[sup]Hoping this is the right forum[/sup]
From Cecil’s Column about rum and pegging:
Given that most men were not bisexual and being there was an actual law against sodomy, it seems the obvious solution would be to bring a woman along instead of a boy. Maybe a hooker.
Are there any documented cases of a woman being brought along for sexual purposes?
Usually we ask questions about Cecil’s columns in Comments on Cecil’s Columns, which is where I’ve moved this.
But…you’re a pretty bright poster who included a link to the column. Excellent. Stick around.
samclem Moderator, General Questions
I don’t have historical documentation for women going along on ships, on long voyages.
But in one of C.S. Forester’s Hornblower novels, while in port, wives and significant other’s of impressed sailors are allowed on board. The sailor’s couldn’t go ashore for fear of desertion. While the novels are fiction Forester is supposed to have tried to depict naval life as accurately as possible.
It’s 'cause they bugger up the navigation: http://my.tbaytel.net/culpeper/NavicularGynoecium.html
The story I heard was that, while in port, brothel keepers would send rowboats full of prostitutes out to the ship.
And for another cite from a fiction author, Dudley Pope (Ramage and its many sequels) stated that a sailor in port was allowed to have his wife on board, and his say-so that she was his wife was enough (whether or not someone else had been claimed as his wife in another port).
At sea, not so much. Whatever pirate fantasies people may entertain (or be entertained by), at least one version of the Pirates’ Code I’ve read specifically disallows the keeping of women aboard for such purposes.
There are various accounts of a few women present at the Battle of Trafalgar, on both sides.
By the time of the Revolutionary War, British warships commonly had sailors’ doxies aboard. Or at least, that’s what Barbara Tuchman said, so it’s good enough for me.
But a lot of times women were considered bad luck on ships.
Ever present wiki-
“There are numerous sailors’ superstitions, such as: it is considered bad luck for a ship to set sail on a Friday, to bring anything blue aboard, to stick a knife into the deck, to leave a hatch cover upside-down, to say “pig”, or to eat walnuts aboard. Some beliefs state that it is bad luck to have a woman aboard ship, while others say that a storm will give way to calm if a woman bares her body to it. (Which may explain why female figureheads are often bare-breasted.)”
Which would make sense. I can’t imagine (actually I can) the kind of problems women could cause on long voyages. Blood would be shed.
When doing a cursory search, I also learned that women were bad luck in mines as well. Who knew?
Yeah, I guess. Still I think I could press my luck if it meant having something more inviting than a peg-boy.
Thanks all for the replies!
ETA: Thanks, samclem.
In Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander, having been in port for an extended period, it’s taken for granted that the ship has sailed with a whore or two that the sailors smuggled aboard.
There was at least one incident, and probably others, where ships transporting female convicts were referred to as “floating brothels”.
Finally, I belive that up to the Napoleonic era it was a captain’s privilege to have his wife aboard, although it wasn’t considered good form.
I would point you towards this article on women in the Royal Navy. For further reading one of the books listed in the bibliography on page 6 “The Wooden World: Anatomy of the Georgian Navy” by N.A.M. Rodger is particularly informative and well-researched.
It is my guess that a lot of these superstitions are fantastic tales made up to reason why real-world things shouldn’t happen.
Bad luck to stick a knife into the deck? If we’re talking about a wooden deck that has been sealed (with pitch or some other form of sealant), which will be out at sea for months or years, then sure, repeatedly sticking knives in the deck can make spaces for water to seep in past the sealant and damage the wood.
Would a ship’s captain want to explain that, or just continue using an old superstition that sailors already believe in? “Knives in the deck? Bad mojo, we’ll throw you off if you do it.”
Eating walnuts on board? I wonder if people left walnut shells on the deck, and someone else slipped on them while the ship was listing from side to side, breaking their neck or falling off. Sure seems like bad luck to eat walnuts on board!
I don’t know about setting sail on Friday…
But having women on board seems like a bad idea. Why?
I don’t think the ship’s men will be expecting the same level of work from women on board. They’re only around to pleasure the men, right? They aren’t around to tote that bale, lay out some sheet, or know where the Fo’c’s’le is, to do physical labor, etc.
A ship can only hold so many people. So if you had a ship with (just picking a number) 100 crewmen aboard, how many additional people can you have on the ship? My guess is 2 or 3 or 5 extra people. You can’t throw an extra 100 people on that ship - you’d have to bring food (and water!) for them all.
so, since we know we can’t have a woman per man on the ship, then how many men will be “sharing” the women (and will the women want to be shared, away from land for months at a time)?
100 men and 2 women … the women would be pretty busy keeping the men happy, probably pretty tired, too.
100 men and 5 women? That’s still 20 men per woman. I don’t think the women are very happy about it, and probably not the men, either.
100 men and 10 women? Now you’re carrying 10% extra food and water, and still have a logistics problem of only 1 woman for every 10 men. The sharing situation is still harsh.
100 men and 25 women? 4 men to a woman, and 25% extra food and water.
The logistics get crazy.
If the captain was allowed his wife onboard, and no other women were on board, then the captain probably has to keep an eye on his wife 24/7. And mutiny has a whole additional payoff at this point - 4 months at sea, the first officer has got to be thinking that the second mate is starting to look a little tired…
Thanks!
“But having women on board seems like a bad idea. Why?”
You must be unfamiliar with men/women relationships in extended settings with nothing else going on.
Have you no idea of the drama and bloodshed?
Even in the modern day Navy, there are many, many stories.