Left: Whitby, the setting for the Captain Cook Memorial Museum - a young boy growing up here must easily have been enchanted by the sea. © Lorraine Bathurst.

Not forgetting to splice the mainbrace and shiver her timbers, Lorraine Bathurst set sail for Whitby and the Captain Cook Memorial Museum.

The crack and groan of straining timber grows ever louder as the rising waves pound hard against the keel. Salty spray whipped up by the fierce wind, lashes into my face making it impossible to see. I call out, but the crying of the gulls and the roar of the ocean combine to drown out my voice.

Or at least, that's what I imagine it would be like on board an eighteenth century merchant ship in a storm!

But being a landlubber, having never gained, let alone lost, my sea legs and not knowing any old sea dogs (thought I'd get rid of the clichés in one go), I wouldn't really know. So I went along to the Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby to see their latest exhibition 'Boys at Sea', on until October 31, to find out.

Right: this old master of the sea, first went off to ride the waves when he was knee high to a grasshopper - the great Captain James Cook. Courtesy of the Captain Cook Memorial Museum.

Mainly made up of cabinet displays containing nautical instruments, the exhibition provides plenty of information about life on board.

A contract of apprenticeship was drawn up between a master and boy, lasting between three and seven years. The youngest, recorded in 1747, was only ten years old; but the majority were apprenticed between the ages of 13 and 19.

As an apprentice, a boy had to obey his master, and learn and keep the secrets of his trade. He had to behave appropriately. This included no drinking, no swearing, no malingering and no getting married.

In return, a master would ensure the apprentice was fed, clothed, and trained in a trade that would see him through the rest of his life.

As part of their apprenticeship a boy had to become proficient in instruments such as the sextant or quadrant used to measure the ship's altitude above the horizon. There was always a risk of pirates and it was important to be able to give a passing naval vessel a correct intercepting course.

Left: a youthful James Cook lodged in the attic bedroom at what is now the Captain Cook Memorial Museum. Courtesy of the Captain Cook Memorial Museum.

Life on board could be hard. Injuries were common and if a boy didn't pull his weight he was set the more unpleasant tasks.

Many boys were so young they could not make themselves heard above the roar of the ocean and ships had to carry a speaking trumpet to aid them when issuing orders.

Some ships took a schoolmaster to teach the boys while at sea. However, trying to round up and instil discipline was no easy task, especially as many teachers were not much older than their charges.

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich has loaned several paintings to the exhibition. 'Life on the Ocean' and 'Interior of a Midshipman's Berth' show midshipmen at work and play on board ship.

Roy Clare, Director of the National Maritime Museum, said: "Boys at Sea is a fitting tribute to the lives of young people for whom the sea was their training and education, but also a complete and absorbing way of life, filled with danger, excitement and hardship."

Reviewer Lorraine Bathurst is participating in the 24 Hour Museum / Museum and Galleries Month Arts Writing Prize.