sharpii2
Senior Member
- Joined
- May 31, 2004
- Messages
- 2,282
- Reaction score
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- Location
- Michigan, USA
I agree.
It seems like, in the days of sail, crew were almost always difficult to come by.
I think that is very understandable. The work was hard and often dangerous. The working conditions were miserable.
On top of that, the captains often operated like petty tyrants, and had little accountability up until at least the mid-19th century. Beatings an floggings were common, to enforce the captain's absolute authority.
Interesting also is that a model of cooperative business arrangement occurred, in the late 17th and early 18th century, on sailing ships. Those were the pirate ships (not to be confused with the privateer ones).
Often, they got started when the crew mutinied and threw the captain and his officers overboard, and took over the ship.
Other times, the crew would desert their ships and link up with others who had done the same.
Pirate ship captains could be fired by their crews. And all of the crew was entitled to a share of the "profits".
I think the early steam ships won out, not because of crew problems for the sailing vessels, as much as they had the ability to keep more predictable schedules.
Those early ships were really sailing ships still, but with auxiliary power. The engines then produced only about one hp per ton of engine weight (which included the boiler and condenser). But they could keep more reliable schedules.
As the 21st century wears on, and assuming there will be a strick anti-C02 regime, sailing ships may make a comeback, at least in smaller vessel sizes.
They will most likely all be schooners, with two to four masts, with strong auxiliary engines.
