] ] Honan mentions that Charles' wife lived with him on board his ship.

It was very common for women to sail on board, and indeed the 'wives' of the seamen (see below) did a lot of the work, including arming the guns during battle. Ladies such as Charles's wife of course would not have done the work.

Many women were present at the battle of Trafalgar and they were refused medals for the work they had done, although many had carried shot, powder etc and had helped with the wounded.

The phrase 'son of a gun' refers to children born at sea in the spaces between the guns, which is about the only space on board ship large enough to be used as a labour ward. A hammock is not suitable.

And a 'wife in every port' refers to the Navy's allowing seamen to bring their 'wives' on board ship. It's a euphemism. The Navy's view was that if a seaman was prepared to say that a woman was his wife, and take responsibility for her while on board, then that was good enough for them. Remember that many seamen would be away from home for years on end.

The cockpit of the ship refers to the fights that broke out between the women. Apparently much more difficult to handle than fights between the men!