The Ancyent Marinere reflecting Fears of Disease in the Age of Sail This article investigates the horrific aspects of diseases and epidemics, dangers that were present on sea voyages during the Age of Sail, and analyses how they are reflected in Ghost Ship tales, especially in the “Rime of the Ancyent Marinere” (1798) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). This ballad incorporates almost all calamities that could befall seafarers and examines such dangers as diseases as well as their causes. The focus of this study is to investigate in what way diseases on ships were feared during the Age of Sail and how those fears were reflected in ghost ship narratives. pdf download >>
