The work depended on the kind of vessel a tar sailed on and his position. Many continued to sail in one capacity only, but sailors often did not remain in one type of service. Melville sailed in merchantmen, whalers, and a man-of-war.12 Men along the waterfront sought opportunity wherever they could and at times had little choice in the matter. Ashley Bowen labored in the Marblehead fishing fleet, sailed to the West Indies and Europe in merchantmen, went whaling off the Carolina coast, and served in the British navy during the French and Indian War.13 Simeon Crowell began his career in the 1790s in fishing, and later voyaged in small vessels that sailed along the coast and larger ships throughout the North Atlantic.14 Gurdon L. Allyn went to sea in 1809 at age ten in fishing and coastal voyages out of Newport, worked on whalers and sealers, sailed three times around the world, fought in the Civil War as an officer in the navy, and returned to coasting and fishing as an old man.15 James Fenimore Cooper's friend Ned Myers sailed on ships on most of the seven seas, went whaling, and even fought for the U.S. Navy on the Great Lakes.16 Not every tar had such varied experiences, and many continued to sail in one capacity only, but it is a mistake to assume that the boundaries between different maritime occupations were any less fluid than the oceans Jack Tar crossed.17
Labor remained at a premium on American merchantmen, and each type of vessel had certain requirements. During the colonial period there was a drop in the average crew size in the eighteenth century as the threat of piracy lessened and vessels decreased their turnaround time in port. Depending on the voyage, the ratio of tons per man (the standard means of measuring ships) changed from about four to seven tons per man at the beginning of the eighteenth century to seven to ten tons per man to right before the Revolutionary War. These trends accelerated after American independence, in part because changes in design led to larger ships.18 The relatively higher paying American ships gained a reputation in the nineteenth century for having smaller crews than European vessels of similar construction.19 Shipowners drove down the ratio between tonnage and crew size, intensifying the amount of work for each crew member. Based on a sample taken from the Baltimore Customs records, the typical ship size in 1786 was about 192 tons with an average crew of just less than thirteen men. Twenty years later the average ship was 289 tons with a crew of eighteen men. This represented a change of about 15 tons per crew member to more than 18 tons per crew member.20 In another thirty years, and with the introduction of many innovations in design and rigging that created the Baltimore Clipper, the average ship was almost 500 tons with a crew of less than sixteen, for a ratio of approximately 31 tons per crew member. Captains on these new vessels, with their sleek hull and vast spread of canvas, took pride in getting as much speed as possible out of every shift of breeze. In addition to the increased maintenance that came from the changes in tonnage-per-man ratio, crews repeatedly had to clamber into the rigging to take in or let out more sail. Changes in man-per-ton ratios appeared in almost all oceangoing vessels, including barks and two-masted brigs.21
We should not diminish the amount of work aboard earlier vessels, or aboard smaller craft. Coasting vessels, often sloops (one mast) and schooners (two masts) with fore and aft rigging, had fewer but larger sails than square- rigged vessels and were very good at tacking and therefore better able to sail into the wind and in coastal waters.22 If the voyage were especially short, such as between Baltimore and Norfolk, these vessels could range from 10 to 40 tons, with crews of two to three men. With such a tiny crew, distinctions between captain and seaman were slight; everyone had to work nearly constantly.23 The sloops and schooners that sailed between North American ports or to the West Indies ranged between 40 and 150 tons and had from three to eight men as crew. Small crews left little time for leisure. Like the full-rigged ship the ratio between crew and tonnage increased during the 1750 to 1850 period in these vessels as well.24
The watch system dictated labor rhythms at sea aboard all types of merchant vessels. Technically, sailors served four hours on and four hours off around the clock. A dogwatch in the evening, usually from four to eight, was divided in half with two hours for each watch to shift the time that each watch labored from day to day. In a crew of four, two men on watch saw to the ordinary immediate needs of the vessel. Even in a larger crew of ten, which included the captain, a mate, a cook, and possibly a steward, two or three seamen would be on duty at any given time. Obviously, if the vessel needed any serious alteration of sails, or if a storm struck, the captain called for all hands. The men not on watch duty would thus have their precious few hours of sleep disturbed by a burst of labor often sparked by a rush of adrenaline that came with every emergency.
The length of a voyage varied greatly, depending on the type of vessel and the nature of the trade. A coaster might be at sea for a few hours, or a couple of weeks. Transatlantic trips ran approximately thirty days going east and forty-five days going west.25 Voyages to the West Indies might be shorter, but usually entailed several months away from port. As American commerce reached to South America, Africa, and the Pacific rim, vessels might be away from port for a year or more.
There was thus some predictability in many sailing trips, wind and weather permitting. A ship's papers were supposed to provide a full accounting of the crew signed aboard, and technically all crew members were to be brought back to the end point of the voyage. Likewise the articles of agreement signed by every seaman listed the projected ports of call. Deviation from that route was a violation of contract.26 Sometimes a vessel would make regular runs to the same port or region. Between July 23, 1842, and April 18, 1843, the schooner Gallant Mary made eleven runs between Baltimore and the Caribbean.27 In most instances, the crew would change on each voyage.
Despite efforts to maintain schedules, there was little predictability in a sailor's life. Weather often delayed a return trip. Other factors also came into play. Some captains altered course in search of better markets. If prices were too low in one port, the ship might try another. Even if there was no change in itinerary, if business was slow, turnaround time might increase from a few weeks to a few months or more. Mending damage might also hold up departure, especially if repairs were expensive and parts hard to come by. Changes in international politics, revolutions, wars, new trade restrictions, and pirates all affected voyages.
Sailors themselves, with their own notions of liberty, often cut their time short by leaving a ship. Nathaniel Ames remarked in 1832 that American sailors had no loyalty and signed off and on vessels wherever they might be. Tracing a Cape Cod man, he suggested, might “find him performing one voyage from Boston and the next from New Orleans; to-day carrying plaster from Passamaquoddy to New York and to-morrow in a French whaler off the Falkland Islands.” Ames believed that it is as “impossible to calculate” a sailor's “movements as it would be to predict the direction and extent of the next skip of that most eccentric of all animals, a flea.”28 A seaman took his labor where he thought fit.
Jobs on ships required skilled labor. In responding to the advertisement for landsmen, John Ross Browne was applying for a specific position aboard ship. Sailors on larger vessels fell into three basic categories: able seamen, ordinary seamen, and boys (sometimes referred to as green hands or landsmen, but always, no matter the age, considered boys). On smaller vessels these ratings were less significant, although even on sloops and schooners of under 100 tons some distinctions were made. This hierarchy of skill appeared in crew lists from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Usually the sailor rated himself when he signed the articles of the vessel. An able seaman might sign on as an ordinary seaman if the captain was paying only those wages. A boy or ordinary seaman would almost never claim a higher status unless he was capable of performing the work required. No one wanted to be at sea with a crew of eight, expecting that each watch would have at least one able seaman, only to discover that one of the supposed skilled sailors was incompetent. The whole crew would suffer.