The region's vast merchant marine employed large numbers of sailors, many who had gone to sea as cabin boys when they were only ten years old. Sailors could be away for as long as two or three years, visiting ports all over the world. Often though they worked the more direct trade routes of the North Atlantic, West Indies triangle. In the latter third of the century native born sailors proved incapable of manning the expanding fleet; as a consequence the work force grew increasingly international, though captains and mates were invariably Maritimers.
Work aboard the wind-powered wooden vessels could be brutal and dangerous, particularly in inclement weather. Abuse of sailors was commonplace and there was little protection, save for the regulations of the British Navigation Acts, which were virtually unenforceable at sea. Because captains and officers were usually paid on a profit-sharing basis rather than under wage contracts, they tried to maximize earnings by fast voyages. Speed was often favoured over safety, especially in the latter third of the century when steam-powered vessels forced frenetic competition for freights. While Nova Scotia captains were reputed for their heroic seamanship and rapid trans-Atlantic crossing, they also took scores of sailors to premature watery graves. The crew pictured here was typical of that required to run a fully rigged vessel in the late nineteenth century. (For more detail on the nineteenth century shipping industry see Canada's Visual History, volume 9, Shipping and Shipbuilding in the Maritime Provinces in the Nineteenth Century.)
