its place; then the standing rigging is to be overhauled, replaced, and repaired in a thousand different ways […] all the `small stuffs'' which are used on board a ship— such as spun-yarn, marline, seizing-stuff, &c., &c.— are made on board [...] Another method of employing the crew is `setting-up’’ rigging. Whenever any of the standing rigging becomes slack (which is continually happening), the seizings and coverings must be taken off, tackles got up, and, after the rigging is bowsed well taut, the seizings and coverings be replaced, which is a very nice piece of work. There is also such a connection between different parts of a vessel, that one rope can seldom be touched without requiring a change in another. […] If we add to this all the tarring, greasing, oiling, varnishing, painting, scraping, and scrubbing which is required in the course of a long voyage, and also remember this is all to be done in addition to watching at night, steering, reefing, furling, bracing, making and setting sail, and pulling, hauling, and climbing in every direction, one will hardly ask, ``What can a sailor find to do at sea?‘’ [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/34 "2015-09-14T19:57:14Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > The English watch system comprised two watchs ( Starboard and larboard ), 4 hours on and four hours off. Only four hours sleep at a time for years on end. Don’t forget the dog-watches, which are curtailed. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/35 "2015-09-14T20:02:52Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > This, I guess, was the part that I was misunderstanding. I figured that since they were heading into uncharted waters, with a vague sense of going West, steering wasn’t all that important. > > But with a sailing ship, I guess you’d still have to adjust the sails to catch the wind to head in your intended direction. > > Now, I’m thinking that there is almost _no_ downtime on Columbus’ ship! Would people work in shifts? Once you’re well out to sea, the trade winds are pretty reliable. You don’t have to adjust for every little gust. Any sail handling can probably wait until you’ve got enough men available to handle the lines. If you’re the crew, someone will find something for you to do. You’ll spend more time cooking, cleaning, oiling, and maintaining[sup]\*[/sup] than you will just pulling on ropes. - At least they probably didn’t have to worry too much about rust. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/36 "2015-09-14T20:04:13Z")
But also in **Two Years Before the Mast** he notes that sometimes the crew didn’t have anything to do, so the captain kept them busy by hauling the anchor on deck and scraping it clean. Still, I think sailing was easier than lumber jacking or working as a navie on railroads. Constant busywork, but most of the time not backbreaking labor that caused musculoskeletal disorders. You could do it well into middle age. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/37 "2015-09-14T20:29:47Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Now, I’m thinking that there is almost _no_ downtime on Columbus’ ship! Would people work in shifts? Yes, there would be different watches (again, by Napoleonic times at least, English ships were two watches, four hours on and four hours off), but when something big needed to be done, they’d wake everyone up and get them to work. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/38 "2015-09-14T20:42:00Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Thanks for asking, since it caused me to look up the answer, and to discover that Luis de Torres was Jewish (by heritage; he apparently had converted to Catholicism shortly before the voyage to avoid being expelled from Spain)! > > Per [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_de_Torres), he spoke Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and Portuguese and “Columbus hoped that the interpreter’s skills would be useful in Asia because they would enable him to communicate with local Jewish traders, and he may also have believed that he would find descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” > > (As a reminder, Columbus wasn’t expecting to reach the new world. He figured he’d end up in Asia, a land that Europe had already made contact with.) Wouldn’t an interpreter come in handy for a multi-ethnic crew too? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/39 "2015-09-14T21:19:30Z")
> [@missred](#): > > Wouldn’t an interpreter come in handy for a multi-ethnic crew too? In those days I doubt anyone would hire a crew member who couldn’t understand orders or communicate with the rest of the crew. And there were probably at least a few crew members who were multilingual in other European languages so an interpreter wouldn’t be necessary within the crew. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/40 "2015-09-14T21:26:38Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > Rum, sodomy, and the lash. Or was that the English? Each spent his time awaiting his turn in the barrel. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214.md?page=3)