Weevils anyone? Food on board a ship.

Sailing on an 18th century tall ship wasn't always as romantic and adventurous as the movies portray. Even if you love the sea, even if you drool over the gorgeous sunsets, and even if you were just a passenger with no work to do, the food alone would have put you on a permanent diet! Especially if you were on a long voyage such as the crossing to England which could take well over a month depending on the weather and the type of ship.

Let's face it, without refrigeration or a fresh source of water, there wasn't much the cook could do after the fresh meat and vegetables ran out.  Hence the staple food for seaman throughout the western hemisphere was the sea biscuit or ship's bread, sometimes also called hard tack. Made with flour, a little salt and just enough water to make a stiff dough, it was then baked so hard that sailors had to soak it to make it edible. Weevils and maggots often made their home in the biscuits and sailors would either pick them out or eat them if they were hungry enough.

When the ship first set off from port, they would carry a supply of fresh beef and vegetables, sufficient to last the crew for two days.  After that, it was back to the normal sea rations. You may remember the famous book and movie, Mutiny on the Bounty, which was based on true events.  Here's a list of food items brought on board for their 18 month journey:

• Sea biscuits
• Casks of salt port and beef
• dried peas
• malt, barley, wheat, and oatmeal
• sauerkraut,
• rum, beer, wine and water. 
• Hard cheese

Hmmm, Sounds delicious!

Some ships, however, were able to carry life stock which was a huge plus. Cages and stalls were built below decks to house chickens and pigs and sheep.

Of course all this only lasted so long and when the fresh meat, veggies and livestock ran out. . . well

Here's a list of the normal weekly ration for a seamen  
1 1/2 pounds of biscuit per day
One pint of beans three times a week
3/4 of a pound of rice twice a week
a gill each of molasses and vinegar twice a week
a daily allowance of either coffee, tea, or cocoa
a half gill of grog twice a day (rum and water) 

Speaking of grog, the 2nd biggest problem on board ship was fresh water. Bounty took 42 tons of drinking water in its tanks below deck . Of course you can imagine how nasty that water became after only a few days in these casks. Which is why seaman would add rum to the water to kill the germs and make it drinkable. Hence, where we get Grog from.  All this water had to serve not only for drinking but for bathing and cooking as well!

Scurvy, however, was the biggest problem. Without fresh fruits and vegetables for a long period of time, the seamen became deathly ill and many of them died. It was a terribly debilitating disease that ate away your muscles and rotted the gums in your mouth.  Not until well into the 19th century did mariners  understand that the problem was a lack of vitamin C found in fruits and veggies. Many experiments were preformed in the mid-eighteenth century and it was discovered that men who ate lemons or potatoes while at sea never got the disease and the British Navy henceforth ordered that lemons be brought on every voyage.

So the next time you go on a cruise in the Caribbean and you're piling food on your plate from the all-you-can-eat buffet, remember how there poor sailors suffered in the olden days!