Conditions on board were always cramped, unsanitary and difficult. An early East Indiaman was rarely more than 37 metres long by 11 metres wide. That’s only about four times the length and width of a London bus!

The seamen’s diet grew worse as a voyage progressed. Food was hard-baked bread, beer, cider, wine, dry salted beef, pickled pork and dried peas and beans. Fresh fish surprisingly played little part. Some ships carried chaplains and doctors; but as women at this time generally didn’t travel, female passengers were few and far between.