What did sailors eat at sea?
When a ship went to sea, it had no refrigeration and it could be many months before the crew could find fresh water. Water was stored in wooden barrels, but after a few weeks at sea, and as the temperatures rose near the equator, the water started growing algae and bacteria. It smelled horrible and tasted worse, so most ships carried wine and beer as their first drink of choice. If you were French, Spanish or Portuguese, wine was the drink of preference. If you were British or Dutch, you preferred beer. The alcohol in both drinks kept the algae and bacteria at bay. The food they had was all dried or preserved in salt or vinegar. This prevented it from spoiling on a long journey. As far as cooking food was concerned, the early ships of exploration just had fire boxes on the open deck, but obviously, fire was a dangerous thing on a wooden ship, so the sailors were limited to one hot meal a day in good weather. If it rained, no fire. Standards provisions included hard bread, flour (for ma
