Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Dan Snow joins After Dark with Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling to chat about the brutal reality of sailing in the Age of Sail. They explore the horrifying life at sea for a Royal Navy sailor from the 16th to 19th century, covering the truth about press ganging, shipboard discipline, and the myths vs. realities of naval life.
Dan details the real killers at sea, revealing that more sailors died from disease like scurvy and in catastrophic shipwrecks than in famous naval battles. The conversation also covers the cosmopolitan nature of the crews, the horrors of naval combat, the complex truth about pirates, and what it really took to survive in Nelson's Navy.
Subscribe to After Dark here: youtube.com/@AfterDarkHistoryHit
0:00 After Dark Introduction
1:12 Brutal Reality of Sailing: Surviving the High Seas
2:23 Guest Historian Dan Snow on Ship Stories
4:19 The Ocean-Going Ships That Changed the World
5:20 Why 18th Century Survival at Sea Was Unimaginable
8:04 Inside the Warships: Designed to Inflict Murder
12:25 Press Ganged: Forced Into the Royal Navy
17:05 Discipline and Punishment: Life in Nelson's Navy
21:45 Scurvy & Shipwreck: The Real Killers at Sea
34:09 The Horror of a Full-Scale Sea Battle
#NavalHistory #Podcast #AfterDark
You can now become a History Hit member right here on YouTube! Join for access to a new exclusive documentary every week, and access to over 160+ of our documentaries presented by world-renowned historians like Dan Snow, Eleanor Janega, Tristan Hughes, Mary Beard, Matt Lewis and more.
Get an exclusive release every week by signing up here: youtube.com/channel/UCZwU2G-KVl-P-O-B35chZOQ/join
Dan Snow joins After Dark with Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling to chat about the brutal reality of sailing in the Age of Sail. They explore the horrifying life at sea for a Royal Navy sailor from the 16th to 19th century, covering the truth about press ganging, shipboard discipline, and the myths vs. realities of naval life.
Dan details the real killers at sea, revealing that more sailors died from disease like scurvy and in catastrophic shipwrecks than in famous naval battles. The conversation also covers the cosmopolitan nature of the crews, the horrors of naval combat, the complex truth about pirates, and what it really took to survive in Nelson's Navy.
Subscribe to After Dark here: youtube.com/@AfterDarkHistoryHit
0:00 After Dark Introduction
1:12 Brutal Reality of Sailing: Surviving the High Seas
2:23 Guest Historian Dan Snow on Ship Stories
4:19 The Ocean-Going Ships That Changed the World
5:20 Why 18th Century Survival at Sea Was Unimaginable
8:04 Inside the Warships: Designed to Inflict Murder
12:25 Press Ganged: Forced Into the Royal Navy
17:05 Discipline and Punishment: Life in Nelson's Navy
21:45 Scurvy & Shipwreck: The Real Killers at Sea
34:09 The Horror of a Full-Scale Sea Battle
#NavalHistory #Podcast #AfterDark
You can now become a History Hit member right here on YouTube! Join for access to a new exclusive documentary every week, and access to over 160+ of our documentaries presented by world-renowned historians like Dan Snow, Eleanor Janega, Tristan Hughes, Mary Beard, Matt Lewis and more.
Get an exclusive release every week by signing up here: youtube.com/channel/UCZwU2G-KVl-P-O-B35chZOQ/join
