"Sailors & Society in Georgian England" Tour

For those with a little extra cash to kick around.

http://annemarievictory.com/Lavery%20Brochure%20booklet%202011.pdf

And also...

http://www.thedearsurprise.com/?p=2525

These are for those with a little extra cash lying around. The rest of us will just have to dream.

I join the dreamers...

Well, as Lennon said, ". . . I'm not the only one."

If I have had that budget for a single trip, I would rather sail to Antarctica...

I know! I could make several awesome trips to places I long to see for less than the budget of one of these packages.

And there is something decidedly odd about being on a "luxury" square rigger...

Not necessarily-- think of Indiamen.

Now that's an interesting one. Compared with the average man of war, I guess the passengers in an Indiaman had a relatively easy time: certainly the food, if they were providing for themselves, would have been better. But quarters were still incredibly cramped, even for those lucky, or rich, enough to berth in the roundhouse (different to the RN version!). The HEIC ships also carried far more livestock than their RN equivalents, both for passengers' provisions, and as cargo - one account relates an entire pack of fox hounds being carried. Consequently the stink in steerage was quoted as being on a par or worse than any found on a RN orlop, and the average Indiaman was also liable to roll excessively. In terms of getting to India or the Far East by the most comfortable method, I guess the Indiaman wins, but I don't think many would pay for the privilege today.

Yes, you are quite right that compared to a modern conveyance it would fall short. I was thinking of luxury for the time in which the vessel operated. The point can be argued but I still feel that relative to conditions at the time a good cabin in an Indiaman (or perhaps later on in a nice clipper) would have been far better than the conditions ashore for the average person of the period.

Don't you think that someone who had the means to sail in a good cabin of an Indiaman, had usually pleasant dwelling back home?

Big Joe wrote:Don't you think that someone who had the means to sail in a good cabin of an Indiaman, had usually pleasant dwelling back home?

Yes, I do. I'm sure that anyone who could afford one of these cruises almost certainly has a very nice and expensive home too, that's why these are luxury items. I'm saying that the cabin would be luxurious compared to the average dwelling of a member of Georgian society.

Are you saying that because a rich passenger likely had a nice house that the expensive berth is not luxuriant? It was a real luxury compared to traveling in steerage with the lower classes! Who wouldn't rather have a first class stateroom on an Indiaman (conceding it was more of an armed merchantman than a passenger liner) or ride in the hold of a transport bound for a new colony?

And I'll also deal with any comparisons with modern standards of luxury. Here is an example. As a middle class 21st century citizen I would probably find living in a medieval castle with the aristocracy to be incredibly unpleasant; cold and drafty, with pests and poor sanitation. But it would still be luxury compared to a serf's hovel.