What did sailors eat?

major bill

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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We have had a fair amount of threads on food soldiers ate, but less so on what sailors ate. So I was wondering what the typical sailor ate for meals?
 
http://www.fourpoundsflour.com/events-taste-civil-war-navy-rations/

. ,The rations, which were quite a bit better than what was handed out to the Army:

“One pound of salt pork, with half a pint of beans or peas; one pound salt beef, with half a pound of flour, and two ounces of dried apples or other fruit; or three quarters of preserved (canned) meat, with half a pound of rice, two ounces of butter, and one ounce desiccated (dehydrated) mixed vegetables; or three quarters pound preserved meat, two ounces of butter, and two ounces desiccated potato; together with fourteen ounces of biscuits (hardtack), one quarter of an ounce of tea, or one ounce of coffee or cocoa, two ounces sugar, and a gill (four ounces) or spirits; and a weekly allowance of half a pound of pickles, half a pint of molasses, and half a pint of vinegar.” (source)​

This diet was supplemented by deliveries of fresh meat and veg when in port; and by “foraging” (stealing from Southern farms). Also available were some canned food brands we know today: Vancamp Pork & Beans; Underwood Deviled Ham; and Borden’s Condensed Milk."
 
We have had a fair amount of threads on food soldiers ate, but less so on what sailors ate. So I was wondering what the typical sailor ate for meals?
No doubt the best fed sailors were those lucky enough to be stationed on the Yangtze River Patrol which existed from 1854 to 1949. No limit on food and one never had to cook sice the sailors could easily hire Chinese to labor on their boats.
Leftyhunter
 
We have had a fair amount of threads on food soldiers ate, but less so on what sailors ate. So I was wondering what the typical sailor ate for meals?
For sure we should page @Mark F. Jenkins and @AndyHall . If I had to hazard a guess the Southern Atlantic Blockade fleet made frequent Port of Calls in Cuba so plenty of good food there. Has belligerents they could stop over for 48 hours maybe even 72 hours. Plenty of time to buy food . Also the Atlantic Squadron could make Ports of Call at Caribbean ports. Also there was New Berne and Unionist enclaves in Florida.
Leftyhunter
 
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From what I understand, although there were periods of supply disruption, the Navy was pretty well-supplied. The classic sailor fare of salted pork and hardtack was supplemented by beans and vegetables and occasional fruit, frequently augmented by foraging trips ashore (there's a description of "blackberrying" in Alvah Hunter's memoir A Year on a Monitor). And then, of course, there was the all-important coffee, which became even more important when the grog ration was abolished in 1862.

The usual arrangement was for the components of a meal to be prepared by a cook in the galley, and the crew were divided into small sections called 'messes.' One member of the mess (often referred to as 'the cook') would report to the galley to pick up food for the others, and then they would eat together in their designated location. This arrangement was highly variable according to the various configurations of the ships, of course. But when you read of a sailor's "mess-mates," he's referring to this small (squad-size or less) group that would regularly eat together.
 
Mark is correct. Rations in the U.S. Navy were dull and repetitive, but plentiful and nutritionally sound according to notions of the day. The major navies of the period all had very similar schemes, with regional/national variations based on what was available. For example, the U.S. Navy replaced its rum ration with whiskey around 1806, due to the difficulty of obtaining molasses from the British West Indies, vs. the growing availability of grain alcohol in this country.

The one real difficulty the Navy had during the war was getting fresh fruit and vegetables out to the elements of the fleet on blockade duty. Scurvy was a real problem, especially on ships at the far distant end of the Navy's supply chain, e.g., those in the western Gulf of Mexico. It's particularly unfortunate because, while science didn't yet understand the exact mechanism of scurvy, mariners had had a century's worth of practical experience in how to avoid it through including specific things n the sailors' diet. The problem was, they simply couldn't get those things regularly, and in sufficient quantity.

Sailors tended to be generally healthy, in part because they usually were able to live in more hygienic conditions, and (on steamships) had access to clean, fresh drinking water. Both the regular Navy officers and those brought in from the civilian merchant service had experience keeping men fit at sea, while many Army officers on land, who came from civilian backgrounds, really didn't have any idea what they were doing in that respect.

Finally, I don't recall seeing instances of the Navy procuring provisions in quantity in neutral ports, and I'm certain the Navy would have expressed its official displeasure at the practice, because it would play havoc with their very highly-structured accounting and rationing system. They would presumably make exception for ships on foreign station, that couldn't be supplied through the regular supply chain, but otherwise not. Certainly when U.S. Navy vessels visited neutral ports there was a lot of small trade between the sailors and enterprising locals selling out of the "bumboats" they'd sail out to the ships, and officers would take the opportunity to make private purchases of alcohol or fine comestibles to supplement the wardroom fare, but probably nothing on a large scale.
 
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