Turner had 450 sailors to distribute to different sail-handling tasks. Comparing Turner’s bill to the Watch Quarter and Station bill created for the 1997 sail highlights the challenges the modern crew faced. Similar station bills are still required today of both navy and commercial ships.įirst Lieutenant Peter Turner’s Watch Quarter and Station bill from 1839 provides a window into what it takes to actively sail a ship with such a large rig, and helps explain why it was considered such a substantive undertaking in 1997.
Created by one of the officers, the bill assigned every member of the crew to specific teams and tasks in specific situations. But setting, striking, and adjusting those sails demanded a choreography of crew work from hundreds of sailors for whom these tasks became second nature with daily practice.The Watch Quarter and Station Bill was the key to that choreography. Like all sailing ships, Constitution’s numerous different sails allowed the ship to operate in rapidly changing and often dangerous weather conditions. These were tasks that Constitution’s 19th-century sailing masters were well acquainted with and equally attentive to. The ship needed to be capable of withstanding the force of the sails pulling on the rigging and hull, and the crew had to be increased in number and properly trained to manage those forces.
Getting underway under sail on such a huge, demanding vessel was a daunting undertaking for the 1997 crew and their commanding officer, Commander Michael Beck.