What plumbing did well-equipped sailing ships have?
score:27
Around 1800, you would have started to see the introduction of iron storage tanks for water, which would have replaced multiple wooden barrels in the ship's hold. By weight and volume, drinking water was the largest resource carried on a sailing ship - on long voyages drinking water could amount to several hundred tons.
Drinking water wasn't pumped around the ship, it would be decanted into smaller barrels which were manually carried around the ship, to the galleys for cooking and in larger barrels on the deck for the sailors to drink from.
The stored water supply could be supplemented by distilling seawater. Distilling units were in use as early as 1684 but even by 1800 the designs were still fairly inefficient. The distiller would be attached to a tank of seawater over the ship's stove. Steam from this heated tank would pass along a copper or brass pipe which ran through a tank of cold seawater. This would cause the pure(er) water to condense for collection in a tank or barrel at the end. Obviously, the process could only run when conditions allowed the ship's stoves to operate (and fuel was limited) so this was not a constant source of clean water.
Even without being damaged, wooden ships tended to collect rain and seawater. This would find its way to the lowest parts of the hull. The purpose of the ship's pumps was to draw this water out of the hull. This would either be pumped straight over the side, or the water could be used for purposes such as washing down the decks (and then swept over the side).
The pumps were manually powered, which meant that ships that had suffered storm or battle damage would find the crew needing to man the pumps for hours on end to keep the ship from sinking. The short runs of pumbling for these pumps (and for drainage from the decks) would be mainly lead and leather pipes, with copper or brass in some places.
sources: The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War, 1600-1815, B. Lavery (Conway, 1987)
The Construction and Fitting of the Sailing Man of War, 1650-1850, P.Goodwin (Conway, 1987)
Upvote:9
As of 1800, they didn't have any plumbing as we know it. The main purpose of the pumps was pumping out seawater that had leaked into the ship: ships always leak.
Drinking water was stored in barrels that were brought on board ship full, either at dockside or by being hoisted out of boats. Yes, they were stored low in the ship. A barrel was brought up for use by being hoisted out of the hold.
Source: Nelson's Navy, Brian Lavery, among other books.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, plumbing systems were starting to develop. HMS Terror and HMS Erebus had steam heating and water distillation systems for Franklin's arctic expedition of 1845.
More post
- 📝 Who was the last European king to actively engage in combat?
- 📝 Who taught Russian in Eastern-bloc satellite countries?
- 📝 Did officers use cases / bags / pouches in the 18th century?
- 📝 Why is Indonesia a Muslim country?
- 📝 What are the reasons for the failure of Soviet Union at agriculture?
- 📝 How to explain the apparent discrepancy in the use of papyrus vs. clay tablets between Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia?
- 📝 What were pre-internet stock books called?
- 📝 Why didn't the senate of Carthage reinforce Hannibal in Italy?
- 📝 Medieval Scottish clan society and legal structure
- 📝 What nationality was "Egbert Van Kampen"?
- 📝 How (and why) did Hitler create "the world's largest traffic jam?"
- 📝 How common was drug abuse and related deaths in the USA during the conservative 1950s?
- 📝 Communication lag during the Age of Sail: what if enemy claimed that peace agreement was signed?
- 📝 Are there historical examples of countries using pandemics as an excuse for banning protests?
- 📝 How can we evaluate a country's historians for independence?
- 📝 What was the wealth distribution in US antebellum North / South
- 📝 Is there a difference between original 1768-71 and 1968-71 facsimile of 1st edition Encyclopaedia Brittanica
- 📝 What explains this dip in Indonesian GDP growth rate in 1982?
- 📝 What was "primitive labor rent" or "mains mortales"?
- 📝 Could prisoners be pardoned in 1832 France under the July Monarchy?
- 📝 Who was Frau Dr. Ebersberg?
- 📝 What caused the shift from annexation of territory, to colonization of territory?
- 📝 What were birthdays like in Medieval times?
- 📝 Did any of the Flying Tigers lead a US Navy squadron?
- 📝 Did James I link the divine right of kings to apostolic succession in his writings? If so, where?
- 📝 Is Snyder's claim about Soviet-German friendship propaganda posters (1939‒41) supportable?
- 📝 Was there a direct telephone line between Stalin and Hitler during the war?
- 📝 Did the Romans have winter uniforms?
- 📝 Besides Crecy and Poitiers, in what battle was the Longbow the decisive weapon?
- 📝 Does anyone have a concrete example of the British Empire using revolution to gain control over foreign resources, governments?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What plumbing did well-equipped sailing ships have?
- 📝 What advantages did Catholic missionaries to the Indians have over Protestant missionaries in old Oregon Country?
- 📝 What effect did the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir have on Great Britain's international relations during WW2?
- 📝 What reasons did the Confederacy have for believing they would have a quick victory?
- 📝 What did the top minds of the late 17th century have to say about Salem witch trials?
- 📝 What effect did the Bronze Age collapse have on India?
- 📝 What ships did pirates use in ancient Greece and Rome?
- 📝 What right/legitimacy did Normans have to a kingdom in Southern Italy?
- 📝 At what point did Soviet armored units have qualitative parity with Wehrmacht armored units?
- 📝 What obligations did a freed slave have to his/her former master in Anglo-Saxon England?
- 📝 When did passenger ships first have an on board duty-free shop?
- 📝 What effect did awareness of devastating bombing at home have on the fighting spirit of German troops on the Eastern front?
- 📝 What role did the media have in the outcome of the "Arab Spring" revolt in Tunisia?
- 📝 What impact did the Seven Years War have on the American Revolution?
- 📝 What level of public support did Adolf Hitler have in his final year of power?
- 📝 What impact did Trotsky's armoured train have on the Russian civil war?
- 📝 What degree of choice did slaves have over their sexual autonomy?
- 📝 What effect did the Mafia have during World War 2?
- 📝 At what point did the United States have a truly federal army?
- 📝 What alternate north-south supply routes did the Soviet Union have when the Volga and Stalingrad were under attack?
- 📝 What literary or philosophical works did the ancient Egyptians have that have influenced ancient civilizations or the modern word?
- 📝 How did the helmsman know what he was sailing towards with a big mast in his face?
- 📝 What did sectionalism have to do with the American civil war?
- 📝 What access did people in the Warsaw pact countries have to Western television and radio?
- 📝 What rights did women have in Switzerland in the first few years of the 20th century?
- 📝 What attributes did Yahweh have before becoming a monotheistic deity?
- 📝 Why did sailing ships so often employ Chinese cooks?
- 📝 What effect did tanks have on warfare strategies upon their introduction?
- 📝 What intelligence successes did the Axis have in WW2?
- 📝 What kind of heating did Moscow have in the early Soviet Union (1917 - 1930)?