Louis XIV - Living conditions of seafarers and French settlers - our ancesters were on ship to New France - Medical Team - Work on ship - Priest - Part 5

Living conditions of seafarers and French settlers

Our ancestors were on ships to New France

Part 5

The medical team

on a 74 French guns, the medical team consists of the surgeon-major, two second-surgeons, two surgical assistants and an apothecary.

  Medical kit during this period

Manuscript holdings of the library of the former Naval School of Medicine. Handbook of Anatomy for the use of students of the School of Naval Medicine Rochefort sur ​​Mer, written by Pig-Dupuy himself in 1727.

   

Some sailors are assigned as nurses / servants, and, traditionally, the provost, that is to say, the man in charge of corporal punishment on the ship (the executioner, so), and his henchmen "handymen how police officer knew a warship or an official rapporteur "...

 

                                                                Physicians

 
They officiate at the lowest deck of the ship, the false deck relatively safe shots because it is situated below the waterline. It is painted in red blood that marine casualties is less noticeable. The surgeon operates in his cabin, often on the ground, in the semi-darkness of a kerosene lamp, amid the screams of the wounded and the dying screams of agony, the smoke and the sound of cannons canvas . background, an image close to hell

If surgery is still considered a "mechanical art" Surgeons are not yet over in the eighteenth century, these men of good will for all to turn barber-butcher and helping tomaneuver as can still be found at that time on Newfoundlanders ...

Work of the holdings of the library of the former Naval School of Medicine. Medical treatise published in 1549 by Jacob Sylvius.

 

They enriched their intellectual background and have "medicalized", approaching gradually the common hospital practitioners. They are educated in the schools of Rochefort, Brest and Toulon, and the first of three long played the role of pilot school in naval Health and Tropical Medicine, where students receive a comprehensive education, including even courses Obstetrics.

barbers and butchers practice medicine for the poor

There is no doctor on board theships,except on the hospital ship may accompany the fleet. As such, the surgeon board treats various diseases, fevers or diseases of the crew and passengers, as such establishing diagnoses and prescribing remedies, which is forbidden by their doctors when they are down ...

The naval chaplain

The naval chaplainseminar Rochefort, the duties of the naval chaplain of the late seventeenth century tend to be closer to those of a priest or vicar, as he served a parish Wed The difference is that the order of 1689 states that the Mass will be said not only on Sundays and holidays, but also "the other day as often as possible.

"TheNaval Chaplaincy does not attract vocations:firstly it is practiced in very precarious conditions and, secondly, it is very far from quiet - even austere - the life of a church and rectory adjoining: housed in low battery to the Holy Beard, his room is a small canvas surrounding a berth fir (his only luxury compared to the crew) and a hotel where he puts the ornaments of portable altar.

                                                 It receives pay a quartermaster

The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1762 compounds the problem of recruitment after closing seminars Toulon and Brest. At Rochefort, the Jesuits were replaced by Recollects who do not have the same "size" intellectual than their predecessorsmaintain.

regulatory texts and rare examples show us a man whose position seems inconvenient and difficult to  Too familiar with crew, it quickly becomes the object of scorn majors officers; too servile respect to the "small world of poop", there is one who teaches "man, obedience, in the name of God's will, moral support and social pecking order of the board"

 

The situation of the chaplain of the Royal Navy does not seem best when he said grace at the captain's table and helps the secretary of the latter to do the service there, as if it were part of his household ...

Expulsion of the Jesuits in 1760

                                         The petty officers or naval training school

She trains and supervises the crew. The careful selection of these professionals was the assurance to return to port a ship could withstand a bad commander, to settle for a mediocre staff and board a heterogeneous crew unaccustomed to the exercise of the sea, but it really was in bad shape if the petty officers did not appear to live up to what might be expected of her.

 

  The British navy

                                            

The first man of the petty officers is the master (pilot / navigator), that is to say, one that determines the way forward and selected moorings in harbors fairground. If reigns supreme in the Merchant Marine, he is a little over a second Man'o'war where officers often know better than him calculate the exact position of the ship, but it remains indispensable for his knowledge of the sea and especially landfall. The role of his French counterpart is the same, although its place in the hierarchy is less. He was a second assistant and helpers, he gives orders to the helmsman and the accuracy of the instruments in the wheelhouse is within his remit.

 

In the French navy the predominant position of the petty officer is vested with the first master or bosun. It is "the eye and hand of the ship that is to be found anywhere." He proudly wears around his neck the nightingale, silver whistle he sees as a sign of rank, as well as the voice for the bosco must be able to be heard from one end to the other ship. He is the all-powerful boss of the crew and has a key technical role as the guarantor of the state of the ship fittings and gear, ladders, shrouds, hoists, ropes and other warps.
Shipbuilding

1760bosco is a grade Following the junior officers link between them and the crew. The name comes from boatswain, who was the foreman in charge of the bump, the last rope to hold the anchor before immersing. Is not acting alone since twenty men are in its sphere of influence. His second does the forecastle area before between the foremast and the bowsprit. Under the command of Chief Petty also are the mastersquarters,each responsible for a sector aloft. They are 15 of 74 guns and are closer to the crew, they guide the maneuvers and refer to the many chores. People of gunnery They form a society apart in the ship, with their customs, their own hierarchy and their local, heavily guarded and locked, where only they are entitled to enter.

The deck of a ship 74 guns

Gunners masters are the technical managers full battery and dangerous handling of heavy materials and flammable materials attached to their profession. Only under Louis XIV, they are three under Louis XV and Louis XVI, aided by second-gunners themselves assisted by assistants or heads of gunners room. There is one head room for two guns (one battery takes forever along the port and starboard). Almost all are former sailors risen in rank and have completed over an entire school year apprentices gunners. Unfortunately the war often requires accelerated training of fabrics

 

The master craftsmen They run true maintenance teams that make the ship a traveling ship repair company because the vessel wears over a year, and in the event of damage or breakage after a storm or a fight. Whoever dominates this category is the master carpenter, as well as considered the first master, the master pilot or gunner and master in the RoyalNavy,usually enjoys the esteem and respect of the captain commander.

 

Assisted on the larger vessels of two seconds and a half-dozen aid, its domain includes all wooden parts, rudder to the mast as a whole, and their visit is his daily duty. He and his team are particularly vulnerable when fighting since they must act like other fighters under fire from the enemy where the ship takes shots: butting spars on deck swept by shrapnel, plug the gaps with boards and pelardeaux, task entrusted to master caulker and his aides in the French navy, and control of pump operation and verification of the bilge,the odor should preferably benauseating,no odor can be caused by a leak in the "seam" of the vessel. The ship also has a sailmaker who rules the greater part of the  The "flagship" reached

ship.3,240 m2 on a first rate ship of
Canonon ship

Other workersmasters are on board the ship, but without the rank of petty officer: the master gunsmith, a blacksmith, a boilermaker and even a glazier and a rooster, a butcher and a baker in the French Navy ...

                                                                                       

Soldiers and sailors

 

The term comes from the Dutch sailor "mattenoot" meaning companion even layer. Actually two sailors share the same hammock without ever meeting: when one leaves the service, another takes it, it is then said that they are amatelotés. This creates a very strong bond, a deep solidarity, brotherhood of seafarers.

Saying that the sailor is dedicated to performing the maneuver rigging and anchors is too narrow to accurately reflect reality because they are actually men to do anything on the ship except the tasks of handling and securing of loads, they know the basics of working tailpiece, carpenter, caulker, and know, for most of them, sew .sail
Sailors

There is a vertical division of labor: the sailors assigned to work aloft, including top-men, are also referred to as "marine high pay." They are the elite sailors and represent a third of men on a ship. The other, remaining bridges are considered less and less pay, and are assigned to grueling maneuvers hoists sailswarship.

maneuver the wing does not in itself justify the large number of men on a  150 men enough to handle a full-rigged ship of 1,500 ton, so anything that justifies crew 700 men and such as those found on ships of the first rank. This is the service of the batteries is a real hog numbers. The distribution of battle stations shows that 77% of men are affected with the canons, the strength of a liner passing above all by the power of his artillery.

                                        The crew shares the hammocks

The appearance of naval infantry troops on board ship date well before the adoption of combat training in line of battle, when fighting in hand-to-hand combat between fleet then is predominant. However, the adoption of the line does not affect the presence of the marines on ships, for the battle "within pistol shot" does not disappear, and discharges of musketry and fed projections hand grenades are factors hindering the operation of the opponent. They are also a very valuable backup in case of collision of an enemy ship, offensive as defensive.
Former Hammock

The marines can help the capstan from the port and also in the service of the gun and distribution of ammunition. They are also responsible for maintaining order on board by patrols and guard posts at key points of the ship (access to the poop and the armory attached example). They may also be required to repress acts of disobedience or even attempted mutiny.

Colbert will create two regiments, the Royal Navy and theAdmiral,but barely trained will be paid at the beginning of the war with Holland in the army of land, while retaining their name, Louvois and general objected that the navy is equipped with own regiments. To overcome this trick, Seignelai form first detachments of soldiers-guards to monitor ports, dockyards and obtained the creation of free marine companies (it will create one hundred in all, a great force!), Each with a hundred men, controlled by the navy and paid by the War Department. A company is commanded by a lieutenant who received a commission as captain of infantry by the king, key ECU 2 per recruit him and 50 pounds for his monthly expenses at more than his usual treatment.

 

Lynching brothers Witt marks the return to power of stadtholders

 

The rank-touch 9 pounds per month, or 3 pounds less than a sailor low pay. The Marine is engaged for 6 years. The reputation of these troops is not famous and held flawed. Choiseul thus eliminates in its reforms of 1761: troops will be provided by the Army. The British navy, it follows the reverse logic and has its first regiment of marines from 1755

The independent companies are recreated late 1774 by the formation of a Royal Corps of Marines comprising 100 rifle companies and 3 bombers (throwing grenades and able to serve the barrel) divided into three divisions, the exclusive service of marine and commanded by his own officers.
 

Living conditions on board ships

"The ship was like a floatinghell.It was a very brutal age. We were used to diseases, pain, brutality. That is to say that life on the ship was somehow the height of normal life for people in that time.

"Deathof Louis XIV

                                                          Hearse ocean

animals are onboard.It first finds a native fauna besides fleas, scorpions, centipedes, cockroaches and other insects are perfectly adapted to life at sea, there are rats (which justify the disappearance of food). They are eagerly pursued by the crew when fresh produce completely lacking because they have a reputation to fight scurvy because "they are indeed among the only animals of creation that are themselves the synthesis of vitamin C: by Therefore by eating rats, ate some vitaminC,especially if they ate giblets France!

next on part 6

Alain Laprise October 5, 2014