# 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:** 3
**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, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/41 "2015-09-14T22:10:25Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > 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. Neat! Thanks. ---
**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 15, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/42 "2015-09-15T00:01:46Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Neat! > Thanks. You are very welcome. 🙂 ---
**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 15, 2015, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/43 "2015-09-15T00:07:20Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > 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. Yes, a log was originally a literal log. The logbook was where you recorded the distance you traveled each day as determined by tossing the log. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/44 "2015-09-15T00:14:24Z")
I’ve heard that the biggest crew requirement on a warship is for damage control. When you’re in battle, you’ve got to have a bunch of guys working full-time to keep holes in the hull from sinking you, which means that you need to have that many guys at other times, too. ---
**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 15, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/45 "2015-09-15T00:33:36Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Yes, a log was originally a literal log. The logbook was where you recorded the distance you traveled each day as determined by tossing the log. Doubly neat! And here’s a thanks to you too. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/46 "2015-09-15T00:43:44Z")
> **[Columbus was a mass killer and the father of the slave trade](https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/columbus-mass-killer-slave-trade)** > > It's time to recognize that Christopher Columbus Day was a mass killer, responsible for 3 million deaths and not a founding father, rather the founder of the slave trade. I really could less what they did all day on their ships ! It would had been great if their ships had sank at sea. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/47 "2015-09-15T01:06:44Z")
> [@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. There would be substantial overlap between the sets of gun crews, sailors, and boarding parties. In battle, at range, almost everybody is either sailor or gun crew; upon grappling with an enemy, almost everybody becomes boarding (or repel-boarding) party. Of course, Columbus’ ships were dinky little things next to those 19th-century frigates. Fewer than 90 men total among the three. ---
**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 15, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/48 "2015-09-15T02:08:52Z")
> [@purplehearingaid](#): > > I really could less what they did all day on their ships ! It would had been great if their ships had sank at sea. Sunk. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/49 "2015-09-15T04:06:23Z")
At the LORAN station I spent a year at, there wasn’t much to do for the techs and watchstanders. We stood 1 in 3 watches, where a “Duty” day (one in which we stood watch) was followed by a liberty day and that was followed by a work day where we worked from 0730 to 1330 (unless we were needed longer or if it was a weekend in which case we had liberty). The Duty Tech had to stay physically onboard the station for 24 hours to be available for an electronics emergency. In addition to that, we stood port and starboard communications watches with the duty seaman (6 hours on, 6 hours off, twice) on our duty day. It’s possible to have 3 watches a day, either 8 on and 16 off or 4 on and 8 off and repeat. ---
**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 15, 2015, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/50 "2015-09-15T05:24:57Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Yes, a log was originally a literal log. The logbook was where you recorded the distance you traveled each day as determined by tossing the log. What rolls downstairs, alone or in pairs, rolls over your neighbor’s dog? What’s great for a snack, and fits on your back? It’s Log! Log! [Log](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjzBpJ1XYwc)! ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/51 "2015-09-15T07:45:17Z")
If you read some well-researched historical fiction, such as C.S. Forester’s _Hornblower_ series, you’ll find that seafaring crews had no shortage of things to do. The entire ship would undergo frequent drills and exercises so that they would be well prepared for battles, emergencies, and other urgent business. In addition to adjusting the sails and swabbing the decks, as others have noted, the senior officers and crew members gave group lessons to the junior ones. For officer candidates this included instruction in trigonometry and navigation. Back then you didn’t get to become a sailor by going to a university; you joined the navy (or merchant marine) when you were quite young and got on-the-job training over the course of several years. For naval officers, some promotions were contingent on passing exams, so they would also spend a lot of time in self-study with books. At least in the Royal Navy, on Sunday there was mandatory attendance at religious services presided over by the captain. He would also regularly read aloud the naval regulations in their entirety, to ensure that even illiterate sailors could not claim ignorance of the law and the punishments it prescribed. All that reading and praying must have taken up a good deal of time; by the end of a years-long voyage the sailors could probably accurately quote long passages from the Bible and naval regulations from heart. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/52 "2015-09-15T08:11:10Z")
All of the above and more. Anyone who has been in the military will know that in the opinion of the officers, the devil finds work for idle hands. With this in mind, if there are no ‘real’ jobs to do, they will make some. Clean places can be re-cleaned (sometimes with inadequate tools), exercises, drills - a good officer has a whole lexicon af make-work to keep the devil at bay. O’Brian describes a ship stuck in the Doldrums - no wind and going nowhere. They can’t even swim because the ship is totally surrounded by “The Admiral of the Brown”. The accumulated filth that all those sailors could create and which floated along with them. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/53 "2015-09-15T08:15:32Z")
Further to the mention of ‘logs’ above. A ‘knot’ of course is a speed of one minute of latitude per hour. (about 1.15 mph) > [@](#): > > The device that sailors used to make their speed measurement was called the “chip log.” Chip as in chip of wood, and log as in to record in a log. The chip was a wedge of wood about 18" in size; it was tied to one end of a rope on a large spool. The rope had knots tied into it about every 47’3" > [@](#): > > The length was based on converting [1 nautical mile per hour] to [feet per second(fps)], and then multiplying [fps] by 30 seconds (which was a practical time to spend counting knots with a sandglass). The result was the calibrated length in feet at which to tie the knots for a 30-second run of the chip log. [http://www.onlineconversion.com/faq\_07.htm](http://www.onlineconversion.com/faq_07.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/54 "2015-09-15T12:02:11Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > At least in the Royal Navy, on Sunday there was mandatory attendance at religious services presided over by the captain. He would also regularly read aloud the naval regulations in their entirety, to ensure that even illiterate sailors could not claim ignorance of the law and the punishments it prescribed. All that reading and praying must have taken up a good deal of time; by the end of a years-long voyage the sailors could probably accurately quote long passages from the Bible and naval regulations from heart. If I recall rightly from O’Brian’s novels: Jack Aubrey (not usually a very reflective soul) feels an uncomfortable dissonance between the love-and-peace elements of Christianity; and his being a professional killer, and leader of a bunch of same. This causes him to dislike conducting the “divine” part of Sunday services – largely, his reading from the Bible and the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Thus, as many Sundays as not, he skips the religious stuff and just reads out the naval regulations. (SDMB’s many keen O’Brian fans will be able to correct as necessary, re the above; I’ve read the books, but am a bit lukewarm about them.) ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/55 "2015-09-15T15:51:54Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Further to the mention of ‘logs’ above. A ‘knot’ of course is a speed of one minute of latitude per hour. (about 1.15 mph) > > [FAQ: What is a knot? What is a nautical mile?](http://www.onlineconversion.com/faq_07.htm) There was a television show a few years ago where they sailed in this manner. They employed three guys tossing the log (since none of them had actual experience). It seemed to keep those fellows busy the whole time they were underway, and according to the show, counting, doing the conversion math (by hand) and then comparing their different results and checking with the sextant. They seemed amazed that anyone could actually figure out where they were using this methodology. ---
**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 15, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/56 "2015-09-15T17:10:16Z")
The word/meaning “log” has a special place in my heart since I learned that it–part of it, actually, the letters “lo”–was the first ever communicated in what was later to be called the Internet. The message/data were “log in” and the connection failed/aborted. Cite not handy. ETA: the allegorical sense of this with golden ages of exploratory journeys are attractive. Not for nothing is the opening motto, practically, of Star Trek “captain’s log…” ETA2: I have to go check a current physics thread, but maybe the log|speed can be expressed as a frequency in Hz. ---
**Author:** ![piston\_broke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/278dde/32.png) [@piston\_broke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/piston_broke)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/57 "2015-09-15T17:16:28Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > he kept the crew in the dark about how far they had sailed-although, he fully expected to sight land 800 (Spanish) miles west of the Azores. I loves me a good mystery, Ralph. Any chance you could direct me to something that looks at this in more detail? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/58 "2015-09-15T17:18:24Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > If you read some well-researched historical fiction, such as C.S. Forester’s _Hornblower_ series, you’ll find that seafaring crews had no shortage of things to do. The entire ship would undergo frequent drills and exercises so that they would be well prepared for battles, emergencies, and other urgent business. In addition to adjusting the sails and swabbing the decks, as others have noted, the senior officers and crew members gave group lessons to the junior ones. For officer candidates this included instruction in trigonometry and navigation. Back then you didn’t get to become a sailor by going to a university; you joined the navy (or merchant marine) when you were quite young and got on-the-job training over the course of several years. For naval officers, some promotions were contingent on passing exams, so they would also spend a lot of time in self-study with books. > > At least in the Royal Navy, on Sunday there was mandatory attendance at religious services presided over by the captain. He would also regularly read aloud the naval regulations in their entirety, to ensure that even illiterate sailors could not claim ignorance of the law and the punishments it prescribed. All that reading and praying must have taken up a good deal of time; by the end of a years-long voyage the sailors could probably accurately quote long passages from the Bible and naval regulations from heart. Having nearly memorized the Hornblower books, I can attest to the above. During the first scene of the novel _Beat to Quarters_, Captain Hornblower is pacing his quarterdeck before breakfast, and one of the things he is thinking about is things to keep the crew busy during the day - setting up and taking down the sails, gun drill where they practice running out the guns (and a few rounds of actual firing), etc. All in the interest of keeping the hands too busy to think about mutiny. One quote sticks with me - > [@](#): > > Hornblower never feared mutiny during the ten wild weeks of beating around the Horn. It might have been wet and cold and miserable - but at least they weren’t bored. Regards, Shodan ---
**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 15, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/59 "2015-09-15T20:13:56Z")
> [@rainy](#): > > There was a television show a few years ago where they sailed in this manner. They employed three guys tossing the log (since none of them had actual experience). It seemed to keep those fellows busy the whole time they were underway, and according to the show, counting, doing the conversion math (by hand) and then comparing their different results and checking with the sextant. They seemed amazed that anyone could actually figure out where they were using this methodology. I’d be curious what show that was, and the details of what they were trying to do. I used a sextant on board a ship once, and compared it to the GPS to see how accurate I was. If the guys on that show were using the sextant as their accuracy check they must have had some skills. ---
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214/60 "2015-09-15T20:26:35Z")
I’m wondering how much time they spent fishing (I assume they fished). None of the occupations in the OP are “Fisherman”, was this a trivial task that anyone could do? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-the-sailors-on-columbus-ships-do-all-day/731214.md?page=4)