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Conditions in Nelson's navy uncovered by scientists
Telegraph ^ | Saturday, September 3, 2011 | Nick Collins

Posted on 09/03/2011 7:14:51 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

Sailors in Admiral Nelson's navy were plagued by scurvy, ridden with syphilis and often mutilated by amputations but only a minority were from lowest social class, Oxford University archaeologists have found.

An examination of 340 skeletons from three 18th and 19th century Royal Navy graveyards found that a "surprisingly high" proportion suffered from scurvy and infected wounds.

The bones, excavated from sites in Greenwich, Gosport and Plymouth, also found that more than six per cent of sailors in Nelson's navy, were amputees, many of whom died as a result of operations that went wrong.

But despite uncovering evidence of syphilis, ulcers, serious tooth infections and possible malaria among the remains of the seamen, researchers said evidence indicated that only a minority came from the lowest rung of the social ladder.

The unprecedented scientific investigation into life below decks for Nelson's men, by researchers from Oxford and Cranfield Universities, will be broadcast tomorrow evening (SUN) in a Channel Four documentary, Nelson's Navy: Back From the Dead.

Individuals examined by the scientists included an 11-year-old boy who may have been a "powder monkey" transporting ammunition to gunners and a "top man" who worked at the top of the masts and most likely died by falling from the rigging during a battle.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: dogwatchcurtailed; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; lesseroftwoweevils; troubleyouforthesalt
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To: SunkenCiv

of course they weren’t from the lower classes. The press gangs took men from all walks of life and tough sh** if they didn’t like it. Probably took from the middle classes because they were better educated and on the average made better sailors than the lower classes would have.


21 posted on 09/03/2011 8:17:42 PM PDT by calex59
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To: SunkenCiv

Geeze. They needed to paw through bones to learn that? A casual search through a good research library would have revealed that.

Seafaring in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries was a dangerous trade. So dangerous that serving in the navy was probably safer than serving on a merchant vessel. With larger crews they were more likely to survive the hazards of the sea.

John Paul Jones got his first command (of a merchantman) when every officer aboard the ship he was sailing back to Britain on died of disease. No one else in the crew could navigate. Jones was a passenger, and he knew how to navigate, so the crew had him sail the ship back to Britain, and the owners made him captain when he arrived.


22 posted on 09/03/2011 8:26:27 PM PDT by No Truce With Kings (Ten years on FreeRepublic and counting.)
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To: No Truce With Kings

Thanks for sharing that. I love trivia like that. J P Jones was an interesting character.


23 posted on 09/03/2011 8:31:42 PM PDT by unkus (Silence Is Consent)
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To: SunkenCiv

Who said something about Sodomy, rum and the lash being the three great traditions of the Royal Navy again???


24 posted on 09/03/2011 8:34:42 PM PDT by Nat Turner (I can see NOVEMBER 2012 from my house....)
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To: annieokie

Was totally amazed the first time I crossed the continental divide...with roads some signs would still say Use 1st gear only......you could look down the side of the mountains and alway see some car hundreds of feet below that didn’t make the curve....and to do it in a covered wagon.....they don’t make people like that anymore....soft times make for soft people....coming down the mountain was worse than going up....and we were pulling a camper...yikes, the young are nuts....:O) That was back in the 80’s.....don’t know about the interstates now in that area....


25 posted on 09/03/2011 8:38:09 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: calex59

“The press gangs took men from all walks of life and tough sh** if they didn’t like it. Probably took from the middle classes because they were better educated and on the average made better sailors than the lower classes would have.”

Ah. . . no. Not regularly at any rate. That is a myth. Bad novels and bad movies (and even a few bad history books)not withstanding, only “seamen, seafaring men, and persons whose occupations or callings are to work in vessels and boats upon rivers” were subject to impressment. And the press was only used during national emergencies, not during times of peace.

Officers did not want unskilled men on their ships. They could get enough of those. So a press gang that came back with nothing but landsmen — especially middle-class landsmen — were liable to get their grog stopped.

Pressing someone who was in the middle classes — whether a skilled tradesman or a member of the gentry — was also liable to prove expensive to the officer foolish enough to try it. If the victim could prove that he was not liable to the press, he could sue the officer for damages and generally win. A jury of that victim’s peers were not likely to encourage behavior that could get *them* serving involuntarily on a King’s Ship.

Yes, men other than mariners served involuntarily in the Royal Navy. But even that was “voluntary” — they were given a choice between volunteering for patriotic duty in the Royal Navy and being hung for a crime of which they had been convicted.

(And if you are wondering why — if only those liable for the impressment were ‘pressed — the US got into a war with Britain over the British impressing American citizens, it is that those Americans that got ‘pressed were mariners, therefore fair game in British eyes.)


26 posted on 09/03/2011 8:42:02 PM PDT by No Truce With Kings (Ten years on FreeRepublic and counting.)
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To: SunkenCiv

I love the Age of Sail!

“We’ll render passing honors, Mr. Bush!”


27 posted on 09/03/2011 8:48:55 PM PDT by El Sordo (The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.)
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To: Nat Turner
I believe it was Winston Churchill.

“Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.”

28 posted on 09/03/2011 9:09:46 PM PDT by El Sordo (The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Great thread!


29 posted on 09/03/2011 9:53:33 PM PDT by The_Media_never_lie
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To: SunkenCiv

News flash! Skeletons reveal people living in 18th and 19th century suffer from 18th and 9th century conditions!


30 posted on 09/03/2011 9:56:22 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear (No More RINOs!!! Laz for President!)
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To: goat granny
Oh, you are bringing back memories. I remember those days, in dads old 49 Chevy. Going across NM, AZ to Calif. from Okla.

HOT, oh my, no a/c. Windows all down, water bottle thingy in front of the radiator. Stopping for oil, flat tires, water and to let the car cool down. Bagged Lunch in a rest stop, sleeping outdoors or in the car. If we had enough money (later trips), we would get to stay in a REAL MOTEL, & eat in a real CAFE, rofl.

Up and down those mountains on 2 lane roads,in those cars, yikes. Hold your breath and don't say a word. (Desi and Lucy comes to mind in that trailer).

BUT NO, not in those Wagons, and it was very dangerous in the wild west in those times. Mine made it, as I can atest, wink. Strong women for sure. I do love to think of them often, as I do genealogy and know how they came to America and traveled West.

Very strong men as well, but I said stong women as it was much harder on them.

31 posted on 09/03/2011 10:16:10 PM PDT by annieokie
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To: Artemis Webb

If anybody here hasn’t read the Maturin/Aubrey series by Patrick O’Brian, you are missing out. It is a great set of books.


32 posted on 09/03/2011 10:22:25 PM PDT by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: Squantos

That was my first thought . Are they digging up graves to do tests ? If so , disgusting .


33 posted on 09/03/2011 10:40:42 PM PDT by katykelly
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To: The_Media_never_lie

Thanks! I had little idea that there would be any kind of response at all, I surprised and pleased. :’)


34 posted on 09/03/2011 11:19:45 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: Artemis Webb; Overtaxed; GeronL

;’)


35 posted on 09/03/2011 11:22:17 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: GeronL

http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DSU6-A3BXauM
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DDjd2hFw07NU
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DCD6oq8Jz8zE
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DShkEqaGb-GY


36 posted on 09/03/2011 11:23:24 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: doggieboy

“You don’t think we’d eat an admiral like that all at once, do ya?”


37 posted on 09/03/2011 11:24:16 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: nathanbedford; Jedidah; annieokie; goat granny

Thanks all; I’ve never seen HMS Victory, but have been on the USS Constitution, and the low headers would take some getting used to. I love wooden ships, but had I been in the navy, the advent of all-steel vessels would have been very welcome. Y’know, until all navies were built that way, and shooting started again. :’)


38 posted on 09/03/2011 11:30:12 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

bump


39 posted on 09/03/2011 11:32:51 PM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: No Truce With Kings; unkus; Squantos; Grizzled Bear; katykelly

then you really might not want to see this, about John Paul Jones:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2497955/posts?page=28#28


40 posted on 09/03/2011 11:39:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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