Life on an Explorer's Ship

Life on an Explorer's Ship

Life on an Explorer's Ship
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	4.62

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		astrolabe, coma, thing-the, ending, scurvy, gums, better, fathom, goal, wounds, uncomfortable, rarely, bleed, lead, risk, prunes
	content words:		Northeast Passages

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Life on an Explorer's Ship
By Mary Lynn Bushong

¹     Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be an explorer? Nearly anyone can be an explorer of some kind now. Four hundred years ago, it took a special kind of person.

²     Explorers had to know how to read maps. They also needed to know how to make maps and keep a written journal. They also learned to read the sky for weather changes and knew the stars by name. They could find their way using the stars, a compass, and an astrolabe.

³     Sometimes life on board the ship would be exciting, but most of the time it was boring. There was not much to do if you were not working. You would not have a room to yourself. All the crew slept below the deck where it was dark and smelly. They rarely had baths and hardly ever washed their clothes.

⁴     At mealtime, they ate hard dry bread along with salted meat, dried peas, and dried fruit like raisins or prunes. Fresh water often went stale quickly, so everyone drank beer. They were allowed to drink a gallon of it every day.

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