Primary remote access for Yale University authorized users is through EZproxy; resource may also be accessed through Yale's Virtual Private Network (VPN).

Access is available to the Yale community.

The National Archives, UK

Massachusetts Historical Society

National Maritime Museum, UK

"Life at Sea explores the lives of seafarers in the Anglo-American maritime world during the period 1600-1900. The emphasis of the resource is largely on narrative content, giving accounts of life onboard a variety of ocean-going vessels, including merchant and naval vessels, whalers, and pirate ships. A large amount of this content is sourced from journals written by sailors at sea but also from memoirs written by sailors reflecting on their lives. Another major source of narrative content are court records, especially from depositions and witness statements, including the examinations of pirates and court martials within the Royal Navy. Material has been sourced from institutions in both England and the United States, providing collections that reflect the maritime experience on both sides of the Atlantic. The bulk of the material ranges from 1650-1850, reflecting the availability of material and roughly coinciding with the Golden Age of Sail. The end of the 1850s is also the high-water mark of American whaling prior to the discovery of oil in 1859 at Titusville, Pennsylvania"--Introduction page.

"This material includes the following document types: artwork and sketchbooks, correspondence, court martial records, examination of pirates, impressment and regulations, journals and diaries, legal records, logbooks, medical journals, memoirs, narratives, newspapers, objects, orderbooks and regulations, petitions, prize and instance records, ship's musters, ship's papers"--Introduction page.

Themes: Discipline and punishment

Everyday life at sea

Health and wellbeing

Leisure

Mutiny

Piracy

Port life and life ashore

Recruitment

Shipwrecks and disasters

Trade

Warfare

Whaling

Women and the sea

Religion

Slavery

Exploration and discovery.

Seafaring life > Great Britain > History > Sources.

Seafaring life > United States > History > Sources.

Sailors > Great Britain > History > Biography.

Sailors > United States > History > Biography.

Databases.

Personal narratives.

Travel writing.

Trial and arbitral proceedings.

Massachusetts Historical Society, current owner.

Mystic Seaport Museum, current owner.

National Archives (Great Britain), current owner.

National Maritime Museum (Great Britain), current owner.

Adam Matthew Digital (Firm), publisher.