During the age of sail (specifically up until the 15th century) was it possible for sailors to starve at sea? If so, was this a common occurrence and what were the causes?

by nikodante
davidAOP

It seems like an odd question to me. Maybe it's just the way it's worded. Are you asking was the situation of ships going to sea and not making it back to land before supplies ran out something that happened and how often did it happen in the maritime world up to the 15th century?

Also, how do you define Age of Sail? Typically, I see the definition of Age of Sail involving maritime activity extending out from Europe to more distant part of the world and engaging in high levels of trade (and maritime warfare at sea). People start with the 15th century at the earliest (because of the Age of Exploration, though I've seen some start with 16th century instead) and go until the 19th century when coal-burning engines became common on ships. Saying "During the age of sail (specifically up until the 15th century)" just sounds strange. Are you more interested in the western world during the Middle Ages and possibly the times of the Egyptians, Romans, and Egyptians?

The last observation on "Age of Sail" date leads into another point. If you are interested in shipping before 1400, the fact that voyages that would take a ship away from land that could provide sustenance weren't as common before 1400. Course, that doesn't mean they didn't happen and that there weren't scenarios where sailors could starve at sea at the time (example, the crew only plans to be out for a short trip of a few days and brings food for such, but end up out for over three weeks because a storm sweeps them well out to sea and the winds don't allow them to sail back close enough to land (though I don't know specifically weather and wind patterns where that could happen, but there's likely a place where that could happen)). I suspect there are stories of sailors starving at sea before 1400, but I study the Age Sail after 1400 much more and don't know any for before then. How common was the scenario? Hopefully there is another historian around here who can tell us more. It's a hard guess for me because after 1400, sure you have voyages going out farther to sea and offers more opportunities for the starvation scenario to play out, but then I weigh that against an increase in the size of ships against those in the centuries previous to 1400 (though I've heard the ships of Mediterranean could get pretty big, even in early times). We will see who else answers.