Nelson's Navy

[Capn Bob]

Not at all Pyrate, and the article is very sparse on detail, such as wear and tear of the sailors life on the skeletal remains, but I nonetheless found this of some interest:

Children as young as 11 were exposed to the health hazards of serving in Lord Nelson's navy, scientists have found.

Archaeologists and bone experts have looked at 340 skeletons from three mid-18th to early 19th-century Royal Navy graveyards.

At one cemetery in Plymouth, almost a fifth of the 170 skeletons were of teenagers, many of whom are believed to have died from diseases such as malaria or dysentery.

One of the key individuals studied by the scientists is an 11-year-old boy who may have been a "powder monkey" supplying explosive charges to gunners.

Osteologist Ceri Boston, of Oxford University's School of Archaeology, has been examining bones from the cemeteries in Plymouth, Gosport and Greenwich.

She said: "They are the only major collections of Royal Navy skeletal material from Britain for this period which have ever been excavated.

"The thousands of pieces of data we've been able to extract through our analysis is dramatically enriching our understanding of naval life in the Nelsonian era."

The findings will be broadcast in a documentary called Nelson's Navy: Back From the Dead tomorrow at 8pm on Channel Four.

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.../#ixzz1XCdjkAXP

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[Littleneckhalfshell]

I suppose no one knows if or when this show will cross the 'pond' ? Not sure what channel or network it would be on, maybe BBC-America? or Discovery?