How was food kept fresh on boats for long voyages? Would the damp also have been an issue?

by Tabbynya

Pineapples and various other fruits, for example. Apparently they were a party item, but wasn't scurvy a problem for sailors? How would you stop sugar getting damp in the hold of a ship?

jschooltiger

Hi there, I'm assuming you're referring to ship voyages before the advent of canning/refrigeration, which of course are how fruits are carried on ships now.

Speaking very generally about what's a very large period, the short answer is that pineapples and other fresh fruits were not carried on ships for long voyages, but rather were delicacies consumed when close to shore. The main types of food carried on board ships were things that could be preserved and last for a long period of time: bread in the form of biscuits (hardtack), salt meat, and dried/preserved vegetables. The diet was monotonous and, while caloric, was not particularly nutritious. Fresh water would be carried in barrels, which would often develop algae/generalized slime, and would become less and less potable over time (most fresh water was used to soak salt meat, in any case). Most of what seamen would drink was beer, wine, rum, arrack or other spirits (again, I am speaking very generally).

Moving into a period which I'm familiar with specifically -- the British navy during the Napoleonic wars -- British sailors were entitled to a certain ration of rum, beer or other spirits (beer in home waters, rum abroad) daily, as well as salt beef, salt pork, salt cod, dried peas, and biscuit, in a regular ration. The naval reforms that Samuel Pepys takes credit for (and may be responsible for) in the 17th century helped the British victualing system to reach a height of efficiency that allowed for long voyages to be sustained on pre-packaged food (although captains would supplement this with fresh produce in ports, and would re-water whenever available). In the period when the British fleet was blockading Toulon and the French channel ports, the fleet would be sustained by fresh meat and vegetables brought out from English ports (in the Channel) or from Port Mahon or Malta (in the Med). By the period of the Napoleonic wars, the Brtitish navy also included a ration of citrus juice (limes or lemons) that would be mixed into sailors' alcohol rations, to ensure they'd drink it and avoid scurvy.

Now, on to your question about sugar -- I am completely unable to answer this! My speculation (and this is pure speculation) is that damp would be assumed when shipping sugar, and that the lump of sugar you'd get at the end of a voyage could be dehydrated or broken up in a mill when it got back to Europe. /speculation

It's also worth pointing out that much of the sugar produced in the sugar islands was shipped back to Europe or Africa in other forms: rum or molasses, especially.