Discover the dark reality of the Age of Sail with historian Dan Snow, exploring the brutal truth of life aboard warships, pirate vessels, and exploration ships. The era, romanticised by tales of piracy and grand expeditions, was in fact marked by unimaginable violence, disease, and desperation. Join Dan Snow, Dr. Maddy Pelling, and Dr. Anthony Delaney of the After Dark podcast as they discuss the extreme conditions of the 16th to 19th centuries, from the terror of scurvy and naval battles to the logistical nightmares of keeping 800 men alive. Learn about the technological marvels that were these wooden worlds, the ruthlessness of the press gangs, and how the Royal Navy evolved to manage its increasingly complex, multicultural crews. 0:00 Introduction 1:55 The Formative & Dark Age of Sail 2:49 Ships as Engines of Transformation 4:13 Life at Sea: An Unimaginable Struggle 6:44 The Complex Design of Warships 9:39 Hellish Compromises in Ship Design 11:46 The Brutality of the Press Gang 16:20 A Sailor's Daily Routine & Discipline 23:25 A Cosmopolitan & Confined World 28:29 The Hellish Reality of Scurvy 33:51 The Horror of Sea Battles & Shipwreck Produced by Mariana Des Forges, James Hickmann and McKenna Fernandez, edited by Matthew Wilson & the channel manager is Vilde Øksnes. You can find more Dan Snow's History Hit on the audio podcast here: https://podfollow.com/dan-snows-history-hit/view Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. All music from Epidemic Sounds. #DanSnowsHistoryHit #HistoryPodcast #History