Sons of the Waves: The Common Seaman in the Heroic Age of Sail (Stephen Taylor)

An interesting study of the life of seamen in the age of sail, and of why Churchill was partially wrong about "rum, sodomy, and the lash."

The written version of this review can be found here: https://theworthyhouse.com/2025/06/06/sons-of-the-waves-the-common-seaman-in-the-heroic-age-of-sail-stephen-taylor/

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This and all Worthy House narrations are offered with embedded (burnt-in) captions.

"Among the first books I read, when around five years of age, were some written by my great uncle, Charles Frye Haywood, after whom I am named. He was a lawyer in Lynn, Massachusetts, but his life’s interest was men and events related to Colonial times, especially sailing vessels. This is no surprise, perhaps, given that one of our ancestors, also Charles Haywood, was a minuteman in Concord in 1785. My great uncle wrote two fictional works set in colonial America, No Ship May Sail and Eastward the Sea, along with a nonfiction work, Minutemen and Mariners. Books read as a small child sink deep into one’s psyche, and so, in a sense, I inherited his interest. This book, Sons of the Waves, I therefore found fascinating."