Talk:Day 201-210/@comment-89.66.141.31-20150929215826

Wooden ships tends to have their hull overgrown by many organics. This reduced ships speed and manuvers as algs and even mussels that have grown over wooden bords are disturbing water flow. Due to this every ship was taken ashore every few years and scrubed from them. To counter this metalic plates, mostly copper, where nailed to the wooden ships, making ships faster and more manuvrable. Nowdays ships use paints that are toxic for plants and organic to counter unwelcomed passangers.

And about bilge. Bilge is a narow space between cargo hold and keel. Toilet on the ships tend to be on front, bow of the ship, when the kitchen was on the stern. On ships was also hand pumps, to pump out water that made it's way into cargo hold, and ....bilge. In most cases it contained ship balast, so that ship would not overturn with strong gust of wind or high tide (but it happened in extreme wether), and as water goes into it, thru planks that brake or otherwise, it tends to be overgrown with algs. Anyway... bilge is not sailors latrine... but rats can live there and poo there... but not sailors...