20
Gardner, Above and Under Hatches, p204.
21
Peter Earle, The Making of the English Middle Class: Business, society and family life in London 1660–1730 (London 1989), p47–8. It should be mentioned that the idea that spices were used to preserve food is a fallacy; they were used to add interest to the otherwise monotonous taste of salt meat.
22
I am indebted to Dave Balderstone of the Compuserve History forum for this information. Further details can be found on http://www.kal69.dial.pipex.com/glossd.htm and http://tradisjoner.no/textl6.html
23
The Nelson Museum, Monmouth, E390 series; RNM Portsmouth, Admiralty Library Manuscript Collection, MSS 259/5 & 6 (readers who would like to see more detail without visiting Portsmouth can find it in The Mariner’s Mirror 87 (2001), pp479–82).
24
Quoted in Christopher Hibbert, Nelson, a Personal History (London 1994), p330.
25
Wellcome MSS 3676.
26
Naval Chronicle XXXVII, pp445–52.
27
I am grateful to Lord de Saumarez for allowing me to use these items from the Saumarez papers, and to Tim Voelcker for bringing them to my attention.
28
Michael Steer, ‘The blockade of Brest and victualling of the Western squadron, 1793– 1805’, The Mariners Mirror 76 (1990), pp307–15.
29
Raigersfeld, Life of a Sea Officer pp 163–4
30
Personal Narrative of Events from 1799 to 1815, with anecdotes, by the late Vice-Admiral Wm. Stanhope Lovell, Royal Navy (second edition, London 1879), p33
31
Hall, Fragments… p61.
32
Using the modern definition of offal here – see p154.
33
Hall, Fragments… pp 151–66.
34
Robertson, Mariners Mealtimes, pp42–3.
35
John Knox Laughton (ed), Journal of Rear-admiral Bartholomew James 1752–1828, Navy Records Society (London 1896), pp37–8.
36
Pasley, Private Sea Journals.
37
Gardner, Above and Under Hatches, p204.
38
A Edlin, A Treatise on the Art of Bread Making (London 1805), pp33, 31.
39
Crawford, Reminiscences, p33.
40
Lovell, Personal Narrative, p30.
41
Parkinson, War in the Eastern Seas, p350.
42
Wybourn, Sea Soldier, p 163.
43
NMM JOD/10; for readers who would like to see more, some extensive sections are to be found in Lavery, Shipboard Life…, pp616–21.
44
There are many myths about the origins of this tradition: one of which is that a particularly tall admiral decreed it after banging his head one time too many, but like all the other suggestions there is no truth in this one. It was just one of those things which was done for practical reasons in difficult circumstances, which has continued to this day, even though the reason is long gone. I am indebted to Jennie Wraight of the Admiralty Library for this information.
45
Wybourn, Sea Soldier, p163; Christopher Lloyd, and L S Coulter, (General Editor J J Keevil), Medicine and the Navy, Vol III: 1714–1815 (London 1961), p152.
Chapter 6: WHAT OTHER NAVIES ATE
1
Naval Regulations issued by command of the President of the United States of America January 25th 1802 (reprinted Annapolis, Maryland 1970).
2
The information for this section has come from Tyrone Martin, and the website of USS Constitution at www3.teleplex.net/timonier/speaks/bookl2.html.
3
I am indebted to Roel Mulder for this information. His sources were: J C de Jonge, Geschiedenis van het Nederlands Zeewezen [History of the Dutch Navy], 3rd edition (Zwolle 1869); J R Brujin, Het gelag der zeelieden [The Seaman’s Diet] (Leiden 1978); Maritieme Geschiedenis der Neerlanden [Maritime History of the Netherlands] (Busum 1977).
4
Adrien Carré, ‘Eighteenth Century French Voyages of Exploration’, in Watt, Freeman & Bynum (eds), Starving Sailors, p74.
5
G Shelvocke, A Voyage Round the World (London 1726, reprinted 1928), p29.
6
Jean Boudriot, The 74 Gun Ship (Paris 1977, trans 1988), Vol IV, pp158–81.
7
Carré, ‘Eighteenth Century French Voyages of Exploration, pp75, 83.
8
Peter Padfield, Maritime Power and the Struggle for Freedom (London 2003), p78.
9
Roger Morriss (ed), The Channel Fleet and the Blockade of Brest, 1793–1801, Navy Records Society (London 2001), p597.
10
I am indebted to Brian Vale for this information.
Chapter 7: DIET IN HEALTH AND SICKNESS
1
Wellcome, MSS 3680–1; NMM KEI 23/32–3.
2
M Lewis, Social History of the Navy (London 1961), pp396–7.
3
Drummond & Wilbraham, The Englishmen’s Food, pp251–2.
4
The recipe refers to ‘flesh’, which means skeletal muscle and not the internal organs now known as offal.
5
NMM ADM F13, 14 September 1756; ADM F14, 5 February 1757; ADM D46, 16 January 1804.
6
Elizabeth M Bardolph, ‘Power, prejudice, and putrefaction: The elimination of scurvy from the Royal Navy, 1747–1796’, paper read at the New Researchers conference, 1997, p49.
7
Anton Sebastian, A Dictionary of the History of Medicine (London 1999), p575.
8
A survey dated 4 October 1803 on Lieutenant Edmund Waller describes him as suffering from ‘impaired function of stomach’ which might have been a peptic ulcer. Wellcome MSS 3669.
9
Lloyd & Coulter, Medicine and the Navy, Vol III, p 150.
10
I am indebted to Professor Glynn Williams for his comments on this topic.
11
J Lind, A Treatise of the Scurvy (Edinburgh 1753), pp 145–6; Bardolph, ‘Power, prejudice and putrefaction’.
12
Lloyd & Coulter, Medicine and the Navy, Vol III, p324
13
James Lind, An essay on the most effectual means of preserving the health of seamen, quoted in Watt, Freeman & Bynum (eds), Starving Sailors, p28.
14
Bowler, Logistics… p82.
15
Pasley, Sea Journals…, p217.
16
Naval Chronicle X (1803), pp110–13.
17
Morriss, The Channel Fleet and the Blockade of Brest, p65.
18
Ibid, p14.
19
Regulations and Instructions for the Pursers of His Majesty’s Ships and Vessels, 2nd edition (1825), p212.
20
Ibid, p151–4.
21
NMM ADM DP 32b, 14 August 1812.
22
R&I, 14th edition, pp274, 252; PRO ADM 7/793, Regulations and Instructions for the Pursers of His Majesty’s Ships and Vessels, 1825, second edition, p212.
23
Morriss, The Channel Fleet and the Blockade of Brest, p37.
24
Ibid, p145.
25
Nicolas, VI, pp334–5.
26
Lloyd & Coulter, Medicine and the Navy, Vol III, p 170.
27
Calculated from the muster books of this fleet in PRO ADM 36 and the weekly sick returns in Wellcome MSS 3680. It should be pointed out, however, that these returns were not for the same ships every week, only those which happened to be with the commander-in-chief at that time, but they do give an indication of scale.
28
Nicolas, V, pp215–6, 420.
29
Lloyd & Coulter, Medicine and the Navy, Vol IV, pp 140�
�1.
30
Nicolas, I, p476; PRO ADM 51/1104, Captains log, Agamemnon, 1 to 12 August 1794.
31
PRO ADM 52/3507, 3701, Masters logs, Triumph; Nicolas, VI, p19.
32
PRO ADM 52/3616, Master’s log, Gibraltar.
33
These are reported as follows: 29 August 1803, 12 in Renown, 10 in Triumph, 73 in Gibraltar, on 19 September 1803, 64 in Gibraltar, in 23 April 1804, 11 in Triumph-, on 7 May 1804, 9 in Donegal. (Wellcome MSS 3680). However, it should be noted that the logs for Gibraltar show 135 scurvy cases on 8 August.; P K Crimmin, ‘Letters and Documents relating to the Service of Nelson’s Ships, 1780–1805: a Critical Report’, Historical Research 70, No 171 (February 1997).
34
BL Add MSS 34970, 24 September 1803.
35
I am indebted to Mark Nesbitt at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, for additional information on Opuntia.
36
R&I, 14th edition, pp271–2.
CONCLUSIONS
1
Morriss, The Channel Fleet and the Blockade of Brest, p126.
2
Bowler, Logistics….
3
Lloyd & Coulter, Medicine and the Navy, Vol IV, p99.
4
Joseph Sinclair, Arteries of War: a History of Military Transportation (Shrewsbury 1992), pp40–5, 168; quoted in Martin Middlesbrook, Task Force: the Falklands War 1982 (London 1987), p67.
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: Weights and Measures
1
For more conversions see the web site: www.gourmetsleuth.com/conversions.htm
2
According to the Chambers Dictionary: Leaguer: an old Dutch liquid measure, a large cask, from Dutch ‘ligger’ – a tun. Tun: an obsolete liquid measurement – 216 gallons of ale, 252 of wine.
Appendix 2: Official Substitutes for Species of Provisions
1
Quoted from R&I, 14th edition, p288.
Appendix 3: Calorific Values of Naval Foodstuffs
1
Stuart Thorne, The History of Food Preservation (Cumbria 1986); NMM ADP D/46, 9 July 1804.
2
McCance & Widdowson’s The Composition of Foods (London 2002) and MAFF Reference Book No 342, ‘Manual of Nutrition’ (London 1995). Other sources of these figures are the US Government website www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Other/ada2002 hg72.pdf
3
Figure taken from a packet of Carr’s Water Biscuits, as being the closest modern equivalent to ships’ biscuit.
4
‘Wine measure’ is ⅚of the normal English liquid measure.
5
The type given in the reference is for bitter at 31 Cal per 100ml; the precise figure for small beer is not known, but taken here at 25 Cal per 100ml.
6
This is the figure given in the reference for stewing steak, fat and lean mixed, and used here as being the closest equivalent to naval beef.
7
The figure given in the reference for raw bacon is 428 and for leg of pork is 213. The figure used here is an average of the two, used as being the closest equivalent to navy pork.
8
Calculated by weighing 1 pint of split pease (16 oz).
9
Calculated by weighing 1 pint of oatmeal (8 oz).
10
It is not known whether the vinegar would be wine vinegar or malt vinegar. The figure used is the same as for beer, on the assumption that malt vinegar would be more likely in a country where wine was not made.
11
The figures for individual vegetables are as follows (all per 100mg): cabbage 26, carrots 24, turnips 12, onions 36. This gives an average of 25, as shown.
Appendix 4: Vitamin Content of Naval Food
1
Vitamin counts are from McCance & Widdowson, Recommended Daily Allowances are from the American Government’s Department of Agriculture website: www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Other/ada2002hg72.pdf. Note that American recommended daily allowances are higher than British.
2
Cooked without sugar.
3
Note that the Vitamin C content of potatoes is especially variable, according to storage time and whether or not they are peeled. Boiled new potatoes have about 18mg of Vitamin C per 100g. Raw old (or ‘maincrop’) potatoes have 30mg per 100g when freshly dug, diminishing to 8 after 8 months storage; when boiled only 50–70 per cent of this Vitamin C is retained. McCance & Widdowson, p180–5.
4
Cochlearia officinalis.
Appendix 5: Bills of Exchange
1
Instructions…Abroad, p113 (Appendix 40). This is a direct copy of the wording and layout of the original document.
2
For example, NMM ADM DP 32b, 31 December 1812, Victualling Board to Admiralty relating to the increase in prices of provisions at the Leeward Islands.
3
For example, NMM ADM DP/35a, 11 January 1815, Victualling Board writing to Admiralty about a Bill written by Mr G Wood Bins.
4
PRO ADM 114/96, Course of the Exchange.
Appendix 6: Eat Like a Sailor – Recipes
1
Taken from the recipe used at the Ratcliffe Soup House, as given in NMM ADM D/46.
GLOSSARY
Banyan days – the days when no meat was eaten, so-called after a strictly vegetarian Hindu merchant sect who preferred to eat their meals under a banyan tree.
Bargemen – sailors slang for biscuit ‘weevils’, so-called because they were found in the container for the mess’s biscuit, known as a bread-barge.
Becket – a loop of rope with a knot at one end and an eye at the other.
Bumboat – a boat bringing fruit, vegetables etc for sale to ships.
Britanniaware – a non-rusting alloy of antimony, bismuth, copper and tin, which polishes up to a deep silvery lustre.
Chest at Greenwich – a naval charity which provided pensions for disabled seamen, originally the ‘Chatham Chest’.
Commissioned officers – those who were attached to the ship while she was ‘in commission’ (ie on sea service), or fighting officers. See also warrant officers.
Fiddle – a type of rail used to prevent dishes sliding from the table.
Frumenty – a dish made by simmering whole wheat grains, sometimes sweetened with honey or raisins.
Godown – Far Eastern name for a warehouse.
Head– the toilets on a ship – in the sailing navy days, these were at the very front of the ship, exposed to the open air.
Imprest account – rather like an overdraft, a type of account used by the Victualling Board to control pursers’ and victualling contractors’ expenditure.
Lanthorn – a closed lantern containing a candle.
Lemon pepper – a condiment made by grinding dried lemon peel.
Machine – as used at the time, this meant any form of device or implement.
Mess-kids – wooden containers for collecting messes’ food.
Ordinary – ships ‘mothballed’ in reserve, ie those not in commission.
Orlop – the lowest deck in a ship.
Outports – the British naval ports outside London (eg Portsmouth, Plymouth).
Over-plus – food over and above what the men wanted to eat.
the People – naval term meaning the crew.
Purser (sometimes pronounced ‘pusser’) – the man who had charge of the food on board Royal Navy ships.
Rakes and peels – the rakes, in this context, would be for raking out the ashes, a peel is a long-handled flat paddle for moving bread in and out of the oven.
Roundhouse – a small cabin at the rear of a ship, often used as a toilet for officers.
Scuttlebutt – a cask for drinking water, kept on deck.
Sheathed or coppered – two methods of protecting a ship’s hull from destructive worms and accretions of seaweed. Sheathing is an outer covering of wood
, coppering is a cover of copper plates over the hull. Seaweed built up more slowly on a coppered hull, so the ship would sail faster when coppered.
Slops – ready-made clothes for seamen, bought in bulk; they tended to be made large and the men usually made their own adjustments. The word slops is derived from the Old English ‘oferslop’, meaning a loose outer garment.
Species of provisions – types of food items, for instance salt beef is one species, salt pork is another, biscuit is a third.
Starting the water – a method of quickly lightening ship (and thus allowing more speed) by spilling the fresh water in the hold and then pumping it out.
Steelyard – a weighing device consisting of a lever, from one end of which the item to be weighed is suspended, and on the other, longer end, a weight can be slid along.
Supernumeraries – people carried on board ship who were not part of her regular crew. An admiral was a supernumerary, as were his personal suite of servants and advisors, and so were naval personnel being given passage to their own ships.
Table money – an amount, additional to the salary of a highly placed official or officer who had to entertain as part of his job, or who frequently had to eat away from home.
Tops – the fighting platforms situated high on the masts.
Tracklements – a generic term for pickles, chutneys and other wet condiments used to give savour to food.
Victuals, victualling (pronounced ‘vittles’, ‘vittling’) – food and drinks, the supply of these.
Warrant officers – those non-fighting officers who were attached to the ship on a permanent basis, even when she was laid up in ‘ordinary’. (But many of them did fight when necessary.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
_____
PRIMARY SOURCES
Details of specific documents consulted are listed in the notes to each chapter, but the generality of sources consulted is as follows:
Official Publications
Regulations and Instructions relating to His Majesty’s Service at Sea, 13th & 14th editions, 1790 & 1806.
Regulations and Instructions for the Pursers of His Majesty’s Ships and Vessels, 2nd edition, 1825.
Feeding Nelson's Navy Page 26
