At sea 16th century ships were hot beds for disease and infection brought about by the lack of proper sanitation, cramped sleeping conditions on hard decks (hammocks were not introduced in English ships until 1596) and constant wet and condensation.

Half the crew of a 16th century ship were often dead by the end of a long voyage, poor food and diet related diseases being a major cause.

 

 

Large ships would have a surgeon on board, he would be able to dress wounds and set bones but against disease the effectiveness of his medicine was nonexistent.

The most dreaded disease was scurvy (lack of vitamin C) responsible for tens of thousands of deaths alone, although some captains in the 16th century were advocating diet was the cause it was to be another 150 years later that this theory was accepted.

The scurvy sufferer first became listless, then his skin broke into angry boils, his gums began to swell and bleed and his teeth fell out. Within days arms and legs became swollen, ugly black bruises appeared and breathing was almost impossible. This was followed by coma and death.

Personal hygiene was another problem. Sailors did not wash themselves or their clothes very often and only had one set of clothes worn day and night throughout a voyage.

Why did the crew get ill at sea?.........................

What is the cause of scurvy?.......................
 
 
Life on land in the 16th century was also very hard, it was a time when people hardly ventured outside their own village. Going to sea was a great adventure were the pay was relatively good and signing on with a privateer like Drake made it possible for a sailor to win glory, fame as an explorer and capture fabulous wealth as the crew achieved on Drakes world voyage!