Check out my youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiy-XPoWThicpM30RGF_wbw

This video is going to answer one simple question: Why did sailors swab the deck? This is one of the first videos in an animated naval history series I'm doing.

Sailors swabbed the deck for several reasons, the first being to clean and preserve the deck. By working salt water into the wood of the deck it prevented the growth of fungus and washed freshwater away which would rot the wood. The second reason was that it swelled the wood, making the ship more watertight. Surprisingly a dry ship was a ship with wet wood.

Sources:

The Naval Heritage Foundation - United States Navy

---------------------------------------------
About me:
---------------------------------------------

I'm Imperial Scribe, I make animations about military and naval history as well as war theory. I put out 1-2 major battle videos per month with a number of shorter videos in between.

My twitter:
Subscribe:

---------------------------------------------
Suggestions:
---------------------------------------------

The British Empires Battleship, The Ship of the Line:
http://bit.ly/ShipofTheLine

Origin: "8 Bells and All's Well":
http://bit.ly/8BellsAndAllsWell

The Battle Of Isandlawanda:
http://bit.ly/BOIsandlawana

---------------------------------------------
Schedule:
---------------------------------------------

Upcoming videos:

June:
The Battle of Isandlawanda [full length]
The Battle of Roarks Drift [full length]
Ship of the line [Short length]
Origin: Three Sheets to the Wind [Short length]

Note: Schedule is tentative.

---------------------------------------------
Attributions:
---------------------------------------------

Music (outro):
FarAway - Copyrightfreemusic
http://bit.ly/2KPtigC

Stock sound effects:
https://freesound.org/

May include miscellaneous licensed stock art.

Information is derived from a number of historical sources including websites, historians, and literature. The fog of history is a real thing, even relatively recent events often have sources in disagreement or relying on one another. When possible information is derived from first-hand sources and where not possible information is found by taking multiple second-hand sources. It is not possible for anyone to guarantee perfect historical accuracy, but I do my absolute best to ensure that all information in my videos is well sourced and backed up by historical sources and evidence.