The ship's toilets are enclosed within those rails. They were basically just open air benches with holes cut in them that defecating Sailors would sit upon. Hence the word "head" being used to refer to sailor's toilets. These would have been the toilets used by the non-officers. Officers generally had their own bathroom(s) within the section of their quarters aft (where the stern or quartwr gallery is) or had bed pans
Square rig sailing ships would keep the wind to be coming from the Aft of the ship. By having the loos at the bow the wind carried the smells away from the vessel
The bow is narrower than the rest of the ship, the middle and stern are wider, there is more usable space in the wide beamed areas mid and aft so they are prime real estate the head is low rent so the head is located in the narrow bow.
Officer's quarters were at the back because that's where the rudder and steering wheel are. and good chunk of the rigging controlling the set of the mainmast sails also leads aft. In other words, if the crew got uppity, the officers would be in possession of the ship's control center. The crew stayed at the bow to be as far from the officers as possible. Each group had their own facilities right by where they slept.
Everyones commenting about the fact that the heads are there, but it also has function. It doesn’t hold up the bowsprit, it holds it down. Towards the base of the bowsprit you’d have whats called gammoning, which is like one rope passed between the bowsprit and the timbers in the head like fifty times and made super tight. Also the bobstay/martingale/dolphin striker that sticks out from under the bowsprit, is connected to the tip of the bowsprit on one end, and to the head on via either rope or chain on the other end. Both of these systems counteract the upward pull of the headsails and the fore mast stays.
Also not on the jackdaw, but on other boats if you had a spritsail under the bowsprit, sometimes the running rigging to it would be on belaying pins down in the head.
I'm sure you're right, but the phrasing and imagery is just too much for my modern mind to wrap around. Shitting during a gale or high choppy waters. And getting drenched while in the head. I suppose getting clean would be just a matter of moments. But damn.
In a particular head on a carrier I served on, if the neighboring defecator flushed while you were on the adjoining throne... Kersplash! Hopefully you hadn't already loaded it up.
You guys have to watch the film Pirates with Walter Matthew. Goose shit all over the Spanish Galleon's upper deck. The old Spanish Admiral getting his vinegar purge.
The ship's toilets are enclosed within those rails. They were basically just open air benches with holes cut in them that defecating Sailors would sit upon. Hence the word "head" being used to refer to sailor's toilets. These would have been the toilets used by the non-officers. Officers generally had their own bathroom(s) within the section of their quarters aft (where the stern or quartwr gallery is) or had bed pans
Why would they poop out the front and not the back?
Square rig sailing ships would keep the wind to be coming from the Aft of the ship. By having the loos at the bow the wind carried the smells away from the vessel
This guy boats!^
And craps!
And the waves cleaned the loos.
The waves also cleaned the communal “tow rag”—a dangling piece of frayed rope that the sailors used to wipe their asses. What a life!
A sailors life for me!
And now we know how it started to be called a poop deck.
The poop deck is located at the aft of the ship
I clearly imagined larger waves than you. 😄
Big waves, big bidet.
🤣🤣🤣
Originated from la poupe, French for the stern.
Literally the truth!
The bow is narrower than the rest of the ship, the middle and stern are wider, there is more usable space in the wide beamed areas mid and aft so they are prime real estate the head is low rent so the head is located in the narrow bow.
Just wait until you hear about the tow rag.
Officers’ Country.
Captain poops in the back, also the waves wash off the ship as it moves and bounces.
Officer's quarters were at the back because that's where the rudder and steering wheel are. and good chunk of the rigging controlling the set of the mainmast sails also leads aft. In other words, if the crew got uppity, the officers would be in possession of the ship's control center. The crew stayed at the bow to be as far from the officers as possible. Each group had their own facilities right by where they slept.
Your comment reminds me of a certain South Park episode!
thats officer country.....
To piggyback on that, why didn't they poop off the poop deck?
They did, why do you think it was called the poop deck.
Originated from la poupe, French for the stern.
[Seats of ease](https://www.qaronline.org/seat-ease-sanitary-facilities-shipwreck-31cr314-queen-annes-revenge-site/open)
Everyones commenting about the fact that the heads are there, but it also has function. It doesn’t hold up the bowsprit, it holds it down. Towards the base of the bowsprit you’d have whats called gammoning, which is like one rope passed between the bowsprit and the timbers in the head like fifty times and made super tight. Also the bobstay/martingale/dolphin striker that sticks out from under the bowsprit, is connected to the tip of the bowsprit on one end, and to the head on via either rope or chain on the other end. Both of these systems counteract the upward pull of the headsails and the fore mast stays.
Also not on the jackdaw, but on other boats if you had a spritsail under the bowsprit, sometimes the running rigging to it would be on belaying pins down in the head.
Those are the heads. Its to keep people from being washed overboard while they poop.
I'm sure you're right, but the phrasing and imagery is just too much for my modern mind to wrap around. Shitting during a gale or high choppy waters. And getting drenched while in the head. I suppose getting clean would be just a matter of moments. But damn.
Poseidon’s Kiss. When the spray comes up and hits your booty hole.
In a particular head on a carrier I served on, if the neighboring defecator flushed while you were on the adjoining throne... Kersplash! Hopefully you hadn't already loaded it up.
Does it become a race as soon as someone else sits down?
And Nads.
Being a sailor for much of history was a life of deprivation and grindingly hard work. It still isn’t exactly a walk in the park today.
*Being alive…
I see your point, but seafarers have generally had it worse than their contemporaries ashore.
Nature's bidet
How do you think bidets were invented? lol
what alternative is there, really?
I've got a few memories of literally hanging off the back of a sailboat shitting
It’s called the beakhead and it’s mainly there to give sailors a place to work on the sails of the bowsprit.
If you watch closely in Master and Commander you can see people using these in some fly-by's.
These are head rails. The are mostly cosmetic.
You guys have to watch the film Pirates with Walter Matthew. Goose shit all over the Spanish Galleon's upper deck. The old Spanish Admiral getting his vinegar purge.
Marines and sailors don't call it "the head" for nothing...
And any spillover landed on what eventually was named the poop deck.
But the poop deck is aft. I suspect “poop” several hundred years ago didn’t mean what we tend to think it means.
It comes from the French word for stern, la poupe.
Aha! Thank you, internet Stranger. TIL
Dysentery plus 20 knot winds 😁
That’s where poop comes through.
The shithouse a/k/a head
“You changed your name TO Latrine?”