I am a farmer at sea
60 sheep, 100 pigs,
geese and ducks on departure
These are frugal rations
with the stew, army bread and beans
No need to slaughter
The beasts just die
so there is always meat
for the cook and the officers
high above my smelly stable
where I haul in the buckets from the sea
and scrub the **** through the scuppers
In the bunks, it is worse
There is the world of the below deck
of sweat, exhaust gases, and the rasping sick
where you sink asleep in a pit
full of poo and ***, gasp for air
and throw up brown tar
Merchant shipping in the 18th century
Collection “On living on”