Jordan Mattox

Chapter I

Summary: Dana arrives at the Boston Port to board a ship called the Pilgrim to sail around Cape Horn in the hope of curing an ailment of his eyes. In an effort to blend with his fellow sailors, he purchased a sailor outfit, which he admits did not achieve his desired end, which was to blend in. In order to set out to sea, the crew begins preparations and Dana serves the first watch at night. After waiting for the winds to come from the west for twenty four hours, the Pilgrim finally set sail the following night. Dana reflects on leaving his native land for adventure as the ship and the crew set the journey in motion. 

Terms to Know: 

Loose Duck Trowsers: 

Loose Tarpaulin Hat:

Jack Tar: Jack Tar was a common English term used to refer to seafarers of the merchant marine and Royal Navy, particularly at the time when the British Empire was at its largest. The public, and seafarers themselves, used the name to identify men who went to sea.

Taffrail:

Questions to Reflect On:

1. What does the fixation on apparel tell us about our narrator? And if he knew that his complexion would reveal his relative status, why did he spend so much time developing his costume?  
2. How does this narrative compare to the beginnings of other travel narratives? 
3. What does he mean when he says “This was literally bidding “goodnight” to my native land?” Is there a sense that he was never to return? 

Historical Note:

At the same time that Dana is departing on his adventure, Charlestown, which is near Boston, was in the midst of conflict that is referred to as the Ursuline Convent Riots. The riots culminated in the burning of a convent of nuns. Anti-catholic sentiment pervaded the Massachusetts Bay colony from its beginning and when a school and a convent were opened, rumors proliferated about the immorality and corruption at these institutions. Thus, in a metaphorical sense, Dana was leaving a situation of old-world conflicts to a new world of new ideas and new possibilities.   

Chapter II

Summary: In the second chapter, Dana deals with some of his first challenges aboard the Pilgrim. The first challenge is the strenuous nature of the work, from cleaning to adjusting the changes in weather. A storm also emerges that leads to sickness and sleep depravity, along with the work of weathering the storm. Dana also has conversations with the cook about adapting to the food aboard a ship. Finally, they encounter a ship of European immigrants passing them toward his home in Boston. 

Terms to Know: 

Reefed Topsail:

Ship’s Bisket – Hard Tack: 18th Century Breads, Part 1.

Questions to Reflect Upon: 

1. What do we learn about the sea captain from his speech? 
2. How does Dana adjust with the work demands aboard a ship? 
3. Dana has mixed experiences in his first few days aboard the ship. How would you describe his state of mind based on the anecdotes that chose to include? 

Historical Notes:

At the John Hopkins Seaport Museum, Carley Roche wrote an excellent blog post about medicine and maladies aboard 19th century whaling ships. Here’s her description of battling illness and injuries aboard ships at this time:

Despite this tumultuous medical history, sailors had a job to do no matter what advancements or hindrances were happening ashore. The particular medicine chest that is described above is believed to have served on the whaleship Cherokee. A barque whose home port was in New Bedford, Massachusetts, but traveled as far as Alaska, Hawaii, and New Zealand throughout her career. As part of the whaling industry, Cherokee and her crew endured dangerous and brutal conditions. Ships could be away from their home port for months to years at a time during which sailors suffered from disease due to poor hygiene, pests, and a general lack of medical knowledge. On top of this, crew members risked loss of limb and death with day-to-day tasks manning the ship, natural disasters at sea, and, of course, the dangerous act of hunting whales.  

Thanks to one of the earliest labor laws passed by Congress—the Act for the Government and Regulation of Seamen—Cherokee was required to carry a medicine chest on board. Passed on July 20, 1790, it states “every ship or vessel belonging to a citizen or citizens of the United States, of the burthen of one hundred and fifty tons or upwards, navigated by ten or more persons in the whole, and bound on a voyage without the limits of the United States, shall be provided with a chest of medicines, put up by some apothecary of known reputation, and accompanied by directions for administering the same.”

If one wanted to find an “apothecary of known reputation” in the 19th century they would want to travel to Philadelphia. A leader in American medical history, the city of Philadelphia is home to the nation’s first hospital and first medical school.

Looking at the labels on the vials and medical supplies in this cabinet, a majority are from a drug and chemical store owned by Caspar A. Morris (1805–1884) at the South West corner of 8th and Walnut Streets. Morris came from a prominent Philadelphian family and graduated in 1829 from the University of Pennsylvania. He was a trusted and respected physician who helped establish local health care institutions. Having medicines and supplies manufactured from Morris fulfilled the requirements of the law.

The issue is no longer having medical supplies on board a whaling ship, but whether or not an injured or sick person could even be properly treated. Typically, the physician on a whaling vessel was the Captain or his wife if she joined the voyage; neither were expected to have any medical training. Adding further complications, whoever held the title of “doctor” that day had to perform life saving procedures while on an unsanitary moving ship due to the nature of being away from port for months at a time. Whether a sailor was afflicted with scurvy, a toothache, or in need of an amputation, their life was in the hands of an ill-prepared person in unfit conditions. Life at sea was dangerous; disease and injury were deadly.

Chapter III

Summary: In chapter three, Dana does a sociological study, of sorts, of the various offices aboard the ship and describes briefly the kinds of work that is required to keep a ship afloat. He begins by describing the captain, officers/mates, and how the sailors are divided. Much time is devoted to describing the divisions and terms of the watches. Finally, he explains the kinds of work employed every day and misunderstandings related to quantity and duration work aboard a ship. 

Terms to Know: 

Spunyarn: A small line made of two, three, or four yarns, not laid but loosely twisted. It has a variety of uses, on board ship, particularly to seize or serve rope. It is also used aboard sailing vessels to stop sails with.

Marline: a small light line, supplied both tarred and untarred, used for a variety of purposes on board ship during the days of sail. 

Scuttled Butt: The scuttlebutt was the drinking fountain (scuttle means drill and a butt is a cask) on the ship, and when crew would gather around for a drink, Sailors would exchange rumors of the voyage.

Chafing Gear: This chafing gear consists of worming, parcelling, roundings,battens, and service of all kinds,— rope-yarns, spun-yarn, marline, and seizing-stuffs.Taking off, putting on, and mending the chafing gear alone, upon a vessel, would find constant employment for a man or two men, during working hours, for a whole voyage. 

Questions to Reflect Upon: 

1. What can we understand about Dana’s view of hierarchy aboard the ship based on his descriptions of the various officers? 
2. What do we speculate are the misconceptions of the work of sailing based on his concluding remarks at the end of the chapter? 

Historical Note: 

It was fascinating to read about the watch system aboard. Here’s a description that I found describing the system: 

On Royal Navy ships of the sailing era the ships bell was used to tell everyone on board what the time was. Usually a half hour sand glass was used and as the Midshipman of the Watch turned it over the bell was rung a number of times to let the crew know how long they had been on watch and when the relief was due to take over. To allow for any discrepancies in turning the glass the naval day started at noon when the noon sight (the Captain and senior officers establishing when the Sun reached it’s daily zenith) could be used to start the daily cycle.

Depending on the number of crew available and the number of trained watch keeping officers, the crew could be divided into two or three watches. Usually it was two, the starboard and larboard watches. The three watch system was more popular with crews as they got a full eight hours off but not as widely used.

The 24 hours were divided into 5 four hour watches and 2 two hour watches. The Latter had the effect of swapping the crew over so that the same people were not always on duty at the same time. The watches were named :

The First Watch was from 20:00 (8 p.m.) to midnight

The Middle Watch was from midnight to 04:00 (4 a.m.)

The Morning Watch was from 04:00 (4 a.m.) to 08:00 (8 a.m.)

The Forenoon Watch was from 08:00 (8 a.m.) to noon

The Afternoon Watch was from noon to 16:00 (4 p.m.)

The First Dog Watch (2 hours) was from 16:00 (4 p.m. to 18:00 (6 p.m.)

The Last Dog Watch (2 hours) was from 18:00 (6 p.m.) to 20:00 (8 p.m.)

During these watches the bell was rung each half hour with the number of rings being increased by one each time. So half hour into the watch was one bell, one hour in was two bells 1.5 hours 3 bells etc. with the watch ending with eight bells (including the Dog watches). A sand glass was used to measure each half hour with the bell being rung when the sand had run out of the half hour glass and it was turned. The only exception was when the noon sight was taken to establish the exact time and 8 bells were rung and the glass restarted when the officer taking the sight established it was noon at their location.

You can therefore use the above to calculate the time used in the books. If a cutting out expedition is to set out at four bells in the morning watch it will be leaving at 6 o’clock in the morning.

First Watch

20:30 – 1 bell

21:00 – 2 bells

21:30 – 3 bells

22:00 – 4 bells

22:30 – 5 bells

23:00 – 6 bells

23:30 – 7 bells

24:00 – 8 bells

Middle Watch

00:30 – 1 bell

01:00 – 2 bells

01:30 – 3 Bells

02:00 – 4 bells

02:30 – 5 bells

03:00 – 6 bells

03:30 – 7 bells

04:00 – 8 bells

Morning Watch

04:30 – 1 bell

05:00 – 2 bells

05:30 – 3 bells

06:00 – 4 bells

06:30 – 5 bells

07:00 – 6 bells

07:30 – 7 bells

08:00 – 8 bells

Forenoon Watch

08:30 – 1 bell

09:00 – 2 bells

09:30 – 3 bells

10:00 – 4 bells

10:30 – 5 bells

11:00 – 6 bells

11:30 – 7 bells

12:00 – 8 bells

Afternoon Watch

12:30 – 1 bell

13:00 – 2 bells

13:30 – 3 bells

14:00 – 4 bells

14:30 – 5 bells

15:00 – 6 bells

15:30 – 7 bells

16:00 – 8 bells

First Dog Watch

16:30 – 1 bell

17:00 – 2 bells

17:30 – 3 bells

18:00 – 8 bells

Last Dog Watch

18:30 – 1 bell

19:00 – 2 bells

19:30 – 3 bells

20:00 – 8 bells

Chapter IV:

Summary: Unlike prior chapters that were more thematic, chapter four is more of the ship’s log of major events that transpired along the journey. First, the captain demotes the second mate for behavior seemingly not fitting of his office. They also encounter a number of ships, like cars passing on a road–and one even chases them! Land and Native South Americans are observed along the way to Cape Horn. Finally, the ship is overtaken by a storm that requires preparation and endurance to navigate.

Questions: 

1. Why does the captain demote the second mate? 
2. What does it mean when Dana is describing being a “son of neptune” by crossing the equator? 
3. How often and what does it feel like to be chased by a ship with no flag? 

Terms to Know: 

Binnacle is a waist-high case or stand on the deck of a ship, generally mounted in front of the helmsman, in which navigational instruments are placed for easy and quick reference as well as to protect the delicate instruments. Its traditional purpose was to hold the ship’s magnetic compass, mounted in gimbals to keep it level while the ship pitched and rolled. A binnacle may be subdivided into sections and its contents typically include one or more compasses and an oil lamp or other light source. Other devices such as a sand timer for estimating speed may have been stored in the binnacle as well.

Chronometer is a precision timepiece that is carried on a ship and employed in the determination of the ship’s position by celestial navigation. 

Pernambuco is a state in the central coast of Brazil. 

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Historical Notes:

Given in this chapter that we observe a demotion of a second mate for bad behavior, I think that it is worth looking at the brutal ways that sailors were disciplined aboard ships. Here’s an excerpt from an article that looks at seven ways that this transpired: 

In 2019, the U.S. Navy stopped allowing officers to punish sailors by limiting their meals to bread and water. The Navy adopted this punishment in its early days from the British Royal Navy and continued using it long after the Royal Navy stopped using it in 1891. One modern-day U.S. skipper imposed the punishment so often for minor offenses that his ship earned the nickname “U.S.S. Bread and Water.”

A modern version of this punishment might mean three days in the brig with nothing to eat but bread and water. A couple of centuries ago, it might have meant 30 days shackled in the brig with only those two provisions. Though it seems cruel and unusual today, naval ships once viewed bread-and-water punishment as more humane compared to the other traditional penalties sailors faced at sea.

Mast-heading

For minor infractions, a sailor might have to climb the mast and stay there for a set period of time in the cold wind. This could be quite uncomfortable and isolating but was also known as the best time for a sailor to get a little reading done.

Caning

Worse than mast-heading was caning, a punishment in which you hit a sailor across his backside with a solid cane. Yet like bread-and-water punishments, caning was once a less serious consequence for misbehavior on the high seas.

In fact, caning was mostly a punishment for minors in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when boys as young as 12 could join the British Royal Navy. Offenders received six to 12 strokes with a thick three-and-a-half-foot cane; sometimes in private, sometimes in front of the other boys on the ship.

Birching

A boy might be caned for minor offenses, like skipping out on roll call. But if committed a more serious offense, his punishment could be a public birching. This usually meant 12 to 24 strokes with a bundle of birch sticks.

“These instruments of correction were usually hung up in the steam of the ship’s galley to make them supple enough to have knots tied in them, though there are also reports of birches being soaked in vinegar or saltwater before being used,” writes Christopher McKee in Sober Men and True: Sailor Lives in the Royal Navy, 1900-1945.

Flogging

Neither caning nor birching compared to flogging, a common adult punishment that could kill a man. Until the mid-1800s, sailors who committed major or minor offenses were often tied to the mast and whipped with a cat ‘o nine tails in front of the crew. (The U.S. Congress outlawed this in 1862.)

The knots in the cat ‘o nine tails ripped flesh from sailors’ backs, causing wounds that could become infected. To prevent this, officers often rubbed salt into the cuts after the flogging was over—a practice that caused further pain.

Keelhauling

Between the mid-1600s and the mid-1800s, one of the worst punishments a sailor could receive was keelhauling. “Keelhaul” comes from the Dutch kielhalen, which means “to haul under the keel of a ship,” according to Merriam-Webster. As the name suggests, it involved throwing someone over one side of the ship and dragging him underneath the ship to the other side.

This punishment was much, much rarer than flogging. But like flogging, it could endanger a man’s life.

Hanging

For very serious infractions, the most common severe punishment was death by hanging. Sailors bound the condemned man by his hands and feet and put a noose around his neck. The noose’s rope went up over the horizontal yard arm that stretched across the mast, and the condemned man’s fellow sailors slowly pulled his body into the air until he died from strangulation.

Walking the Plank

Perhaps the most well-known pirate punishment on the high seas is blindfolding a sailor and making him “walk the plank.” But although the practice has been dramatized in books and movies, it’s likely rare that anyone ever actually did it.

Chapter V: 

Cape Horn–A Visit

Summary: In this chapter, the ship approaches Cape Horn, at the southern tip of South America. With the change in scenery also comes a change in weather: the ship is pelted with a combination of rain, sleet, and snow. They survive the bad weather through adept sailing, but are mostly miserable, with Dana the state of bodies as only wet or wetter. Later, as they around the peninsula, a whaling ship sails close and a few of their crew boards the Pilgrim. The chapter includes two memorable descriptions of marine life: beautiful descriptions of both a whale and an albatross.  

Questions: 

1. How many ships typically survive such dramatic weather conditions? 
2. What are the effects of such cold and wet weather on the health of the sailors? 
3. What are the relationships between different kinds of vessels, like the Pilgrim and whaling vessels for example? 

Terms to Know: 

There is much discussion in this chapter about the different parts of a ship. Below is a layout of a ship to make discussion a little clearer: 

Grampuses: A member of the dolphin family that resembles a cross between a whale and dolphin: 

Water Bewitched: Heavily diluted tea

Historical Notes: 

Here’s a way to visualize the experience of sailing around Cape Horn: 

“The Sailor’s Everest” | What Makes Cape Horn So Incredible? | The Ocean Race | Eurosport

Chapter VI

Summary: 

In this brief chapter, Dana experiences his first death aboard the ship. One of the crew goes overboard and is determined lost after some search. Dana explains the beliefs and customs around lost crew aboard ships. Interestingly, the items of the sailor are auctioned off to prevent conflict over who keeps the clothing. Finally, there is some discussion about ethnic groups, including a sidebar about the apparent magical powers of Finnish people. 

Questions

1. How uniform are the practices aboard seabound vessels, including military outfits, as it pertains to death? 
2. What communication responsibility does that captain have in reaching out to the family of the deceased sailor? 
3. How did the superstition around Finnish magical powers emerge? 

Terms to Know: 

Flying Dutchman in European maritime legend, is a spectre ship doomed to sail forever; its appearance to seamen is believed to signal imminent disaster. In the most common version, the captain, Vanderdecken, gambles his salvation on a rash pledge to round the Cape of Good Hope during a storm and so is condemned to that course for eternity; it is this rendering which forms the basis of the opera Der fliegende Holländer (1843) by the German composer Richard Wagner.

Another legend depicts a Captain Falkenberg sailing forever through the North Sea, playing at dice for his soul with the devil. The dice-game motif recurs in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge; the mariner sights a phantom ship on which Death and Life in Death play dice to win him. The Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott adapted the legend in his narrative poem Rokeby (1813); murder is committed on shipboard, and plague breaks out among the crew, closing all ports to the ship.

Bremen: An important port city in Germany where most colonial expeditions for German and Central European exploration launched. 

Historical Insights: 

Here’s an abstract from an excellent article by Kirsty Reid about Ocean funerals during the Victorian Age: 

Maritime mortality rates were declining on passenger ships in the nineteenth century, but witnessing a death and funeral during an ocean voyage nevertheless remained a common enough experience. The article explores reactions to ocean funerals on nineteenth-century British and Irish emigrant ships and also more broadly. While shock and distress inevitably figured large, other responses, including acceptance, enthusiasm and even degrees of voyeurism, were not unusual. Moreover, in common with Victorian audiences more generally, at least some emigrants had an appetite for the sensation and spectacle of the ceremony. Broader cultural interest in the ocean funeral meant that it featured in a wide range of forms including popular journalism, narrative accounts of journeys and didactic literature. Emigrants consequently did not embark as blank slates but carried with them a well-established and familiar repertoire of ideas and images about the ocean funeral. Religious beliefs about the resurrection of the soul were likewise a source of consolation. Others found comfort by depicting the ocean as a spiritual site – likening the sea to heaven, for instance – or in the belief that an ocean burial was more natural, simple and therefore meaningful than a funeral on land. The growing significance of the sea in Victorian culture also played an important role in helping contemporaries make sense of, and come to terms with, an ocean funeral. Religious ideas about life as a spiritual journey enabled many Victorian men and women to look to the ocean as a way of thinking through bigger questions about life and death.

Chapter VII

Summary: In this chapter, the Pilgrim approaches an island which is part of the Juan Fernández Archipelago that appeared to be a penal colony. This island chain is famous for being the place that Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe was based upon. The ship is moored there for a short period, and the crew spent some time touring the island and engaging in light trading with some of the inhabitants. They were warned not to trade any weapons with them. Later, the governor of the island has dinner on the ship with the captain. Meanwhile, the crew fills water casks and catches a lot of fish. 

Questions 

1. In his descriptions of the island, is Dana indicating his fatigue and desire for his time at sea to end and how did that affect his description of the island? 
2. How did Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe affect how they saw the island? 
3. How did ships determine the amount of water needed for their journeys?

Terms to Know:

Water-Casks: Before exploring the ways water was procured, we must first look at the tool used to gather and keep it: the cask. “A cask is a term to describe any piece of cooperage containing a bouge, bilge, or bulge produced in the middle of a container.”1 Casks were a popular storage medium for many materials during this period and they were the primary method for storing water. Different sized casks were made from wooden staves and then bound with iron hoops. ‘Tight’ or ‘wet’ casks were designed to either keep liquid from getting in or out (depending on what was stored inside) while dry barrels were less rigorously constructed and used only to store dry goods. The wet casks required to store water would have been made from oak staves cut from trees averaging three feet in diameter and the staves themselves were at least an inch thick.

Juan Fernández Archipelago: Juan Fernández Islands, small cluster of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, situated about 400 miles (650 km) west of and administratively part of Chile. They consist of the 36-square-mile (93-square-km) Isla Robinson Crusoe (also called Isla Más a Tierra); the 33-square-mile Isla Alejandro Selkirk (also called Isla Más Afuera), 100 miles to the west; and an islet, Isla Santa Clara, southwest of Isla Robinson Crusoe. The islands are volcanic peaks rising from the Juan Fernández submarine ridge. Robinson Crusoe has a summit 3,002 feet (915 metres) above sea level, and Alejandro Selkirk rises to 5,415 feet. Bahía Cumberland (Cumberland Bay), on the northern side of Robinson Crusoe, and Bahía Padre, at the western extremity, are the only fair anchorages.

The islands were discovered about 1563 by Juan Fernández, a Spanish navigator, who received a grant and lived there for some years, stocking them with goats and pigs. After his departure, the islands were visited only occasionally. In 1704, however, Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish seaman, quarreled with his captain and was put ashore at Bahía Cumberland. He remained there alone until 1709, and his adventures are commonly believed to have inspired Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. The islands passed into Chilean possession in the early 19th century. Since then, they have been used as penal settlements on many occasions, particularly for political prisoners. Isla Santa Clara is now uninhabited. Robinson Crusoe and Alejandro Selkirk are sparsely populated, most of their inhabitants being concentrated in the village of Robinson Crusoe, on Bahía Cumberland. Their principal occupation is fishing for lobsters. In 2018 the Chilean government created Juan Fernández Islands Marine Park, a protected area that encompasses over 100,000 square miles (almost 260,000 square km) of ocean around the islands.

Historical Insight: Here’s a fascinating article about the real Robinson Crusoe: 

Three centuries ago an impetuous Scottish sailor known as Alexander Selkirk—though this wasn’t his real name—was languishing off the coast of Chile in a battle scarred, worm-eaten British ship called the Cinque Ports when he began to argue with the captain that the leaky, disease- ridden vessel was a deathtrap.

Selkirk, a skilled navigator, and the ship’s sickened crew were privateers—in effect, legalized pirates for the British Crown—who had spent a year at sea off South America robbing Spanish ships and coastal villages. Selkirk had already been on a similar voyage. He knew all the risks. But by October 1704, as the Cinque Ports anchored off a deserted archipelago 418 miles west of Valparaiso, Chile, he had made a life changing decision.

Selkirk demanded that his 21-year-old captain, Lt. Thomas Stradling, whom he regarded as arrogant, leave him on the largest island, a wish that Stradling was only too happy to oblige. By all accounts the 28-year-old Selkirk was a hothead. Back home in Scotland he had beaten up his father and two brothers over a harmless prank and would later leave both the women who claimed to be his wife.

In any case, Selkirk was left ashore, but when he realized that none of the crew was joining him in the mutiny, he frantically waded back into the ocean and begged forgiveness from Stradling, a tyrant who delighted in saying no.

Fortunately, for Selkirk’s sake and world literature’s, he accepted his fate, survived, and upon his return to England, inspired one of the world’s great tales of self-reliance and courage, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.

Chapter VIII

Summary: In this chapter, the three major events include ship maintenance, a dispute over food with the captain and the crew, and the arrival in California. Having entered the Pacific Ocean, the Pilgrim had no major stops to make until reaching California, so the crew took the time to tar the ship, both the internal and external parts of the ship, which are described in granular detail. Then, Dana asks for his quarters to be moved from the steerage to forecastle, leading to a dispute over rations. Finally, the ships arrives in California, docking in the port of Santa Barbara.  

Questions:

1. How common did disputes, like this one over rations, lead to violence and mutinies aboard ships? 
2. How different is the climate along similar latitudes in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans? 
3. What are the class differences aboard ships like the Pilgrim? 

Terms to Know: 

South East Trade Winds: The southeast trade winds maintain the South Equatorial Current, which flows toward the west where it divides into two branches: one that continues to the Northern Hemisphere and enters the Caribbean—together with a small amount of water from the North Equatorial Current—as the Guiana (Guyana) Current and one that turns south as the Brazil Current, a weak counterpart of the Gulf Stream. Between the equatorial currents, the Equatorial Countercurrent flows toward the east and is particularly well developed off Ghana, where, after combining with a warm, south-flowing extension of the Canary Current, it is known as the Guinea Current.

Oakum: loosely twisted hemp or jute fiber impregnated with tar or a tar derivative and used in caulking seams and packing joints

Forecastle: The fo’c’s’le or forecastle is the forward deck of the ship. It derives its name from sailing ship days when the raised forward deck was known as the forecastle. This was typically a raised, castle like structure where archers first could engage enemy ships.

Historical Insight: 

In this chapter, Dana goes through excruciating detail about the process of tarring the ship. Here’s a great article about the history of tar aboard ships: 

Tar, that thick, gooey, mess has been used on ships for many purposes since the beginning of ancient voyages. All types of tars and pitch formulas were used on hulls, decks, riggings, and even on a seaman’s clothing. It has always been the crew fighting against the forces of rotting decks, fouled hulls, stretching wet riggings and wet clothing.

From the time of the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians and many other BCE civilizations, the Mediterranean Sea was the quickest and most efficient highway of trade between empires. Large ships like the Egyptian vessels which were over 160’ long, could carry that country’s bounty of the fertile Nile Delta’s grains to far ports of trade. These shipments brought in profits enriching the Pharaohs and his country. Over the millennia, every major power got into the sea trade, whether it was shipping wine, olive oil, tin ingots, copper, and food. These merchant ships had to be defended from enemies and pirates with navies to come to their defense, but their biggest enemy was the sea itself. Wooden hull plank seams would leak and the wood below the waterline would get fouled in a matter of months. It could grow so thick that ships would have to stop sailing and be rebuilt. Decks would rot out. They had to be hauled out and scraped and all the rot replaced. This was an expensive undertaking and kept a constant number of ships out of use. Less ships, less profits! Mariners had to search for something that would keep hulls watertight and combat rot.

Eventually, they came upon a natural pitch, called “Tar” which could be readily found seeping to the ground surface, to seal up hull seams and coat bottoms. The tar they used was thick offside of petroleum that would ooze to the earth’s surface and could be scraped up like taffy and then spread in between the blank seams and then on the ship hull, below the water line, to keep it waterproof and resist boring worms and rot. For the hulls of ancient ships, it was an improvement by barely sufficing in reducing fouling. The tar had to be reapplied at scheduled intervals. As shipping knowledge moved on, thin lead sheets and eventually copper sheets were added over the tar to further help reduce the problems, but never entirely eradicated it. Today’s boats and ships have state of science anti anti-fouling formulas that replace the use of tar on any hulls.

Over time, it was discovered that a different type of tar could be milked from pine trees. This was reduced with mineral spirits and some petroleum tar to make a smooth appliable coating for the decks of ships to keep them waterproof and free from rot. On the sloop Priscilla, at the Long Island Maritime Museum, this formula called “Pine Tar” is applied to the decks at the beginning of every season. Any wood on a vessel that is not varnished can be pine-tarred. When the formula dries, the vessel is graced with a slip-free deck for the crew.

The standing lines, which hold up and steady masts on sailing ships were generally made of manila and always tarred for waterproofing and rot protection. Other lines were left in their natural pliable state so that they could be worked easily when tying a ship in its birth, releasing a tender boat off its davits, or used as the anchor line. Working lines like these and more had to be very pliable and tarring wood made lines stiff and stiffer, with repeated applications.

During the great age of sailing ships, from 1600-1920, sailors who worked on the decks and climbed the ratlines aloft to set the sails were called “Tars”. There were many reasons for this. Firstly, the crew who did the dirty work was often up to their elbows in black pitch, tarring seams, standing lines, etc. They would dump raw salt water on the decks, get on their hands and knees, and rub the deck with a heavy stone that stripped the wood of any slippery dirt. The surface was then flooded with water again and mopped up. The deck would dry to an almost oaky-white color and be coated with the pine tar solution mentioned above, to seal the deck fibers and keep it slip-free.

Secondly, these sailors were titled “Tars” because of the clothing they wore, especially when they sailed into harsh storms with mammoth waves crashing over the bow and gunnels. During these heady times, part of the crew had to stay topside and keep watch. But how could they possibly stay dry? That’s where the first foul weather gear comes in. This foul weather gear was made of a substantial material such as cotton or canvas. It was long and originally cut like an oversized cape. Later it was fashioned into a long coat with toggle closures. They could be coated with linseed oil but more often they just applied several coats of diluted Pine Tar. Their storm hats were treated in the same manner. The use of all these tar materials gave both sailors and ships an acrid oily smell.