Sailors At Play
The seamy side
At any one time, there could be as many as 10,000 sailors in a
big port like Liverpool. Many would have money in their pockets,
having just been `paid off` a ship after a hard voyage of many
months. Others would be enjoying themselves before sailing with
their `advances`. When they agreed to join a ship they were paid
part of their wages for the forthcoming voyage. Their first
priority was usually a drink, then perhaps some decent food, music
and dance, and female company. No discussion of a port at play would be complete without
looking at the more notorious aspects, such as prostitution, drugs
and alcohol. ProstitutionSailors arriving in port have often been away for a long time
without female company. On shore leave, with money in their
pockets, this combination led to an increased demand for
prostitutes and their `pimps`, men who give these women some
protection but live off their earnings. Commonly associated with prostitution is drug abuse. Ports are
one of the main entry points for illegal drugs, indeed, sailors
themselves may have been involved in importing them. Drugs are
therefore often readily available. Drug traffickers see people out
for a good time as easy targets. Sailors are not the only targets
for these activities.The existence of `red light areas` attracts
people from far and wide and historically port cities have had more
of a problem with these activities than an inland city. AlcoholIt`s not only the illegal activities of drug abuse and
prostitution that can occur in a port. Alcohol has traditionally
been linked with sailors in fact and fiction alike.To quote a
famous line from Robert Louis Stevenson in 1881: Fifteen men on a dead man`s chest,
yo ho ho and a bottle of rum,
drink and the devil be done for the rest,
yo ho ho and a bottle of rum Pubs and bars were one of the few social spaces open to sailors
on shore leave, and offered them a ready welcome.
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