A pissdale (also written piss-dale and piss dale) is a lead basin or trough that was fitted to the insides of the bulwarks on sailing ships which served as a urinal for the men aboard these ships.[1] The pissdale was a 17th-century engineering development:[2] prior to this, crewmen either used buckets or, more frequently, simply urinated over the rails of the ship (though this put them at risk of falling overboard and drowning, as few sailors had any ability to swim).[3] They were akin to a seat of ease, a euphemism for a sitting toilet which was located in the beakhead.

References

  1. ↑ Kevin J. Crisman (30 January 2014). Coffins of the Brave: Lake Shipwrecks of the War of 1812. Texas A&M University Press. p. 834. ISBN 978-1-62349-076-8.
  2. ↑ Brian Lavery (1988). The Colonial Merchantman: Susan Constant, 1605. Naval Institute Press. p. 27.
  3. ↑ Derek Lundy (1999). God Forsaken Sea. New Hampshire: Beeler Large Print.
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