I think that some of us (me included), because of the passing of successive generations, sometimes show a tendency to consider our more recent veterans (say from WWII onwards) when we celebrate Memorial Day, and not give all that much thought to our Country's earlier soldiers and sailors. These earlier military men in many ways had it rougher just because of the fact that the times themselves were so much harsher. The mean winter of 1779-1780 almost destroyed our Continental Army, and therefore almost ended our forefathers revolutionary attempt at freedom. General Washington and the troops only survived that frozen season "by the skin of their teeth," and many of us that have done more than cursory reading about the Civil War know that more soldiers died of disease than perished from battle wounds.
I found this ships log which provides an early record of the USS Constitution's sea duty, the other day when I was looking for something else about the age of sail, and was struck by the brutality of the era. I knew from reading naval history books, that a seaman would often be disciplined with swift, harsh, and sometimes arbitrary punishment, but I didn't realize it was this bad (at least not in the American Navy).
USS CONSTITUTION'S LOG 1803-1804 It's almost like a "Catch-22" situation; the grog was supplied to the sailors because of the practical reasons that fresh water would turn "sour" relatively quickly, and also because of the traditional feeling that the drink tended to appease the sailors boredom and frustrations due to their harsh lives at sea, but as we can now see, this practice evidently had its drawbacks.
I'm also posting this classic sea chanty here as a form of honoring these fighting seamen, because I'm fairly sure that if the sailors whose penalties are recorded in this log, had been given a say in the matter, they would have certainly opted for one of this old songs alternative punishments, rather than the whippings that they actually received.
WHAT WILL WE DO WITH A DRUNKEN SAILOR?
