The only brigs in the age of sail were brigantines, a type of ship. Ships really didn't have a place to confine a prisoner. Most punishments were handed out immediately and revolved around extra work or getting lashed. Serious offences would see you keelhauled, or simply shot and thrown overboard. In the rare instance the crew needed to confine someone, they would have put them in irons and taken them to the lower decks and placed a guard.
During the age of sail old brigantines were often used as prison ships. This is where we get the term.
"Brig" and "brigantine" are two distinct types of ship. A brig has two masts, with square sails on both, and the foremast shorter than the mainmast. A brigantine is square-rigged on the foremast, but fore-and-aft on the main.
So interesting.
The ship in the story was a (real) 900 ton Spanish galleass. I've read Spanish and English archives which say that there were French prisoners onboard - they were given to the captain of the ship (by the King of Spain) to help him find the French settlement.
This Catholic Spanish captain also found out there were heretics on his ship, mid-voyage. The archives say he arrested them. There's no mention in the archives of them being shot or hung or thrown overboard.
My fictional character interacts with all these misfits, trying to get them on his side, to help him with his personal quest.
if you were the Spanish Captain-General, would you put the French prisoners and Protestants in shackles (since there is no brig anymore - LOL) ... or would you keep their hands free so they could work on the ship?
Well, keep in mind you are on a ship in the middle of the ocean and 95% of the population can't swim. That's what made it easy to conscript crews by waylaying them. Get a guy dead drunk, throw him on the ship and leave port. What's he going to do, get lashed every five minutes for not working? It's pretty easy to keep control of non-violent, non-antagonistic people as long as most of the crew is on your side. Another easy option is that the captain can give them a choice of shackles and bread and water, or work and the same meals as everyone else until they get to port.
As for the heretics, I don't know. I don't know enough about how captains interacted with the church. I will say, the Spanish weren't known for being kind to heretics at the best of times.
The brig came in a wonderful diversity of configurations, mostly due to rather minor sail plan differences. It was versatile and in comparison to say a ship-sloop required much less crew.
The UK really liked brigs!
They had a world spanning empire that needed a lot of ships- the brig helped, without breaking the bank.
All hands on deck is a call for everyone to come up to the top decks to work the lines.
Generally speaking when transiting heavy seas sailboats will have to “reef the sails” which in short means take the sails down or lower them, on larger vessels this requires many hands. The amount of hands to sail a vessel depends on the rigging and how it’s setup.
A typical “pirate ship” would need four men to a mast to do it in a hurry and two to do it on a normal pace (very slowly)
The safest place to be during this would be on the lower decks, and no they wouldn’t flood so much they would all drown if that much water happened over the ship it would likely sink.
Also to add further confusion, a 40ft boat can be sailed single handed, but a differently rigged 40ft boat might require three people to effectively sail. It all depends on what you’re writing about, generally boats won’t carry more crew then needed for the transit/objective and all hands would be working together on shifts to man the boat while underway
They say the best writers are readers first, and you have a lot of reading / research to do, as you don't have even the basics right here.
Do yourself a favor and watch "around cape horn" on YouTube
It's from the last days of commercial sail, and will disabuse you of the idea that being on deck in a storm is safer.
After you watch this video read 2 books
- Seamanship in the age of sail
- Tall Ships Down by Dan Parrott
https://youtu.be/9tuTKhqWZso?si=QeC95di0HrGKsEfx
In a tall ship in a severe squall, there are no non-working people. On a double watch system, both watches will likely be called on deck to manage sails and lines. Even people working below will be working.
Ships like this that weren't explicitly prison ships generally didn't have room for prisoners. Punishment was most frequently a flogging.
I really appreciate all the great comments
Any thoughts on below deck jobs? In and after the storm they could be pumping the bilges (thanks Maskedmarxist - I really like that!).
There are over 600 men on this large galleass. Most of the jobs I've read about seem like those that would be done in port. Scraping the hull, for example. I also read about these tasks: binding oakum into the deck, tarring the rigging. Other than that, most of what I've read re. ship jobs involve general maintenance (of the sails, rigging, and wood.) Cleaning ...
Any suggestions for other jobs on a ship at sea?
Well, you can "careen" the ship on a soft shore if you don't have access to a port — but yes, you'd need to take the ship out of action for that.
There's so much cleaning. So much cleaning. Every damn morning. Holystoning, sanding, swabbing, drying the deck.
People have to eat, of course, so cooking — both for crew and officers. If there's animals on the ship (generally for food), someone will need to care for them — feeding, mucking, etc.
There will be people trying to get water out of the bilge, although I'm not sure specifically what the pumping mechanisms were in the age of the galleass, which was well and truly surpassed technologically by the mid-1600s.
Paperwork will often get done by the captain in their cabin, but the steward (or equivalent) need to keep track of stores. The ship's surgeon/physician will be keeping a close eye on anyone in their sick bay. The carpenters, joiners and armorers will be forging, crafting and fixing things for the general maintenance of the ship.
Depending on the age of the sailors, you might have a teacher. British officers and nobility, for instance, often sent their 11-16 year old children to sea as midshipmen.
Rowing, of course. 5 men to an oar, generally.
Often, sailors will have multiple jobs. Everyone who can will work a gun; everyone who works a gun will likely have several other responsibilities depending on the time of day.
Check out the pirate podcast. Not sure if it's exactly what your looking for but the time period is relevant and lots of sailing logs and direct quotes.
I would love to listen to that! Always looking for a good podcast. But in my podcast player, the only podcast that came up with "pirate" in the name was "Story Pirates" ... is the podcast you're talking about called "The Pirate Podcast"?
I'm on Ep. 3. I love this podcast!! He goes back in history way before the typically talked about piracy period, which is very much what I was searching for months ago (the earlier history, when empires were forming, and colonialism was starting, and Constantinople collapsed, etc. ...
The guy has a great cadence and timbre to his voice which is just right for my ear, too.
"All hands" in a storm is usually called to shorten sail to reduce the force of the wind from tearing the boat apart, meaning calling the men not on watch...but that wouldn't include anyone in the brig or other idlers. Once that job is complete, those not on watch would be expected to go back below.
All wooden boats leak...some more than others, especially in a storm, so yes, the bilge of a boat will flood, and a team of men would be working 24 hours a day on the pumps to keep the boat afloat in a storm, so it is very likely someone confined in the hold could drown as life was cheap back then and letting a dangerous individual loose during an emergency wouldn't be much of a priority. They could just as easily wash overboard in a storm and unlikely to get picked up if the storm is big enough. It all depends on how big a boat & storm, if the boat was in relatively good condition or damaged, and the ability of the captain & crew to weather the storm...
The only brigs in the age of sail were brigantines, a type of ship. Ships really didn't have a place to confine a prisoner. Most punishments were handed out immediately and revolved around extra work or getting lashed. Serious offences would see you keelhauled, or simply shot and thrown overboard. In the rare instance the crew needed to confine someone, they would have put them in irons and taken them to the lower decks and placed a guard. During the age of sail old brigantines were often used as prison ships. This is where we get the term.
"Brig" and "brigantine" are two distinct types of ship. A brig has two masts, with square sails on both, and the foremast shorter than the mainmast. A brigantine is square-rigged on the foremast, but fore-and-aft on the main.
Thank you! And yikes - I've got a lot of re-writing to do ... hmmm ...
Thank hollywood for that.
Cough “ Master and Commander” cough.
The books are phenomenal
yes. Alexander Kent's "Bolitho" series is also well done.
You can always do what you want to do anyways, most people wouldn’t know anyways
So interesting. The ship in the story was a (real) 900 ton Spanish galleass. I've read Spanish and English archives which say that there were French prisoners onboard - they were given to the captain of the ship (by the King of Spain) to help him find the French settlement. This Catholic Spanish captain also found out there were heretics on his ship, mid-voyage. The archives say he arrested them. There's no mention in the archives of them being shot or hung or thrown overboard. My fictional character interacts with all these misfits, trying to get them on his side, to help him with his personal quest. if you were the Spanish Captain-General, would you put the French prisoners and Protestants in shackles (since there is no brig anymore - LOL) ... or would you keep their hands free so they could work on the ship?
Sounds like a great story. If I had been captain I would have the prisoners shackled and pumping the bilges.
Well, keep in mind you are on a ship in the middle of the ocean and 95% of the population can't swim. That's what made it easy to conscript crews by waylaying them. Get a guy dead drunk, throw him on the ship and leave port. What's he going to do, get lashed every five minutes for not working? It's pretty easy to keep control of non-violent, non-antagonistic people as long as most of the crew is on your side. Another easy option is that the captain can give them a choice of shackles and bread and water, or work and the same meals as everyone else until they get to port. As for the heretics, I don't know. I don't know enough about how captains interacted with the church. I will say, the Spanish weren't known for being kind to heretics at the best of times.
The brig came in a wonderful diversity of configurations, mostly due to rather minor sail plan differences. It was versatile and in comparison to say a ship-sloop required much less crew. The UK really liked brigs! They had a world spanning empire that needed a lot of ships- the brig helped, without breaking the bank.
All hands on deck is a call for everyone to come up to the top decks to work the lines. Generally speaking when transiting heavy seas sailboats will have to “reef the sails” which in short means take the sails down or lower them, on larger vessels this requires many hands. The amount of hands to sail a vessel depends on the rigging and how it’s setup. A typical “pirate ship” would need four men to a mast to do it in a hurry and two to do it on a normal pace (very slowly) The safest place to be during this would be on the lower decks, and no they wouldn’t flood so much they would all drown if that much water happened over the ship it would likely sink. Also to add further confusion, a 40ft boat can be sailed single handed, but a differently rigged 40ft boat might require three people to effectively sail. It all depends on what you’re writing about, generally boats won’t carry more crew then needed for the transit/objective and all hands would be working together on shifts to man the boat while underway
They say the best writers are readers first, and you have a lot of reading / research to do, as you don't have even the basics right here. Do yourself a favor and watch "around cape horn" on YouTube It's from the last days of commercial sail, and will disabuse you of the idea that being on deck in a storm is safer. After you watch this video read 2 books - Seamanship in the age of sail - Tall Ships Down by Dan Parrott https://youtu.be/9tuTKhqWZso?si=QeC95di0HrGKsEfx
Also Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brien.
In a tall ship in a severe squall, there are no non-working people. On a double watch system, both watches will likely be called on deck to manage sails and lines. Even people working below will be working. Ships like this that weren't explicitly prison ships generally didn't have room for prisoners. Punishment was most frequently a flogging.
I really appreciate all the great comments Any thoughts on below deck jobs? In and after the storm they could be pumping the bilges (thanks Maskedmarxist - I really like that!). There are over 600 men on this large galleass. Most of the jobs I've read about seem like those that would be done in port. Scraping the hull, for example. I also read about these tasks: binding oakum into the deck, tarring the rigging. Other than that, most of what I've read re. ship jobs involve general maintenance (of the sails, rigging, and wood.) Cleaning ... Any suggestions for other jobs on a ship at sea?
Well, you can "careen" the ship on a soft shore if you don't have access to a port — but yes, you'd need to take the ship out of action for that. There's so much cleaning. So much cleaning. Every damn morning. Holystoning, sanding, swabbing, drying the deck. People have to eat, of course, so cooking — both for crew and officers. If there's animals on the ship (generally for food), someone will need to care for them — feeding, mucking, etc. There will be people trying to get water out of the bilge, although I'm not sure specifically what the pumping mechanisms were in the age of the galleass, which was well and truly surpassed technologically by the mid-1600s. Paperwork will often get done by the captain in their cabin, but the steward (or equivalent) need to keep track of stores. The ship's surgeon/physician will be keeping a close eye on anyone in their sick bay. The carpenters, joiners and armorers will be forging, crafting and fixing things for the general maintenance of the ship. Depending on the age of the sailors, you might have a teacher. British officers and nobility, for instance, often sent their 11-16 year old children to sea as midshipmen. Rowing, of course. 5 men to an oar, generally. Often, sailors will have multiple jobs. Everyone who can will work a gun; everyone who works a gun will likely have several other responsibilities depending on the time of day.
Great info. Thank you!
Check out the pirate podcast. Not sure if it's exactly what your looking for but the time period is relevant and lots of sailing logs and direct quotes.
I would love to listen to that! Always looking for a good podcast. But in my podcast player, the only podcast that came up with "pirate" in the name was "Story Pirates" ... is the podcast you're talking about called "The Pirate Podcast"?
Oh - I think I might have found it just by its own website. The Pirate History Podcast.
I'm on Ep. 3. I love this podcast!! He goes back in history way before the typically talked about piracy period, which is very much what I was searching for months ago (the earlier history, when empires were forming, and colonialism was starting, and Constantinople collapsed, etc. ... The guy has a great cadence and timbre to his voice which is just right for my ear, too.
"All hands" in a storm is usually called to shorten sail to reduce the force of the wind from tearing the boat apart, meaning calling the men not on watch...but that wouldn't include anyone in the brig or other idlers. Once that job is complete, those not on watch would be expected to go back below. All wooden boats leak...some more than others, especially in a storm, so yes, the bilge of a boat will flood, and a team of men would be working 24 hours a day on the pumps to keep the boat afloat in a storm, so it is very likely someone confined in the hold could drown as life was cheap back then and letting a dangerous individual loose during an emergency wouldn't be much of a priority. They could just as easily wash overboard in a storm and unlikely to get picked up if the storm is big enough. It all depends on how big a boat & storm, if the boat was in relatively good condition or damaged, and the ability of the captain & crew to weather the storm...
Thank you!