The Buccaneers of Disney's
Pirates of the Caribbean Ride can be heard to
sing, Yo, ho, ho! A pirate's life for me. It makes for a catchy lyric. But it was probably
written by someone who had no idea how unbelievably
disgusting and disease-ridden pirate ships really were. Inadequate nutrition
and constant exposure made the sailors highly
susceptible to illnesses and that could find living
spaces and lack of access to clean water allowed those
illnesses to spread around the ships quickly. Today, we're going to take
a look at what hygiene was like on pirate ships. But before we get started, be
sure to subscribe to the Weird History Channel and let us
know in the comments below what other pirate-related topics
you would like to hear about. Arr. Now, all handsy wash. We've got pirate
hygiene approaching. [MUSIC PLAYING] Pirates were famous
for a lot of things. But having great dental
plans wasn't one of them. This is probably because most
pirates didn't do anything to care for the teeth. And if they did, it was
likely to be something like chewing on a wooden stick. They didn't invent the practice. Such chew sticks actually
date all the way back to the ancient world and
remained a fairly common means of teeth cleaning as
late as the 18th century. Of course, finding chew sticks
at sea was no easy task. So even a pirate who
was conscientious about dental health would
often go long stretches without even the
most basic oral care. On a ship, fresh water was
saved for cooking and drinking. So when it came to bathe,
your average pirate probably just jumped into
the ocean for a quick rinse. Despite the ease,
taking a bath would have been a fairly rare endeavor. This was for a
number of reasons. First, salt water isn't
great for the skin. And accidentally ingesting
it could make a man sick. Second, leaving the
ship could be dangerous. Pirates tended to
believe in sea monsters. And it was impossible to
tell if one might be lurking in the depths beneath the ship. And third, pirates weren't
very good swimmers. [MUSIC PLAYING] Despite what pretty much
every pirate movie ever made would have us
believe, most captains didn't wear fancy
waistcoats and breaches. Rather, they typically dressed
for comfort and practicality. And could you blame them? They were likely to be wearing
the same clothes for months at a time-- clothes that would be typically
soaked in their own sweat and blood and occasionally
the blood of other people. If clothes were
cleaned at all, it would be when the
pirates were on land. Even then, the
wash would only be done with water or saltwater. Soap was unlikely
to be involved. In the 19th century, whaling
was a massive industry. Whaling ships often
carried valuable resources. And this made them
common targets for pirates and privateers. Commercial whalers
on the Azores Islands had been processing whale
blubber since the 10th century. It was the basis
for things like oil, lubricant, and most importantly
for our purposes here, soap. Pirates likely seized
blubber from the whalers to make these items
for themselves. That being said, making your
own soap from whale blubber is not fun. Processing the
animal was incredibly difficult. And by all accounts,
smells overpoweringly awful. [MUSIC PLAYING] Although toilets go all the
way back to the 16th century, they didn't have
any on pirate ships. Instead, they had a
head, which was really just a plank of wood with
a hole cut through it that emptied into
the water below. Why was it called the head? Well, the plank was
usually located at the bow or the head of the ship. Sailors called the plank by
its location on the ship, and the name stuck. In fact, head is still
a fairly common term for a bathroom on a ship
and in other locations. Interestingly, royal navy
ships had proper facilities but only for officers. The common sailors had
heads just like the pirates. And in bad weather,
they probably sometimes used a pot
instead of the plank and then just threw the
filth overboard later. [SPLASH] Movies like the Pirates
of the Caribbean make the pirate life seem
like non-stop adventure. But that's just because they
leave out all the cleaning. Yep, pirates spent a great
deal of their time washing their ships inside and out. Decks had to be scrubbed. Repairs had to be made. And blades and side
arms had to be cleaned. Every sailor had assigned
chores to carry out. And the work was not easy. There was also
periodic maintenance. The same way you have to
take your car in for an oil change every so often,
every few months, a pirate would have to go find a
place to careen their ship. This refers to tilting the
ship onto its side allowing the bottom to be scraped
with barnacles and mollusks. The process prevented the
ship from becoming infected with ship worm, which
are also sometimes known as the termites of the sea. As you might have
guessed, table manners were not a big
priority for pirates. The famous Captain
George Roberts once described a pirate
crew he witnessed at a meal as "like
a Kennel of Hounds," snatching and catching the
victuals from one another. On a ship, foodstuffs had
to be resistant to spoiling. So the selection tended
to be pretty basic. Dried meats, hard tack,
and alcohol were common. But they didn't exactly
constitute a balanced diet. Therefore, pirates
frequently supplemented those staples with
turtles, birds, and whatever other protein
sources they might happen upon. A wide variety of items,
including garlic, olives, eggs, cabbage, fish, oysters,
and even snakes might be thrown
together in a stew. Seasoning and spices
were also likely to be included in the mix. But they weren't always
readily available. The sum total of
all this was a diet mostly lacking in nutrients,
particularly vitamin C. This led to outbreaks of scurvy. And the effects were extreme. A sea surgeon named William
Clowes wrote that "The gums would be 'rotted even to
the very roots of their very teeth,' the cheeks become 'hard
and swollen,' the breath would become pungent and finally the
teeth would loosen and fall out." Well, isn't that a nice visual? [MUSIC PLAYING] On pirate ships
and nonpirate ships alike, scurvy was
common for centuries. By some estimates, upwards
of 2 million sailors died of scurvy between the
15th and 18th centuries alone. An unknown surgeon on a
16th century English ship recorded his own symptoms
after contracting the disease. He described rotted
gums, which gave out black and putrid
blood, and legs that turned black and gangrenous. It was so bad, he was forced to
cut away his own skin in order to release this
black and foul blood. He also apparently had
to cut his gums, which he described as livid and
growing over his teeth. When he pulled away
the decaying flesh, black blood flowed
from his mouth. And if you think the
story can't get any worse, then brace yourself, because
the next thing he did was rinse his mouth and teeth
with the closest thing he had to antiseptic at the time-- his own urine. Mm. Did you hear that? Somewhere, R. Kelly
just like this video. Anyway, scurvy was bad. But at least it was
possible to recover from it. The same couldn't always be
said of other conditions, like dysentery. Fluxes and fevers were
also common on account of the putrid water,
close borders, and a general lack of hygiene. Pirating was incredibly risky. So ships had to be
prepared to deal with all sorts of
medical emergencies. To this end, some pirate crews
carried their own surgeons. The services of
these professionals were often procured by force. Failing that, novices might
be tasked with learning surgical procedures. One such ship's surgeon
was John Devin who worked for the infamous
Captain Henry Every. He stayed on with Every
even after he was officially proclaimed a pirate by the
English Privy Council in 1696. Two years after
that, Devin himself will be tried for
piracy and acquitted. Archibald Murray
was a ship's surgeon who served three
different pirate captains starting with
Captain Howell Davis in 1718. In 1723, Cole Wyeth
was the surgeon on a ship that was commandeered
by the pirate Edward Low. Wyatt served under
Low and then continued on after the ship was taken
back by its original captain. In 1717, the
notorious Edward Teach also known as
"Blackbeard" seized a ship called La Concorde,
which he would famously rename Queen Anne's Revenge. It carried three surgeons whom
Blackbeard kept as captives. They were presumably still
aboard the ship a year later when he attacked
Charleston, South Carolina. [MUSIC PLAYING] It's not clear how often
pirates shaved their faces. But there is evidence that
the surgeons on pirate ships may have double as barbers. Surgery often requires shaving
an area of the body, which would give the surgeon
experience with using the razor on a ship
that rocks and sways with the motion of the sea. A 17th century treatise
called The Surgeon's Mate even described ship surgeons
who had multiple razors and scissors of
various sizes precisely so he could give haircuts. Being a pirate was a dangerous
way to make a living. Accidents, brawls, and battles
were all common and likely to result in wounds, burns,
illnesses, and all other manner of medical problems. As such, a pirate ship
typically had a medicine chest, which would contain salve,
ointments, and instruments for performing surgery,
like amputations. When the wreck of Blackbeard's
famous ship Queen Anne's Revenge was found off the
coast of North Carolina, its medicine chest
still contained scissors, mortars and pestles
for preparing ingredients, as well as screws that were
likely used for bloodletting. According to the famous albeit
dubious textbook, The General History of the Pirates by
Captain Charles Johnson, Blackbeard acquired these
medical supplies via extortion. The book claims that the
legendary pirate attacked every ship in Charleston,
South Carolina until the government
finally agreed to give him the medical supplies he needed. Diseases, like syphilis
were common at sea. And when Blackbeard's
medicine chest was unearthed, one of the instruments
found inside was a urethral syringe used
to treat that condition. Fever, smallpox, and
measles were also fairly routine conditions. Insects and vermin
were everywhere. John Esquemeling from Henry
Morgan's late 17th century ship recorded gnats of
various sizes, including ones that exceed not the bigness
of a grain of mustard and bite so sharply upon the flesh as to
create little ulcers therein. As fun as that sounds, it
was just the beginning. Lice, fleas, rats, and even
bees could infest ships. In such cases, health
professionals of the time were prone to
recommend fumigation. Other daily risks might
include dehydration, sunburn, heat exhaustion, hypothermia,
frostbite, and, of course, any wounds and trauma
caused by swords, gunshots, and cannonballs. So do you think you would
have enjoyed the pirate life? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History.
