The problem of keeping food
Before refrigeration, a ship leaving port with food for several months faced a simple challenge: almost everything would spoil. Meat, dairy, fruit, vegetables and water all deteriorated quickly in warm, damp conditions. Provisioning therefore relied on methods that slowed spoilage, chiefly salting, drying, pickling and sealing in casks. The result was a diet that kept well but was monotonous and, over time, nutritionally poor.
The scale of the task was large. A big warship or an East Indiaman needed supplies for hundreds of people, and navies built dedicated victualling yards to prepare and store them. Merchant ships carried less and usually had a smaller crew, but they too depended on barrels, bins and sacks stowed in the hold.
Staples of the sailing ship
The most characteristic food was ship’s biscuit, a hard, twice-baked bread that lasted a long time if kept dry. It was tough to eat, and sailors commonly softened it in soup or tea. If it became damp it could spoil, and it was a frequent home for weevils and other insects, which sailors often learned to accept.
Meat was usually salted beef or pork, packed in casks with brine. Salt meat could last many months, but it was hard and very salty and often had to be soaked before cooking. Other typical items in a naval ration included dried peas, oatmeal, cheese, butter and sometimes dried fish. Cooks boiled much of this in large coppers, producing stews and porridges. The galley stove, usually near the front of the ship, was the only major heat source, and fire was always a danger on a wooden vessel.
Drink was as important as food. Beer was the standard drink on many ships in earlier centuries, since it was safer and kept better than stored water in the short term, but it did not last well in tropical heat. On longer voyages it gave way to wine or spirits. The Royal Navy’s daily rum ration, mixed with water, became well known, though practice varied by ship and period.
Fresh water and fresh food
Water was carried in wooden casks and could turn foul after weeks. Ships took on fresh supplies at ports and sometimes collected rainwater on deck during voyages. On long passages, rationing was common, and the cook, purser or officers in charge of stores kept careful track of quantities.
Fresh food was rare and valued. Ships often carried a few live animals such as pigs, sheep, goats or chickens, to be killed as the voyage went on, and officers and passengers were more likely to eat them than ordinary seamen. Fishing at sea, when conditions allowed, could add variety. Ports of call, where crews could buy fruit, vegetables and fresh meat, mattered as much for health as for trade. The absence of fresh food was also the underlying cause of scurvy at sea, which killed or disabled many crews on long passages.
A ration by the book
Navies tended to standardise rations, and the British system assigned set quantities for each man by day of the week. Some days were meatless, with substitutes such as cheese, peas and oatmeal. Sailors in the Royal Navy sometimes called these “banyan days”, a term that appears in naval records and memoirs. The system did not always work as planned: cuts, short measures and corruption among suppliers were recurring complaints, and sailors’ protests about food were a common cause of unrest.
Merchant ships had less uniform rules. Food might be issued under an agreement signed by the crew, or in whatever amounts the captain and owner thought acceptable. Standards varied from generous to harsh. On long-distance voyages, such as those of convict transports or the emigrant steerage of the nineteenth century, passengers might receive rations set by regulation, and the quality and quantity depended on how well the rules were enforced.
Storage and the ship itself
Food storage shaped the design of the ship. Casks were stowed low in the hold to keep weight down and temperatures steady, and the amount of space they took meant that supplies set a limit on how long a ship could stay at sea. The ship’s cooper was therefore an important member of the crew, responsible for keeping barrels tight and repairing them.
Rats, damp and heat were constant enemies. Ships tried to ventilate holds and to keep stores dry, but with wooden hulls that leaked a little and a humid atmosphere, losses were common. Captains and pursers sometimes had to throw spoiled food overboard, and in the worst cases a voyage was cut short because supplies had run low or become unfit to eat.
Preservation and change
A significant change began in the early nineteenth century with the development of canned food, which sealed cooked food in airtight metal containers. Navies and expeditions started to use canned meat and vegetables, and tinned goods became part of exploration voyages. Early cans were heavy and sometimes poorly made, and their use was uneven. The idea nonetheless pointed to a more reliable way of provisioning ships.
Steamships shortened many voyages, which reduced reliance on long storage, and later refrigeration allowed ships to carry meat and dairy products over great distances. By the late nineteenth century, refrigerated cargoes had become a distinct trade. The simple diet of biscuit and salt meat faded from regular use, though it remained part of seafaring memory.
What the diet tells us
The food of the sailing era reflected the limits of technology and the attitudes of employers toward their crews. Sailors accepted much of it as part of the job, but they also complained about its quality, and their complaints were sometimes justified. The daily meal was a basic part of shipboard daily life, and the supply of food and water often decided how far ships could go.