In the historical novel Shogun, the main character Blackthorne, a daring explorer finds himself in feudal japan, there is a moment where he is offered a boy to sleep with as a polite gesture.

In his anger against the offer, he delves into an internal monologue mentioning something that stood out to me.

“Most sailors have tried that way, for how else can they stay sane with many months at sea. Isnt it because you have been tempted and you’ve hated yourself for being tempted? ISNT because when you were young you had to fight to protect yourself, and once you were held down and almost raped, but you broke away and killed one of the bastards the knife snapped in his throat. You twelve.”

So I have two main questions, how common was sodomy between two consenting sailors in the age of sail? And if it was common, how was it looked upon?

Also, was the sexual assault of cabin boys common at this time, and again, how was the practice treated in the eyes of the naval community?

Clavell was know to perform heavy research when writing the Epic, so for him to randomly insert this out of no where seems unlikely. Hence my question.