Generally speaking, they worked. Modern conveniences have led to a tremendous potential for idle time, but that was not so historically. Someone on a ship typically had a job, which kept them quite busy. Even on an overland trip there is an enormous amount of work to be done. Water must be collected. Food must be prepared. Fire must be made. Clothes must be washed. Horses must be tended. And so on and so forth.

Sorry, we don't allow throughout history questions. These tend to produce threads which are collections of trivia, not the in-depth discussions about a particular topic we're looking for. If you have a specific question about a historical event or period or person, please feel free to re-compose your question and submit it again. Alternatively, questions of this type can be directed to more appropriate subreddits, such as /r/history or /r/askhistory.