SHIPS BISCUITS were supposed to be 'emergency rations', although owners often shipped inadequate food, and lots of ships biscuits. The biscuits were just floor and water and were something like dog biscuits. Stored in a barrel, they sometimes became damp, and got maggots in them ('Oh yum...protein'). Mariners didn't care much for them. They might be dipped in some broth and then eaten... they were usually called 'hardtack', were most unpalatable, and were definitely not very nourishing. They kept the ribs apart, that's all. Soda biscuits would be a very charitable comparison. A human side to the "biscuit' saga... this information is taken from Mary Gilmour's "Old Days Old Ways." and is an autentic story.. The Gilmours where pioneer families in Australia..c 1840's.. and this particular reference was about an ex Yarmouth sailorman who had served on vessels, whaling ships, slave trading etc..and used to call at her father's property... "...yet even inland in Riverina, he longed for biscuit as he had never loved nor longed for bread. SO much he loved it, that, whenever he was near enough to a port town, he laid up a supply, keeping it as a stand-by,sparing it as much as he could, and eating it slow as men spared and took snuff on the roads that were then but as the flight of a bird and where to them the only lamp was the North Start they ever saw....he talked so wonderfully to me of ships biscuits that I pleaded for a bit. he had only one left ,he said, and resisted my pleading. But to please a child who had lived in his life as he told it, there came a day when unroped and unrolled his sway dirty grey blankets that smelt of tobacco, grease and his body] and out of the heart of it he took what looked like a piece of wood, tooth-gnawed at the edges. With a hatchet he broke off a fragment. It was stale with old must and smelt like the blankets..........." http://www.mariner.org/age/sea_biscuits.html "And 1st Oatmeal, and cutlings are much used, molasses also; potatoes are of the greatest value, nothing more so in my judgment. Salt, or hung beef, pork, bacon or hams, are all excellent in their use; veal when salted, and afterwards watered, then boiled with beef or bacon, will produce a soup very desirable. One family here, brought a quantity of fowl in pickle, which when watered, eat very delicious. Coffee is much preferable to tea, the water being so bad, as to render the tea rather insipid and tasteless: bottled ale is good for drink, but in my opinion, cyder when mixed through water, is a much better and cooler drink for the stomach than any other; a constant thirst being common to all on sea. As to spices, pepper, and ginger is mostly used. Flour is essentially necessary; cake bread or pan cakes being very applicable to weak constitutions. Eggs are much used, and when well grazed, or put in salt pickle for six hours, and well packed, will keep fresh a considerable time, this I found by experience. Good port wine is very reviving on sea, when used moderately; but spirits is not so very necessary here. I conceive pickled cabbage to be very useful, such kind of diet only answering whilst sickness prevails; I therefore recommend it. Biscuit is much used by seamen, and the only way for passengers to take it is, to pour boiling water on it, and when steeped a few minutes toast it before the fire, then butter it, and it will eat as pleasant as loaf bread, but not otherwise: oat bread well baked in an oven, will answer well with either tea or coffee; cheese will be very needful; split peas for soup; and lastly, vinegar, butter, and potted herrings. To preserve new milk for a voyage, take a large or small jar or jars, and clean them remarkably well, and when done, put the mild therein, and after securing it well by corking it close, put the jar or jars into a large pot of water, and boil them over a good fire, and when done, pack them in a hamper, or some other place, and it will keep sweet the whole of the passage. This has been tried by a man of truth and credit, who went last season to Philadelphia, and used the mild there after his arrival, it retaining its natural sweetness. There is a diet much used here, vulgarly called "beggars dish," composed of peeled potatoes and either beef or bacon cut in thin slices, and mixed through them, affords a pleasant meal, the soup is much esteemed, being seasoned with pepper. Delft ware will not in any wise answer in common use, I would therefore recommend tin poringers, or small wooden noggins and trenchers, these will be found best at sea, as the constant motion of the vessel will have a tendency to break any other: a tin kettle in the form of a D will be found very useful in boiling meat or any other food, as it can hang on the bars of the grate at any time, this will be highly accommodating, especially where so many families are boiling their food at one time. The kind of apparel I would recommend to male passengers would be, short jackets or waistcoats with sleeves, a dark handkerchief for the neck, and coarse trowsers:-for women, a long bed gown, or wrappers with dark shawls or handkerchiefs, as cleanliness cannot be observed with any degree of precision. It is necessary to provide strong chests or boxes for a voyage, well secured with good locks and hinges; or otherwise it is impossible to preserve property:" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`` THE VOYAGE WAS DONE How gladly then, Sick of the uncomfortable ocean, The impatient passengers approach the shore, Escaping from the sense of endless motion, To feel firm earth beneath their feet once more, To breath again the air, With taint of bilge and cordage undefiled, And drink of living springs, if there they may, And with fresh fruits and wholesome food repair, Their spirits weary of the watery way. And oh how beautiful, The things of earth appear, To eyes that far and near, For many a week have seen, Only the circle of the restless sea! With what a fresh delight, They gaze again on fields and forests green, Hovel, or whatsoever, May wear the trace of man’s industrious hand, How grateful to their sight, The shore of shelving sand, As the light boat moves joyfully to land. LYTTELTON TIMES Kath <mzmouser@earthlink.net> ~`* `*' `*' `* `*' `*' *' `*' *' `*' `* `*' *' `*' ~~~