[65] Vide Opera Ambrosii Parei.
[66] See Essay on Sea Diseases.
[67] Limes, shaddocks, and perhaps all the other fruits of that class, possess the same virtues; but I have most frequently observed good effects from lemons.
[68] In the course of the passage from England to the West Indies in February, 1782, the following directions for using the sour krout and melasses were given in public orders by the Admiral to the different ships of the squadron:
“The allowance of sour krout made by the public boards in England, is two pounds to each man every week; and the Admiral orders that from a pound and a half to two pounds (beginning with the lesser quantity, and increasing as the men may find it palatable) be boiled with every gallon of pease on a pease day. The cooks are desired not to wash it, nor to put it into the coppers till the pease are sufficiently broken. “Half a pound is directed to be issued raw to each man on beef days, and a quarter of a pound on pork days. It is recommended that the allowance of vinegar be saved, particularly on meat days. When sour krout runs short, the pease and beef days to have the preference; when shorter still, the pease days. Melasses having been allowed in lieu of part of the oatmeal, in the proportion of eleven pounds to two gallons, the Admiral directs, that a pound of melasses be boiled with every gallon of oatmeal on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, mixing it and stirring it round with the burgoo immediately after it is drawn off. He directs that half a pound of melasses be issued with every three pounds of flour over and above the common proportion of raisins; and to prevent any abuse, it is directed that the purser’s steward pour it into the platter with the flour of which the pudding is made. The Admiral forbids the use of pease in lieu of oatmeal, as has sometimes been the practice.”
These rules were suggested by Sir Charles Douglas, captain of the fleet, whose benevolence is equal to his known professional skill; and he had ascertained the utility of the preceding directions when captain of the Duke in the former part of the war.
[69] In the French ships of war there is an oven large enough to supply not only all the officers and sick, but part of the crew, with soft bread every day. The advantages attending the use of flour in place of bread are so great and obvious, that the former will probably, in time, be substituted entirely for the latter. There is a proof of its being practicable to use it in place of bread in British ships of war, even with their present conveniences, communicated to me by Captain Caldwell. When he commanded the Agamemnon, of 64 guns, at New York, in the end of 1782, there happened to be no bread in store to supply that ship on her passage to the West Indies, and flour was given in place of it. The men, without any inconvenience, were able to bake it into bread for themselves, and it proved so salutary, that Captain Caldwell ascribed the uncommon degree of health which his men enjoyed to the use of the flour. The only objection that can be made to it is the greater consumption of wood occasioned by baking; but this may be obviated by adopting the grates invented by Mr. Brodie, in which the ovens are heated by the same fire with which the victuals are boiled.
[70] Mr. Napeane, afterwards Under Secretary of State, was at that time purser of the Foudroyant, and acted a very benevolent and disinterested part, by being instrumental in introducing this reform in the navy victualling.
[71] Half a pound of cocoa, and as much sugar, was allowed in place of a pound of butter.
[72] Table, exhibiting the daily Allowance of Provisions for each Man in the Navy.