So I was in another thread and someone stated that the reason Columbus had a hard time securing funding for his exhibition to try and sail around the world was because people did the math and calculated that any ship trying to make the journey would run out of food and starve to death.
What kept them from simply fishing over the sides of their ship for more provisions and collecting rain water to replenish their fresh water as they went along?
As I talked about here sailors in Columbus time, including the Columbus expedition itself had infact fished from their ships on the voyage.
And as I talked here they also collected rain water, but mostly only in dire need.
The fact is, both trying to fish and collect rainwater doesn't mean you will actually catch fish or get water, least of all in quantity needed to feed a crew of a ship. If Santa Maria had a crew of 40, how much fish and water would they have to catch every day to survive? More than they actually could that's for sure.
Not to mention that ships also needed firewood to cook the fish, and firewood was unavailable without land. Same goes for repairs and mending the ship, none of which was trully possible at the ocean.
All in all, ships then needed to land and sending an expedition out with orders to catch fish and collect rain just wasn't an option and no crew would even accept it