A Sailor's Life For Me
A maritime historian takes us inside the Age of Sail, a period of rapid advancement (and ubiquitous danger) that changed the world as we know it.
Nowadays, as we cruise the world in luxury ocean liners and enjoy the readily available goods transported by massive cargo ships, one might say we’ve mastered the sea. But it wasn’t always this way. During the Age of Sail, an eventful historical period taking place between the 16th and 19th centuries, the sea fought valiantly to master us, dashing wooden ships to pieces and stranding sailors in dire conditions—so dire that it sometimes led to cannibalism.
In Captain’s Dinner, Adam Cohen tells a gripping story set during this era—one of four shipwrecked sailors, their shocking decision to eat a member of their company, and the paradigm-shattering trial that followed. But despite their outsized role in shaping history, these sailors were just four among millions of men who found employment and adventure on the high seas during the Age of Sail. Sure, the sailing lifestyle ran them the risk of becoming someone’s lunch, but it wasn’t all bad—in fact, despite this challenging and dangerous landscape, what mariners achieved during the Age of Sail changed the world, revolutionizing trade, travel, and warfare.
To take us inside this pivotal chapter in global history, we brought in an expert: maritime historian Chris Frame. Frame is the author of over a dozen maritime history and cruising books, as well as The Maritime Historian’s Substack, and a frequent speaker aboard cruise ships. We also consulted our very own Adam Cohen, who spent months traveling through England on the trail of cannibals, to share insight about the norms and practices of cannibalism among sailors. Read on for a full, salty immersion into life aboard a ship during the Age of Sail—on both the good days and the really, really bad days.
ADRIENNE WESTENFELD: What was the Age of Sail, and how did it change the world as we know it?
CHRIS FRAME: The Age of Sail was a significant time, historically. It covered a long period of time, from the 16th to the 19th century, and throughout this time, trade, travel, and warfare were largely influenced by sailing ships. The design of sailing ships was often being refined, and they were the most modern and significant vessels of their day. They not only facilitated global trade, but also were used in the expansion of empires across the globe. The Americas, New Zealand, and Australia were all colonized by European nations during the Age of Sail, while trade of goods became a global enterprise during this time, as well. Throughout the Age of Sail, there was an increase in the ability to transport valuable and rare goods around the world in a way that was not possible with smaller vessels.
AW: What technological advances did we see during the Age of Sail?
CF: There were many developments during the Age of Sail. This included changes to the design of the ships, such as the shape of the hull, and the numbers and shapes of the sails. Additionally, there was the development of new tools. For example, the sextant became a widespread naval navigation tool during the Age of Sail, being first developed in the 18th century and remaining a key component until the late 20th century. In fact, even today as ships move more to satellite and GPS, sailors are still taught how to manage a sextant, so there is a manual way to navigate should it be required.
The distance and speed measurement of “knots” was also developed during this period. Back in the 16th century, it was a measurement of wooden blocks, known as chips, which were tied to knots on a rope that was manually counted over time in order to determine a ship’s speed. This early measure of knots today exists as knots measured as nautical miles per hour, and is still used aboard modern passenger ships.
AW: Tell me about the daily texture of life during the Age of Sail. What was it like to work aboard one of these commercial ships as a sailor?
CF: Life on the sailing ships was hard, dangerous, and sometimes short. The Age of Sail, for all its advances, was far more dangerous than modern transportation. It was also far more dangerous than the age of steam that replaced it. Firstly, sailing ships were nearly wholly at the mercy of the weather, with no alternative form of power such as engines. This could lead to a ship becoming becalmed, sometimes for days at a time, extending the length of the voyage. If there wasn’t enough food aboard, this could have tragic consequences.
Also, there was no radio, so it was nearly impossible to send messages back to land other than line-of-sight communication via signal flags and the like. Life at sea for people with families would have been quite isolating and very tough. The ships were also small by modern standards. This meant that you often had situations where relatively small ships made of wood were sailing in bad weather with no alternative way to propel themselves, which could be dangerous. And they’d move a lot, so only people who didn’t get seasick or could adapt to live on a heavily moving ship would have been suited for this work.
There were many shipwrecks where no one at home knew what happened to the ship. This led to widespread fear about going to sea. Passengers would often avoid it, unless absolutely necessary.
AW: I understand that the practice of cannibalism among shipwrecked sailors was often referred to as “the custom of the sea.” Tell me about the traditional rules of this practice. How did sailors choose who would be sacrificed? How was this act viewed, both at sea and on shore?
ADAM COHEN: There was a long tradition of killing and eating people at sea in survival conditions, and yes, it was known as the custom of the sea. The tradition called for lots to be drawn, with the person who drew the short lot killed and eaten. Sometimes lots were also drawn for who would do the killing. There was a good amount of support for this practice of sanctioned cannibalism in the sailing community. It was a sort of working-man’s utilitarianism. Without being exposed to anything as fancy as Jeremy Bentham’s writings on “the greatest good for the greatest number”—because they had not been written yet—sailors decided that it was better to kill one person so others could survive than to risk having everyone die.
AW: How did the practices aboard these ships perpetuate existing inequalities and divisions? For example, I’ve read that when crews drew lots to determine who would be sacrificed, they often “chose” enslaved men and young boys.
AC: In theory, the drawings were a way of ensuring that everyone on a ship had an equal chance of being chosen to be eaten. In fact, it did not work out that way. Almost invariably, the loser was the cabin boy, or one of the children on board, or an enslaved man who was being transported, or the one Black man or Spanish person on a ship of British sailors. This was possible because the lots were often not drawn by the sailors themselves, but rather, by the person in charge of the process—sometimes out of the presence of the person who ended up losing—and it was simply reported who had lost the drawing. So, the drawing of lots had a veneer of democracy and fairness—but it was almost invariably done in a rigged, hierarchical way.
There were also instances in which lots were not drawn at all. Sometimes the captain, or a powerful crew member or group of crew members, simply decided who would be killed. And when this happened, the captains certainly were not choosing themselves. In the case I write about in Captain’s Dinner, no lots were drawn. The captain just decided that the cabin boy would be killed and eaten.
AW: How did the cannibalism episode highlighted in Captain’s Dinner influence maritime culture and law?
AC: One of the most interesting things about the episode on the Mignonette was the reaction of people back in England when the survivors returned home. The sailing community largely rallied around them, believing that in survival circumstances, it was not wrong to kill the cabin boy—even when there was not a drawing of lots. Many sailors showed up in court to support the men, and the maritime community contributed to their defense fund. They even wrote a sea shanty, a sailing work song, arguing that the men should not be punished for killing the cabin boy. It was mainly non-sailors, particularly societal elites, like judges and lawyers, who believed that the killing of the cabin boy was a crime.
The custom of the sea declined precipitously after the Mignonette episode, but that was not necessarily because of what happened in the case, or because of any sharp change in how maritime culture felt about the practice. In 1884, sailing ships were disappearing, being replaced by steamships that were much less likely to have the sort of shipwrecks that led to the custom of the sea.
AW: What factors led to the decline of the Age of Sail?
CF: Technology led to the eventual decline of the Age of Sail. From the 1830s, steam propulsion started to increase in development and usage. By the 1840s, there were companies established, successfully utilizing steamers to carry cargo, mail, and passengers across the world’s oceans. The age of steam led to safer voyages, larger ships, and ultimately more reliability, which gradually eclipsed the widespread use of sail.
AW: How did the decline of the Age of Sail affect sailors’ employment?
CF: Steam ships required a different skillset to sailing vessels. However, many early steamers also had auxiliary sails and large crews to man them, so some sailors were able to transition to steamer jobs. However, many of the 19th century steam ships were run by corporations and companies who were far stricter about who they employed. They held crew to increasingly high personal and professional standards as compared to some employers of the 16th and 17th centuries.
AW: Where do we see the influence of the Age of Sail in today’s maritime culture and practices?
CF: We can see it everywhere, from the romanticism of a ‘simpler time’ when one views an image of a sailing ship, to the terminology used in today’s language such as knots, to the history lessons taught in countless schools across the world when discussing colonization and the expansion of global trade.
AW: Some experts predict that we’re in for a “New Age of Sail,” thanks to a modern movement to power ships with wind propulsion and cut down on carbon emissions. What do you think of this?
CF: There are some fascinating new sail designs being investigated by cruise lines such as Ponant and Hurtigruten, as well as cargo operators. These sails are not what you’d imagine when you think of ‘sails,’ as they’re technologically enhanced designs and come in a variety of sizes and shapes. I think any technology that helps the shipping industry reduce its reliance on fossil fuels is a positive step; however, I imagine it will be some time before we see 100,000+ gross ton cruise ships wholly powered by sail. That said, the cruise ships of Windstar currently use auxiliary sails and have done so for years.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.
Thanks for reaching out to discuss the age of sail!
This is such a terrific deep dive on a subject I didn't know I needed to know all about. Wow! How can you get this in front of the historical fiction writers who also NEED this so much? Thanks for posting this!