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The Manila Galleons: Cruel Ships of Prosperity (2016)

36 points by Thevet 7y ago

jdkee 7y ago
"Disease was exacerbated by a primitive view of cleanliness among Europeans of the age. Though latrines that cantilevered over the ocean were available on some galleons, many sailors didn’t use them, instead shitting into the ship’s bilge, or even in the general hold. In part, Careri tells us, that was because of the incessant, brutal cold. But this indifference was widespread. The French sailor François Pyrard de Laval wrote in 1610 that typical Portuguese ships around India were ‘mighty foul and stink withal; the most men not troubling themselves to go on deck for their necessities’. The lack of basic hygiene on ships illustrates the vast gap between early modern knowledge of geography and sailing on the one hand, and of the internal frontiers of the human body on the other. It was well-known that the world was round, part of the basis for the galleons’ amazing navigational leap. But few educated Europeans of the 16th and 17th century had more than the vaguest concepts of nutrition, infection, germs or the role of cleanliness in health. Most ships, even as late as the 18th century, relied for rudimentary medical help on a multitasking barber whose most effective tools were his enema syringe and tooth-puller." Given my upbringing with 20th Century American standards of fresh water, toilet and bathing facilities, I could not imagine the sheer amount of filth experienced by these sailors and travelers. What an immune system the survivors must have had.
- jackjeff 7y ago
  And yet despite these conditions and the fact that half of the sailors would die, people still signed up for the job. I find that even more mind boggling in a way. I assume the living conditions of the poor outside of the galleons were not that much better?!...
- 9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
  Now imagine being the cargo on a slave ship, which had similar if not worse conditions, but you're shackled by hands and/or feet and you can't even move for months on end. https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/large106661.html https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/large106661.html The diagram above shows how they were supposed to be packed: as the text explains, the ship actually had twice as many, so they were fitted in lying on their sides or double-stacked. The "flux" mentioned in the text is dysentery (bloody diarrhea), which coated the decks they slept on.
Ftuuky 7y ago
Reminds me of this excellent article: https://multimedia.scmp.com/culture/article/spanish-galleon/chapter_01.html https://multimedia.scmp.com/culture/article/spanish-galleon/...

36 points by Thevet 7y ago

"Disease was exacerbated by a primitive view of cleanliness among Europeans of the age. Though latrines that cantilevered over the ocean were available on some galleons, many sailors didn’t use them, instead shitting into the ship’s bilge, or even in the general hold. In part, Careri tells us, that was because of the incessant, brutal cold. But this indifference was widespread. The French sailor François Pyrard de Laval wrote in 1610 that typical Portuguese ships around India were ‘mighty foul and stink withal; the most men not troubling themselves to go on deck for their necessities’. The lack of basic hygiene on ships illustrates the vast gap between early modern knowledge of geography and sailing on the one hand, and of the internal frontiers of the human body on the other. It was well-known that the world was round, part of the basis for the galleons’ amazing navigational leap. But few educated Europeans of the 16th and 17th century had more than the vaguest concepts of nutrition, infection, germs or the role of cleanliness in health. Most ships, even as late as the 18th century, relied for rudimentary medical help on a multitasking barber whose most effective tools were his enema syringe and tooth-puller." Given my upbringing with 20th Century American standards of fresh water, toilet and bathing facilities, I could not imagine the sheer amount of filth experienced by these sailors and travelers. What an immune system the survivors must have had.

jackjeff 7y ago
And yet despite these conditions and the fact that half of the sailors would die, people still signed up for the job. I find that even more mind boggling in a way. I assume the living conditions of the poor outside of the galleons were not that much better?!...
9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
Now imagine being the cargo on a slave ship, which had similar if not worse conditions, but you're shackled by hands and/or feet and you can't even move for months on end. https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/large106661.html https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/large106661.html The diagram above shows how they were supposed to be packed: as the text explains, the ship actually had twice as many, so they were fitted in lying on their sides or double-stacked. The "flux" mentioned in the text is dysentery (bloody diarrhea), which coated the decks they slept on.

Ftuuky 7y ago

Reminds me of this excellent article: https://multimedia.scmp.com/culture/article/spanish-galleon/chapter_01.html https://multimedia.scmp.com/culture/article/spanish-galleon/...