Opening in the early 18th century, the Greenwich site housed roughly nearly 3000 sailors by 1815, with the majority coming from London. It played a vital role in supporting those unable to remain at sea, often through injury rather than age. Although the average pensioner entered at 56, they ranged from aged 12 to 99. Many of the younger men had lost limbs or been blinded; however, a significant number of pensioners returned to sea, often as ships cooks (cartoons of the time portray the cooks as having a wooden leg). The accommodation at the hospital, if basic, was usually far better than the sailor might expect elsewhere. However, the site had its problems. With no families allowed to live in, and some of the men frustrated at being unable to work, bad behaviour broke out, as shown in the list of petitions the records hold. One pensioner was expelled from the site after fathering nine illegitimate children in Greenwich. Another was arrested for stealing the Hospitals clothes, while even the staff had problems; one nurse was expelled for infecting several men on the site with venereal disease. Complaints from the town about drunkenness in the pensioners were common. Read more at: phys.org/news/2013-11-truth-greenwich-pensioners-source-sailors.html#jCp
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 23:33:12 +0000
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