It is my firm opinion that one should carry plenty of good salt meat when bound on a long cruise, and rely as little as possible on tinned provisions. The temperature is very high on small vessels in the tropics, and this does undoubtedly in time set up some sort of chemical change in tinned meat—a change which, though it may not be perceptible to the senses, can be productive of much ill health. The salt meat should be of the right sort too. It is not advisable to go, as I myself once did, to even the best of butchers in a seaport town and have fresh meat salted down. This is excellent at first, but it will not keep long on the small vessel. It is far better to procure the older, much-travelled, well-tested salt meat, less tasty though it be. The good firms of purveyors empty the cask, examine each piece of beef, and repickle it, before sending it on board; such beef will keep through the longest voyage and in any climate.
It is certain that no sort of food will remain sweet and wholesome so long on a small as on a big craft. It is amongst other things essential to have the supply of biscuit divided into a number of hermetically sealed tins. The best made bread locker will not prevent maggots, weevils, and other loathsome insects from swarming among the biscuit as soon as the 50-tonner reaches the tropics, and the better the quality of the biscuit the more rapid and complete will be the spoiling of it. It must not be forgotten that tinned ship's bread can only be procured in England, so a sufficient supply must be laid in before one sails.
This brings me to another point. It is not only advisable to take from England all the biscuit wanted, but also, if possible, all the tinned meats and suchlike stores. If more be needed in the course of the voyage, it should be sent out from England and transshipped. In the ports of the West Indies, of the Indian Ocean, or indeed on any tropical coast, though one may come across honest ship-chandlers—I have frequently been lucky enough to do so myself—it will be found that, even with them, prices are apt to be exorbitant; while their goods are often of inferior quality, or, when of good brands, old and damaged. With the dishonest ship-chandlers, who are not rare, one is likely to have still worse experiences. Were I again to fit out a yacht for a lengthy cruise, I should take everything of this sort with me, or make arrangements with a good English firm to send me out relays of supplies to certain places at which it was my intention to call. I should only rely on the ports for fresh meat, vegetables, fruit and suchlike perishable commodities.
Neither should one go to the ship-chandler of the foreign harbour for rope, blocks, canvas, or boatswain's necessaries of any description. Provision should be carefully made against running short of these; plenty and to spare should be taken from home.
On an English 50-ton yacht it is usual to carry on all the cooking in the forecastle; but when the vessel is on tropical seas it is very uncomfortable for the hands forward to have a fire burning for the greater part of the day in their close quarters. On the 'Alerte' the fire was only lit once a day in order to cook the dinner, a large spirit stove being employed for the preparation of breakfast and tea, to boil water, and so forth. A good spirit stove is indispensable on our 50-tonner. On the 'Falcon' we used even to cook our dinner with one. Spirits-of-wine is among the few things that can always be got of satisfactory quality and at moderate cost in every foreign port. I have never found difficulty in procuring this in any part of the world, and as a rule considerably cheaper than methylated spirits in England.
I have always preferred a spirit to a paraffin stove. I have never come across a sea cook yet who could deal satisfactorily with the latter. The lampblack is apt to make a terrible mess of the pots and pans and everything else, including the sea cook. I know that, if the lamp is properly trimmed and the stove is carefully looked after, this should not happen. But somehow or other it generally does happen; consequently paraffin is not suitable fuel for the sea-going stove, and the cleanly alcohol, though a little more expensive, is far better for the purpose.
On plenty of smart West Indian and other foreign sloops and schooners of about the size of our 50-tonners, it is customary to do all the cooking on deck; and I do not see why this method should not be adopted on our small ocean-going yacht when she is at sea in fine weather or lying at anchor. A tiny temporary galley or fireplace—very 'un-yachty,' it must be confessed—might be fitted up on deck forward, and if the cook be a West Indian negro of the right sort, he will probably be found as clever as an Indian 'bobbachee' on the march at turning out a capital meal without the aid of cumbersome stove or oven—and that, too, without making any mess whatever, so that the skipper need feel no anxiety for his spotless deck and sails.
The Drogue, off the Kullen Head.