I have a bit of a "niche" question that may sound silly, but I'm quite interested: how did early seafarers in sailing ships go to the bathroom? Would, say, an ancient Roman and a Portuguese sailerin the Exploration Age use the same "technique," or did it evolve?

by ask-if-im-a-parsnip

My first impression, just looking through pictures of sailing ships, is that there were perhaps little, eh, "latrines" inside larger ships during the Exploration Age where a crewman could relieve himself. But looking at images of biremes and triremes, I get the feeling that Greek and Roman seafarers simply went over the side.

Are there any flaired users with knowledge of this mundane aspect of early seafaring life?

jschooltiger

This gets asked here from time to time. Check out this older answer that u/davidAOP and I collaborated on.