1 J R Tanner (ed), Catalogue of the Pepysian Manuscripts, Vol I (London 1903), pp167–9.
2 Regulations and Instructions Relating to His Majesty’s Service at Sea (hereafter R&I).
3 R&I, 13th edition, p61.
4 In 1806 the oatmeal ration was halved and six ounces of sugar was substituted.
5 R Arthur Bowler, Logistics and the Failure of the British Army in America, 1775–1783 (New Jersey 1975), p8.
6 D Marshall, English People in the Eighteenth Century (London 1956), p169, quoted in Stephen F Gradish, The Manning of the British Navy during the Seven Years’ War (London 1980), p140.
7 Simon P Ville, English Shipowning in the Industrial Revolution: Michael Henley & Son (London 1987), p97.
8 Conrad Gill, The Naval Mutinies of 1797 (Manchester 1913), p98; C Northcote Parkinson, Edward Pellew – Viscount Exmouth 1757–1833 (London 1934), p189.
9 Norman Baker, Government and Contractors: the British Treasury and War Supplies 1775–1783 (London 1971), p99.
10 Greg Dening, Mr Bligh’s Bad Language: Passion, Power and Theatre on the Bounty (Cambridge 1992), pp74–6, 84.
11 I am indebted to Jennie Wraight and Peter Berry of the Admiralty Library for this story.
1 Public Record Office [hereafter PRO] ADM 52/3616: Master’s log, Gibraltar.
2 National Maritime Museum [hereafter NMM] ADM DP/29a, 27 February 1809; DP29b, 4 September 1809.
3 Despite the meaning of the word ‘biscuit’ (‘bis’ = twice,‘cuit’ = cooked), this biscuit was only cooked once.
4 Louis Pasteur worked on yeasts between 1857 and 1863. Compressed yeast was first manufactured around 1868.
5 Deptford is on the south bank of the Thames, about four miles east of the Tower of London.
6 Basil Hall, Fragments of Voyages and Travels (London 1832–1846).
7 R&I, 13th edition, p61.
8 Rodney M S Pasley (ed), Private Sea Journals 1778–1782 kept by Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley Bt. When in command of His Majesty’s Ships Glasgow (20), Sybil (28) and Jupiter (50) (London 1931), p67.
9 R&I, 14th edition, p288.
10 Norman Baker, Government and Contractors: The British Treasury and War Supplies (London 1971), pp72–3.
11 J C Drummond & Anne Wilbraham, The Englishman’s Food: Five Centuries of English Diet (London 1939, revised 1957), p190.
12 Daniel A Baugh (ed), Naval Administration 1715–1750 (London 1977).
13 R&I, 13th edition, pp62–3. Readers wondering about the arithmetic of this can be assured that the author also wondered and has double-checked. Those totals are as stated, not a typographical error!
14 Instructions and Regulations for the Guidance of the Officers of the Several Victualling Establishments at Home [hereafter ‘I&R Home’] (London 1808), p136.
15 I&R Home, p 67.
16 Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, The Dispatches and Letters of Lord Nelson, 7 vols (London 1844–6, reprinted 1997–8) [hereafter Nicolas], Vol V, p470; Vol VI, pp280, 313; NMM ADM DP/24 (separately bound packet of papers); DP/26, 8 August 1806; DP/30a, 26 April 1810; WAR/73, various.
17 PRO ADM 52/3616: Master’s log, Gibraltar.
18 Sir William Henry Dillon, A Narrative of My Professional Adventures 1790–1839, 2 vols (London 1953), pp110–1.
19 Peter Padfield, Maritime Power and the Struggle for Freedom: Naval campaigns that shaped the modern world 1788–1851 (London 2003), p213.
20 Baker, Government and Contractors, p3.
21 Although often referred to as a blockade, this was not a true blockade, for which there are rules and conventions to be observed. Nelsons intention was to tempt the French fleet to come out so he could engage it in a decisive battle rather than to keep it bottled up in port.
22 PRO ADM 106/2350, folio 72, 14 May 1799, letter book, Navy Board to Victualling Board.
23 PRO ADM 110/14, 28 June 1745; ADM 111/33, 10 November 1746.
24 2 Geo 1, C.16 (Ir) s i.
25 Sir R Vesey Hamilton & John Knox Laughton (eds), Above and Under Hatches: Recollections of James Anthony Gardner (London 1906, reprint 2000), p167, referring to 1794.
26 PRO ADM 7/890, Admiralty circular no 21, 3 May 1856.
27 NMM ADM D/47, 29 November 1804.
28 Jeffrey de Raigersfeld, Life of a Sea Officer (London 1830), p161.
29 C Northcote Parkinson, War in the Eastern Seas (London 1954), and Trade in the Eastern Seas (London 1937).
30 R&I, 13th edition, pp202–3.
31 Nicolas, V, p438
32 Janet Macdonald, Pumpkins and Squashes (London 1998), p1.
33 R&I, 14th edition, p272.
34 The trawl is mentioned in letter 20 of a sequence of letters from Captain Duff, which can be found at www.kittybrewster.com/ancestry/George_Duff_letter_[number].htm.
35 William Mark, At Sea with Nelson, being the life of William Mark – a purser who served with Admiral Lord Nelson (London 1929), p81.
36 Hall, Fragments, p375.
37 Raigersfeld, Life of a Sea Officer, pp163–4.
38 M D Hay (ed), Landsman Hay: The Memoirs of Robert Hay 1789–1847 (London 1953), pp88–9.
39 Ibid, p170. Since this refers to an incident in 1809, and since he says ‘water tank’ in the singular, this is more likely to have been the scuttle tank than the larger water tanks in the hold, which were not introduced until later (see page 85).
40 NMM WAR/18, 6 August 1813.
41 R&I, 14th edition, p302.
42 Wellcome Western MSS 3677, 4 September 1803, 20 September 1803.
43 R&I, 13th edition, p205.
44 PRO ADM 1/232, 21 August 1740.
45 NMM ADM G/794, 22 October 1806.
46 Dudley Pope, Life in Nelson’s Navy (London 1981, reprint 1997), p 154.
47 NMM GRE/15, folio 117, 21 June 1797.
48 Pasley, Private Sea Journals, p229.
49 ADM 1/4833, 12 January 1810.
50 R&I, 14th edition, p288.
51 NMM ADM DP/45, 13 October 1803.
52 William Robinson, Jack Nastyface: memoirs of an English seaman, (London 1836 as Nautical Economy, reprint 2002).
53 Pope, Life in Nelson’s Navy, p158.
1 Strictly speaking this organisation was called the Board of Commissioners for Sick and Wounded Seamen, but it was commonly known as the Sick and Hurt Board.
2 Figures taken from Victualling Board pay books, PRO ADM 7/869.
3 NMM ADM DP/17, 17 October 1797; ADM G/793, 5 September 1803; PRO ADM 110/48, 20 November 1802.
4 Sometimes this was a lump sum and sometimes, when the post-holder wanted to retire and was not entitled to a pension, an agreed annual payment until death. Roger Morriss, Naval Power and British Culture, 1710–1850 (London 2004), pp71–7.
5 Mark, At Sea With Nelson, pp125–8.
6 The Eighth [and Ninth] Report of the Commissioners appointed by an Act of Parliament to enquire into the fees, gratuities, perquisites and emoluments which are or have been lately received in the several public offices therein mentioned, to examine into any abuses which may exist in the same: and to report such observations as shall occur to them, for the better conducting and managing the business transacted in the Victualling Office (London 1788).
7 NMM ADM DP/24, 6 June, 12 July, 24 August, 10 October and 19 October 1804 DP/31a, DP/3lb.
8NMM ADM DP/31a, 26 April 1811.
9 Matthew Sheldon, ‘From “Fraudulent Brewers” to “Scandalous Abuses”; a century of progress at the Portsmouth Victualling Office’, paper presented to the Society of Nautical Research (South), 12 October 2002; David Syrett, ‘Christopher Atkinson and the Victualling Board, 1775–1782’, in Historical Research (1996), pp129–42; Baker, Government and Contractors…, pp173, 216–20.
10 PRO ADM 114/26 (most of this ‘piece’ is a bundle of documents relating to this fraud).
11 Parkinson, War in the Eastern Seas, pp338–9.
12 Alexander Cochrane, The Fighting Cochranes (London 1983), pp174–5; Donald Thomas, Cochrane, Britannia’s Sea-King (London 1978), pp20–l; PRO ADM 112/118; Basil Cochrane, A narrative of the transactions of the Hon. Basil Cochrane (London 1818); The Hon Basil Cochrane, A statement of the conduct of the Victualling Board to the Hon. Basil Cochrane during his transactions with them in India (London 1820).
13 PRO ADM 112/160, Tenders for Contracts; ADM 111/166, 30 March 1803.
14 NMM ADM D/46, 30 April 1804; PRO ADM 111/169, 21 November 1803.
15 NMM ADM D/45, 13 October 1803; ADM C/700, 25 November 1803; ADM D/46, 2 August 1804.
16 NMM ADM D/45, 13 October 1803.
17 NMM ADM G/792, 4 and 31 August 1801, 8 September 1801.
18 Even if each man is only eating his two pounds of beef once a week (and suet pudding on the other beef day, as explained on page 18) this works out to a grand total of 11,451,544 pounds, which at an average of 500 pounds per beast gives 23,000 bullocks; the same amount of pork, when a good-sized pig might produce 100 pounds of meat gives us 115,000 pigs.
19 These instructions were dated 22 December 1807 and issued, in printed form, in 1808.
20 Bowler, Logistics…
21 Wellcome Trust Library, Western MS 3679; NMM ADM G/793, 24 October 1803, Admiralty to Victualling Board, instructing them to send out coal and buy wine and lemon juice to freight the vessels home.
22 Master’s log of Belleisle, PRO ADM 52/3573; Wellcome MSS 3678, Richard Bromley’s account of purchases, 2 November to 9 December 1803.
23 NMM ADM DP/21, 20 October 1801.
24 NMM ADM DP/25, 3 May 1805.
25 Brown’s accounts, PRO ADM 112/41; Wills’ accounts, ADM 112/42.
26 Nicolas, Vol II, p202.
27 NMM ADM DP/16, 20 December 1796 (covering letter) and 14 November 1796.
28 NMM ADM DP/21, 7 May 1801.
29 Ford was not strictly correct here: two of the nine were frigates.
30 Ford appears in many parts of the Victualling Board records, the most important of which are his accounts at PRO ADM 112/46 and his letter book at ADM 114/55. His appointment letter and many letters from him to Nelson are in the Nelson papers at the Wellcome Trust Library, Western MSS 3677–8; see also Nicolas, Volumes V & VI.
1 Nelson’s General Order book for 1803–1805 is at the British Library, Add MSS 34970.
2 NMM ADM/DP 27, 29 November 1807.
3 Nicolas, VI, pl26.
4 For example, ‘Additional Orders and Regulations for the Government of His Majesty’s Ship Superb, K.G. Keats Esq., Captain’, manuscript book kept by John L Coppin, midshipman, NMM RUSI/110.
5 Excerpts from Prince William Henry’s order book can be seen in Brian Lavery’s Shipboard Life and Organisation 1731–1815 (London 1998), pp93–101.
6 Master’s log, Triumph, PRO ADM 52/3507.
7 BL Add MSS 34970, folio 15, 23 December 1803.
8 Pope, Life in Nelson’s Navy, p154.
9 R&I, 13th edition, p203–5
10 See Brian Lavery’s The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War 1600–1815 (London 1987), pp209–10 for some drawings of how boats were stowed.
11 It is difficult to give exact weights for any given set of provisions, as they could be in varied sizes of cask. However, a list of provisions for the Thetis frigate’s lading in 1777 shows, amongst other items, 903 lbs of butter in 14 firkins as weighing 9 cwt (1008 lbs), 3560 lbs of flour in a hogshead and 9 barrels as 1 ton 15 cwt (3920 lbs), and 1207 lbs of cheese in 8 half-hogsheads as 12 cwt (1344 lbs). Figures taken from PRO ADM 95/64.
12 Brian Vale, A Frigate of King George: Life and Duty on a British Man of War (London 2001), p412.
13 Captain’s log, Victory, PRO ADM 51/1467, 10 to 14 September 1803.
14 NMM WAR/12, 1 May 1808.
15 Using the muster books in PRO ADM 36 and pay books in PRO ADM 35, the survey involved 60 different ships (10 line-of-battle ships and 10 frigates) at each of three periods: 1794, 1803 and 1812.
16 R&I, 14th edition, p186.
17 Anne Petrides (ed), Sea Soldier: The letters and journals of Major T Marmaduke Wybourn RM, 1797–1813 (Tunbridge Wells 2000), p73.
18 NMM ADM DP/29, 9 March 1809. (This is the Trevithick of steam engine fame.)
19 Robert Gardiner, Frigates of the Napoleonic Wars (London 2002), pp 104–5.
20 Nicolas, VI, p57.
21 Brian Lavery, Arming and Fitting…, p192; Anselm John Griffiths, Observations on some points of Seamanship; with practical hints on naval oeconomy, etc (London 1824), pp261–2.
22 A-M E Hills, ‘Health in the Royal Navy During the age of Nelson’, in Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service 86, No 2 (2000), p72.
23 BL Add MSS 34790, 21 December 1803; Nicolas, V, pp110–11.
24 R& 13th edition, pp202–3.
25 NMM POR/A/51, 24 October 1808.
26 PRO ADM 106/3574, ‘Revision of Sea Stores, Regulations for the Officers of the Dockyards no 53’, dated 1815 (no other date). The same order required sheep pens to be fitted in the waist.
27 Francis Liardet, Professional Recollections on Seamanship (London 1849), p306.
28 The fire on the Boyne is cited as an illustration of this by Peter Goodwin, but he must have confused her with another ship: Boyne was destroyed by fire, but it was started when a burning wad from marine practice firing fell onto the stern gallery, from where the fire spread through the quarter gallery and admiral’s cabin. There was no hay involved. Peter Goodwin, Men O’War: The Illustrated Story of Life in Nelson’s Navy (London 2003), pl08; Court Martial on the loss of the Boyne, PRO ADM 1/5332, 1 May 1795.
29 Court Martial on the loss of the Queen Charlotte, PRO ADM 1/5352, 11 April 1800. Augustus Phillimore (ed), Life of Sir Wm. Parker, Vol I (London 1876), p256; Master’s log, Amazon, PRO ADM 52/3560; W N Glascock, Naval Sketch Book (London 1826), Vol I, p22.
30 Robinson, Jack Nastyface, pl32; NMM GRE/15, 16 June 1797.
31 NAM Rodger, The Insatiable Earl: A Life of John Montague, 4th Earl of Sandwich (London 1993), pp190–1.
32 Additional Instructions relating to Books and Accounts, 1813, p7.
33 R&I, 13th edition, pl48; 14th edition, p442.
34 NMM GRT/10–23.
35 Master’s log, Bittern, 24 June 1803, PRO ADM 52/3575; Captain’s log, William, 25 January 1804, ADM 51/1457.
36 I am indebted to Mr E J Revell for bringing this story to my attention.
37 Figures taken from the Nelson papers at the Wellcome Trust Library. It should not be assumed that these documents are a complete set, but they do indicate the comparatively minor problem.
38 NMM G/738, 17 June 1813; NMM ADM DP/33a, 24 June and 8 July 1813.
39 Lavery, in Shipboard Life… gives two versions of this figure (pp546 and 589): 165 messes is the correct figure, taken from RNM 83/1051 & 53/4.
40 Dillon, Narrative, p373.
1 NMM JOD/45 Amazon; RUSI/110 Superb.
2 R&I, 13th edition, pp63–4. One ell = 1¼yards, or 45 inches. Canvas, as supplied for sailmaking, was 24 inches wide.
3 R&I, 14th edition, p290.
4 NMM WAR/18, 31 October 1813.
5 R&I, 14th edition, p378.
6 Pope, Life in Nelson’s Navy, p89.
7 Robinson, Jack Nastyface, p132.
8 J Watt, E J Freeman & W F Bynum (eds), Starving Sailors: the Influence of Nutrition upon Naval and Maritime History (London 1984), p201.
9 PRO ADM 95/17, 1 May 1757.
10 Patent No 1271 of 1780.
11 Lavery, Arming and Fitting p293; PRO ADM 106/2508, 7 September 1779.
12 NMMJOD/45.
13 NMM GRE 15, folio 42, 6 July 1796.
14 PRO ADM 1/1457, 11 December 1809; ADM 1/4833, 12 January 1810; C/66/4055, 6.
15 Lavery, Shipboard Life…, pp356–7.
16 NMM RUSI/110, order no 55.
17 Parkinson, War in the Eastern Seas, p439; BL Add Mss 34970.
18 Nicolas, V, p4l9.
19 NMM GRE 15, folio 42, 6 July 1796.
20 David Cordingly, Billy Ruffian: The Bellerophon and the Downfall of Napoleon (London 2003), p213.
21 Ibid, pl89.
22 Lavery, Shipboard Life…, pp528–9.
23 Wybourn, Sea Soldier, p73; Piers Mackesy, Victory in Egypt 1801 (London 1995), p149.
24 NMMJOD/45.
25 BL Add Mss 34970.
26 Dening, Mr Bligh’s Bad Language, pp73–4.
1 Una A Robertson, Mariners’ Mealtimes and other Daily Details of Life on Board a Sailing Warship (Edinburgh 1981), p110.
2 Watt, Freeman & Bynum (eds), Starving Sailors, p4l; In the 13th edition of the R&I this was set at 20 shillings a day and restricted to commanders-in-chief; in the 14th edition it was increased to 30 shillings a day and extended to all flag officers, including commodores having captains under them.
3 Five Naval Journals, Navy Records Society (London 1951) pp7, 13.
4 In 1793 the highest-paid lieutenant received £7.0.0. per lunar month, the lowest £5.12.0; by 1815 this had risen to £9.2.0 and £8.8.0 respectively. Details from Michael Lewis, Social History of the Navy (London 1960), pp294–8.
5 RNM Portsmouth, Admiralty Library Manuscript Collection, MSS 1997/65, 17 July 1812.
6 Lieutenant Alexander Dingwall Fordyce, Outlines of Naval Routine (London 1837), p26.
7 Sotheby’s sale catalogue Nelson: the Alexander Davison Collection (London 2002), pp62, 79–81.
8 Some of these items can be seen at the Royal Naval Museum at Portsmouth. I am indebted to Richard Noyce, Curator of Artefacts at that museum, for this information.
9 Christian Murray, Dolores Elkin and Damián Vainstub, ‘The sloop of war HMS Swift, an archaeological approach’, in The Age of Sail, Vol I (London 2002), pp109–11.
10 Michael Duffy (ed), The Naval Miscellany VI, Navy Records Society (London 2003), p199.
11 Dillon, Narrative… pp21–2.
12 Raigersfeld, Life of a Sea Officer, pp11–12.
13 Dillon, Narrative…, pp21–2.
14 Ibid, pl8.
15 Frederic Charnier, Life of A Sailor (London 1832), pp27, 278.
16 Captain A Crawford, RN, Reminiscences of a Naval Officer (London 1851, reprint 1999), p38.
17 Nicolas, VI, p320.
18 Pope, Life in Nelsons Navy, p93.
19 R&I 13th edition, p151; quite why the tradesmen warrant officers had two servants when the commissioned officers only had one is not explained in the Regulations; this might be explained by one of these being more of a trade assistant than a personal servant, or it might have been a way of allowing for the wives whom some of these warrant officers took to sea with them.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
1Quoted from R&I, 14th edition, p288.
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.
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.
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.
1Taken from the recipe used at the Ratcliffe Soup House, as given in NMM ADM D/46.