Author: Pablo E. Pérez-Mallaína

ISBN: 0801881838

In the wake of Christopher Columbus, Spanish fleets traveled regularly to the New World of the Americas for trade, for conquest, for saving souls and, above all, for seeking fortunes. Most people will be familiar with the mighty (but often fragile) ships that plied the waves and some of the names of the great captains and explorers of the times – but what of the men and, less commonly, women, who crewed these ships, who lived and died on the ships and in numerous foreign ports around the world? This splendidly readable and comprehensive book provides an excellent summary of what can be known of their lives and times, based on the extensive documentation left behind is Spain, particularly in Seville, which was the great port around which the Americas industry blossomed and bloomed.

What is often overlooked in the consideration of the past from the comfort of the present is the misery and deprivation that was the common lot of most people in the past. Sailors led more or less wretched lives, especially on land when regular employment was difficult to find during the winter months when ships did not sail. They must live off whatever meager savings they could scrape together from their salaries, which were often required to meet debts that were incurred in order to provide enough clothing and personal items to be able to sign up for a crew in the first place. Woe betide those who fell ill or had a new child to support – that way lay potential ruin and misery. At least the men were able to escape by signing up for a new voyage. It must have been much more difficult for the women left behind, uncertain as to whether the men would ever return and, if they did, whether they would be in good health with all limbs intact and whether they had managed to get paid and bring some of that salary back home from them. Many thousands of sailors died along the way or found themselves stranded on the other side of the world for years at a time or, even if they did find their way back home safely, had already lost their salary through theft or gambling or shipwreck or just being cheated by the ship’s master or the crown. Not all the sharks were swimming in the sea, then as now.

Life on board was no picnic most of the time either: the majority of the provisions took the form of ship’s biscuit, which was a type of twice-cooked bread which could only be chewed after having been dunked for several minutes in the brackish water available or the diluted wine. For variety, there might be some salted pork or salted fish, which served to torment the men further when there was insufficient water, as might easily be the case when a few days of calm befell the ship. And every word had to be watched, as any utterance which might be construed as a curse or blasphemy would swiftly lead to an inquisition, corporal punishment and heavy fines. Punishments could be savage – a month with feet in the stocks for an ill-chosen epithet could leave a man crippled for life.

From the type of books the crew and passengers had to read to the possibility of smuggling on a woman companion as a stowaway, every aspect of ship-board life is covered here. This is really an excellent resource for anyone interested in history or in life at sea. Calmly translated by Carla Rahn Phillips and nicely produced with illuminating illustrations by the Johns Hopkins University Press, this is a book that can be warmly recommended.

The above review was contributed by: John Walsh PhD:  Professor at Shinawatra International University CLICK TO VIEW  John Walsh's Reviews