Family

One of my several hobbies is finding out about my family. And I have found some really interesting stuff in the past already. One thing I found recently was the fact that one of my ancestors worked on a boat and called himself a skipper or turf skipper on several occasions (the births of his children). Five I noted immediately: they were born in the canal(!) or on the ship moored at a particular spot.

Pieter and his wife actually had 11 children in total, 9 of which made it to adulthood and of those, 8 made it to their seventies and eighties. Not bad going considering they were born between 1815 and 1837. Back to the skippering bit though.

For some reason Pieter became a skipper. It was probably a fairly lucrative market if you could get enough loads and the weather was good (remember: no engines back then apart from wind and muscles). It was also a tough world where you had to keep your wits about you to make sure you got some well paying loads and you had your family helping out.

And from the records I have found so far, Pieter must have lived on board with his wife and his children once they came along. Although some of the children born prior to 1830 were born on land (the farmhouses of relatives probably), five were born on board. Not in the canal as such obviously, but it that's how it was put down: in the town canal.

Irish turf, in the Netherlands we had our own stash

Conditions on board were not the best. It was cramped and by the first on board delivery, there would have been other children already. It was dirty, as the ship's loads would often be turf (peat), manure (animal and human), dirt, mud, potatoes etc. Not the cleanest of environments to give birth. 

Once the children were there and alive, the worries weren't over. Drownings were common amongst the skipper people and many (small) children would be tied to the mast with a rope that would give them less then two meters either way in order not to fall off the boat. 

As I said earlier: the family would need to help out. If there was no wind and you had to get your load to its destination (you would only get paid on delivery), there were only two things left to do: use the beam and push yourself forward or use the rope and pull. Often it was the job of the woman to do the pulling (horses cost money they might not be able to afford, hence human power was often used). The man in the mean time would use the beam to keep the boat from hitting the side. 

Safety first for this sea dog.

Older children would also be used, but they could only do so from the age of 12 onwards, the family could be fined severely if found breaching that law. The whole family would also be expected to load and unload, mend sails, do other small jobs and for the wife and any daughters: cooking and cleaning.

Perhaps Pieter got fed up with it all. Perhaps his wife told him that she had had enough, but in 1830 he gave up the skippering job and went to farming.