The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Sanitation on Union Ships

Steve Hesson in the Civil War Navy and Marine Forum No. 1638, October 27, 2009. Again, this is just the very shortened version. Check out the full one at the site.

Ship sanitation was important and washing of the body and clothing paramount. Sailors received one bucket of fresh water a day. This was not so much of a problem in the freshwater Navy, but, obviously a bigger situation on seagoing ships. Most ships could not distill freshwater.

Part of the water in the bucket was allotted to the galley. The rest was used to wash hands and face, shave, brush teeth. depending on the weather sailors would also strip and bathe every other day.

Those serving on the "city" class ironclads were even more fortunate as the paddle wheels deposited water in tanks which was then used for showers and then for toilets with running water.

More Stinky Stuff to Come. --Old B-R

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