Feeding Nelson's Navy

by Janet MacDonald

  Strictly speaking, it should have been irrelevant to the validity of a Bill that it stated that it was to be used for a particular purpose and countersigned by a particular set of people. However, the person or organisation that is to pay is entitled to impose conditions if they wish, provided that the person accepting the Bill in payment is aware of these conditions. Apart from the fact that it would have been obvious the moment the Bill was proffered, merchants in ports frequented by the Royal Navy would have been aware of the Victualling Board’s conditions; those who did not like them might be mollified by being shown the relevant part of the printed Regulations, or would just insist on being paid in cash, which is why pursers were issued with ‘necessary’ money.

  Sooner or later someone would have to produce the Bill to the Victualling Board in London in order to receive their money, and for merchants abroad this would involve finding someone who was going to London, sending the Bill to an agent in London, or just selling it to someone else locally (a larger merchant or a bank) who had London correspondents. With small Bills, there was rarely any hesitation over payment, the Victualling Board dealing with any possible problems by charging the amount to the issuing person’s imprest account.

  The easiest way to describe the concept of imprest accounts is to liken them to modern overdraft accounts, secured, in the case of pursers, by their unpaid wages and the bonds lodged by their guarantors when the purser took the job. The imprest was not cleared (or the wages paid) until all the requisite paperwork was produced and checked to ensure that the money had been spent properly. The imprest system was applied to victualling contractors as well as pursers, the only difference being the magnitude of the sums involved. Both purser and contractor were effectively in the same line of business, one as what we might call a retailer and the other as a wholesaler, and both, by drawing Bills, were doing what the modern business person does when they write a cheque for stock purchases. And just like the modern wholesaler does when they can see the necessity of writing a large cheque which will take them over their overdraft limit, these contractors wrote to ask the Victualling Board if they might increase their imprest limit.2 If the amount was large and they had no forewarning of it, the Victualling Board might write to the Admiralty and ask permission to accept the Bill, just as the branch manager of a bank might write to his head office today. The reason for this was that the Admiralty could not just spend money as it pleased; it had to stick to the limits agreed for each year by Parliament and if it was likely to exceed those limits it would have to go back to Parliament and ask for more. Given that this would cause serious unpopularity in politically fragile times, it is perhaps not surprising that on some occasions, when presented with an unexpected large Bill, the Admiralty might decide to refuse payment, or in modern terms, ‘bounce the cheque’.3

  However, accepting a Bill did not necessarily mean it was paid out at the specified interval. There were long periods when the Admiralty’s subordinate boards just did not have the money available to pay their Bills, and in this case they would apply interest to the amount they would eventually pay and advise the owner of the Bill to watch ‘the course of the exchange’. This was an official statement as to when certain tranches of Bills would be paid. For instance, in January 1795 the Treasury stated that Bills from April to September 1791 were ‘in course of payment’ and that those from that period to March 1793 were ‘funded in five per cent’ interest.4

  Appendix 6

  EAT LIKE A SAILOR – RECIPES

  _______

  SHIPS BISCUIT

  The original method

  The biscuit-making process at Deptford victualling yard was on a grand scale, producing almost 25,000 pounds of biscuit a day from twelve ovens, each baking twenty batches a day, and being fed with raw biscuits by a team of seven men. To knead the dough they used a device called a horse; this consisted of a circular platform on which a big lump of flour and water dough was placed, and a wide lever mounted on a central pole which a man ‘rode’ like a hobby horse, jumping it up and down to knead the dough, working his way round the circle as many times as it took to bring the dough to the desired state. It was then passed, in sequence, to a series of men who cut the dough, moulded it into shape, stamped it, split it into two biscuits, arranged it on a peel and ‘shot’ it into the oven to bake.

  A modern version

  Ships biscuit is easy to make by hand if you do not mind spending the time to knead the flour sufficiently. If you lack the time or the enthusiasm, you can either put the dough through a pasta machine as many times as it takes to achieve the desired silky texture, or put the ingredients into a bread-making machine and run the dough cycle, then roll the resultant dough by hand. Use white flour for the captain’s table, wholemeal for the mess decks. If intending to keep the biscuits for any length of time, it is best to omit the salt as this will attract moisture from the atmosphere.

  1 lb (454 g) (5 cups) plain (all-purpose) white or wholemeal flour

  1 teaspoon salt

  approx ¾ pint (15 ml) (1 ½ cups) water

  Put the flour and salt into a large bowl (or mixing machine), add the water, a little at a time (you may need more than given above) and mix until you can pull the whole together into a ball of dough. (Alternatively, put the flour, salt and most of the water into a bread machine and start the dough cycle with the lid open, adding water a little at a time if the dough appears too stiff, then close the lid and leave the machine to do the rest. Keep neck-ties and hair well away from the machine.) Sprinkle a little flour on a level work surface, turn the dough out and allow it to rest for 10 minutes. Flour your hands and knead the dough for as long as it takes to make it smooth and silky: about 30 minutes.

  Turn on the oven to heat to 160°C/325°F/Mark 3. Roll the dough out until approximately ¼ inch (6 mm) thick. Cut it into 3-inch (7.5 cm) squares or rounds, prick the surface with a fork. Lay the biscuits out on a lightly greased baking sheet, not quite touching, and bake for about 60 minutes. They should not be too dark. Put them on a wire tray to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

  SALT BEEF

  The Georgian recipes for salting beef included saltpetre, in a proportion of 2 oz saltpetre to 6 lbs of salt. The reason for adding saltpetre is mainly to give the meat an attractive deep pink colour, but it does tend to make the meat hard. It contributes nothing to the taste, and so can be happily omitted. Saltpetre is now virtually unobtainable in the UK, possibly because its cheaper version, ‘Chilean’ saltpetre (or sodium nitrate) is thought to create carcinogenic nitrosamines, but more probably because true saltpetre is one of the ingredients of gunpowder.

  Beef for the Royal Navy was preserved with no more than salt (and saltpetre). For home use, sugar was often added (this helps prevent toughness) and there are many recipes for spiced salt beef. All use the same methods; try whichever takes your fancy.

  2–3 lbs (1–1.5 kg) beef (rolled and tied silverside or brisket)

  1 lb (450 g) sea salt (not ‘free-running’ table salt which contains

  additives to make it run) plus another 2–3 lbs (1–1.5 kg) sea salt for the brine

  4 oz (100 g) brown sugar

  1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

  your choice of ground spices: ginger, coriander seeds, cloves, nutmeg

  If using the sugar and/or spices, mix these into the first lot of salt. Rub some of the mixture (or plain salt) into one side of the beef, place it salt-side down in a large bowl or plastic bag and rub more mixture into the top surface of the beef. Close the container and leave it for a day. Next day, rub more of the mixture into both sides of the beef and put it back into the container with the liquid that it has generated. Continue to do this for two more days. Now drain off and throw away the liquid, put the beef back into the container and shake more salt over it, both sides. Leave it another day then drain it again.

  Prepare a strong brine of water and sea salt. You will need about 2¼ lbs (1 kg) salt to 1 gallon (4.5 litres) water, but
the real test is that when the brine is strong enough, the meat will float, so mix your brine in the tub you intend to store it in, stirring until all the salt has dissolved, then put the meat in and if it does not float, just add more salt until it does.

  However, the meat must stay below the surface of the brine, so once the brine is strong enough, put a weight (in a plastic bag so it does not contaminate the brine) on the meat. Seal the tub and leave it in a cool place for as long as you feel inclined. The author has left some for 15 months and found it perfectly tender and edible (if a little on the salty side). But you should leave it for at least a couple of months for the authentic salt beef taste. Check it every week; if it has thrown a white deposit on to the surface of the brine, just skim this off and top up the brine mixture. Your nose will tell you if all is well.

  When you are ready to eat the beef, take it out of the brine, rinse it off under a running tap and put it to steep in plain cold water. The longer it has been in the brine, the longer it should steep (say 1 hour steeping time for each month it has been kept) and the more times you should change the steeping water. Finally, put the beef and fresh water to cover it into a cooking pot (with a bay leaf if you wish, but no salt) bring it to the boil, skim if necessary, and simmer for 4–5 hours until tender. You could add some onions and carrots for the last half hour, or some dumplings (or both). Eat it hot with its gravy and accompaniments, or cold with a salad or in a sandwich (or with a ships biscuit).

  SALT PORK

  The Royal Navy way of salting pork was exactly the same as for beef. The modern French way of curing petit salé is dry cure, although with keeping, the dry salt runs to brine anyway. This is an easier method for home use.

  For the classic petit salé, start by making flavoured salt:

  2¼ lbs (1 kg) sea salt

  12 peppercorns

  4 cloves

  4 bay leaves

  1 teaspoon juniper berries

  1 oz (25 g) white sugar

  the leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme

  Crush the pepper, cloves, bay leaves and juniper berries and mix well into the salt with the sugar and thyme leaves. This gives sufficient for up to 12 lbs (6 kg) of pork. The classic French pork meat is belly, but if you think this will be too fatty for you, use chops.

  Put several handfuls of the salt mix into the bottom of a large container. Rub more into the pork and layer it into the container with plenty of salt between the layers. Cover it and leave it in a cool place for at least a week, but for anything up to two months.

  When you want to eat the pork, take out as much as you want, rinse it off and boil it in plenty of unsalted water for 40–60 minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat. Taste the water after 10 minutes; if it is over-salty, throw it away and refill the pan with fresh. If the pork has been in the salt for more than two months, steep it for a couple of hours in fresh water before changing the water and cooking it. Serve it hot with choucroute (ie sauerkraut) or cold with salad.

  SAUERKRAUT

  Sauerkraut is, quite simply, cabbage which has been preserved in salt. Start with a tight cabbage (the white or pale green sort), cut it into quarters and remove the thick centre core and any damaged outer leaves. Shred the cabbage thinly and pack it into a large container with plenty of sea salt between the layers, pressing each layer down well. Find a plate that fits the inside of the container, sterilise it by pouring boiling water over it and place it over the cabbage, adding a weight on top to keep the cabbage compressed. Cover the container but check it daily, skimming off any scum from the brine, then re-sterilising the plate and replacing it. The cabbage will ferment and the brine will bubble; when this stops (after about three weeks), the fermentation process has ended and you could eat the sauerkraut then. Most aficionados think it tastes better after another three to four weeks. Expect it to smell while fermenting and when you open the container to take some out.

  When you want to eat some, remove sufficient from the container with a ladle or pasta straining-fork and rinse it well before boiling it in unsalted water. You might like to add a chopped apple and/or some caraway seeds.

  PEASE

  You can cook dried pease in plain water, but the flavour will be better if the water has started its career by being used to cook a ham, as long as it is not too salty. The trick of cooking any of the dried pulses is not to add salt until they are tender, as early salting may prevent their ever becoming tender. Use split pease (green or yellow), which will be without their skins, rather than whole dried green pease, which have their skins. If you buy a packet of dried green pease which includes a soaking tablet, change the water after soaking and before cooking or ignore the soaking tablet all together.

  One pound of dried pease will be more than enough for four people. Start by soaking the pease overnight (which term actually means ‘for seven or eight hours’; there is nothing magical about night time in this context) in about three times their volume of water. Use a very large pot, as otherwise the swelling pease can end up spilling over the top of the pot. Rinse them, return them to the pot, add lots of water, bring this to the boil, then cover them and turn them down to simmer for a couple of hours or until tender. Once they are tender, drain them, add salt and pepper, plus butter, if desired, and eat as an accompaniment to pork or ham, with boiled potatoes and a white or parsley sauce.

  Pease Pudding

  1 lb (450 g) (2 good cups) dried split pease (preferably yellow)

  2 oz (50 g) butter

  1 large egg

  salt and pepper

  Start as above, soaking and then cooking the pease until just tender. Mash them with the butter, egg and seasoning and place the result in a muslin or fine sail-cloth bag with your mess number attached. Tie one end of the bag to the handle of a saucepan, either containing ham or salt pork, or plain water. Bring the liquid to the boil and cook for at least an hour. (You can also make pease pudding in a pudding basin – butter the basin, mash the ingredients and put them in the basin, cover it with foil, tie this down and steam for an hour.) Turn the pudding out onto a serving plate and serve in slices with the meat; alternatively, allow it to cool completely before slicing, when you can eat it from the hand, accompanied by a biscuit, while standing watch on a cold night.

  Pea Soup

  Start as though making plain cooked pease, ideally in ham water, but use a larger saucepan. When the pease are tender, mash them and stir in a lot more water, bring them back to the boil and continue cooking until they have turned into a thick soup. Add some morsels of cooked ham or pork (or some crisply fried bacon crumbs) before serving. Expect any uneaten soup to set solid when cold. Reheat it carefully, adding a little more water to prevent it sticking and burning.

  DUFF – THE BASIC RECIPE

  Duff, or suet pudding, in its simplest form consists of a mixture of flour and suet, boiled in a pudding bag (or basin) and eaten with meat. By adding various things and treating it in a slightly different way, it can be transformed into a jam roly-poly, spotted dog, plum duff or sea pie.

  Best results come from the simple ‘half fat to flour’ proportion, but making this by volume rather than weight; use American cup measures if you have them, otherwise use English tea cups. Use self-raising (self-rising) flour and prepared suet, which comes in little pieces, like grains of rice. To make duff for four people:

  2 cups of self-raising flour

  1 cup suet

  pinch salt

  enough water to make a soft dough

  Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, add the salt and suet and mix together with a fork. Add the water, a little at a time, mixing with a fork until it comes together in a sticky dough. Flour your hands, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it very gently, sprinkling on a little more flour if necessary, until it can be formed into a ball or sausage shape. Pop this into a pudding cloth (it has been suggested that the nightcap of one of your fellow midshipmen will serve if the pudding bag has disappeared), tie the bag and boil the duff for about an hour.
You could also pinch off little pieces of dough, form them into balls, and let them boil for fifteen minutes in with the beef.

  To make Plum Duff, add half a pound (200 g) of raisins or currants to the mixture and proceed as before.

  To make Spotted Dog, add half a pound (200 g) of raisins and 2 ounces (50 g) of sugar to the mixture.

  To make Jam Roly-Poly, instead of forming the pudding into a ball or sausage, roll out to a rectangle, spread it thickly with jam (raspberry, strawberry or plum) and roll it up into a sausage before proceeding as before. Beware when eating – the jam will be very hot!

  To make a savoury Roly-Poly, substitute a mixture of chopped bacon, fried onions and mushrooms, or onions and mussels, for the jam and proceed as above.

  SEA PIE