Diet of the Ancient Mariner

Hakai Magazine ^ | March 14th, 2018 | Jeremy Hsu

[SunkenCiv]

In 1619, a hurricane sank the English merchant ship Warwick in Bermuda's Castle Harbor. The struggling settlers of Jamestown, Virginia, were desperately awaiting the shipload of fresh supplies, and keenly felt the loss. Almost 400 years later, artifacts from the wreck are helping archaeologist Grace Tsai uncover if unrefrigerated food and drink remained edible and nutritious during long sea voyages.

Since 2012, Tsai, a doctoral candidate in nautical archaeology at Texas A&M University, has been studying archaeological records of provisions from three different shipwrecks from the 16th and 17th centuries and analyzing shipboard diets based on modern nutritional guidelines.

Now, Tsai and her colleagues are going one step further: for two months, they stored period-accurate provisions aboard the closest thing to the Warwick they could find -- the 19th-century tall ship Elissa, docked in Galveston, Texas.

"The whole premise is to see how things age aboard ships," Tsai says. Researchers, including her, have typically studied how to prepare food based on historical recipes, "but nobody has been testing how well they lasted on a transatlantic voyage."

[SunkenCiv]

stills and vid:

Bermuda 100: The Warwick

[SunkenCiv]

[Little Bill]

Aren’t we a bit early for the Union Jack?

[finnsheep]

Willing to bet that authentic rats were not included in the experiment.

[Conan the Librarian]

Is that John Smith (the John Smith) on the Poop Deck?

[MGG]

I thought Ancient Mariners ate Albatross.....

[Sacajaweau]

Looks like its beginnings were in 1606.

[C210N]

"Even though no one is eating the food and drink stored aboard the Elissa, the team is organizing a fundraising event aboard the ship later this month to sample beer based on the historical recipe."

The goal of the exercise. Will they have period music as well?

[Monkey Face]

What a beauty she was!!!

Thanks SC!

‘Face

[vladimir998]

Ever notice how many Chinese women (or women of Chinese extraction) are named “Grace”? This one is certainly attractive: https://nauticalarch.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Tsai_photo.jpg

[snoringbear]

“The goal of the exercise. Will they have period music as well?”

I’m wondering what the purpose of this study was other than perhaps using other people’s money to fund a year or two of fun....

[Comment Not Approved]

Interesting read. Thanks

I'm re-reading Undaunted Courage now and am taken by how long some of their supplies lasted. Their salt pork and soup mix made it a long way.

[Comment Not Approved]

Lewis and Clark expedition.

[XEHRpa]

...or rime.

[Drawsing]

My father-in-law (former Navy) does not recommend the green bologna.

[BubbaBasher]

I’m a descendant of one of the survivors.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

"analyzing shipboard diets based on modern nutritional guidelines."

Probably not the best guideline for assessing a diet.
1. Eggs are bad for you. No, they are good. You are wrong, they are horrible.
2. Carbohydrates are bad for you. Wrong - they are good for you. You don't know what you are talking about - they destroy your health.
3. Fats are bad for you. Wrong - cavemen didn't eat grains, they ate lots of animal fat. The "paleo" diet is good for you.
4. Coffee is bad for you. No, it's good for you. You are stupid, it causes cancer. No, my study doesn't show that.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Lots of protein in weevils, too.

[DUMBGRUNT]

You may enjoy this book:

Includes some of the ancient recipes
https://www.amazon.com/Salt-World-History-Mark-Kurlansky/dp/0142001619

I did, but I tend to be easily amused.

[SunkenCiv]

Sounds interesting, but that's coming from someone who *may* have a book of ancient Roman recipes, mostly because the authors' surname was "Brothwell". :^)