Talking about the Royal Navy of the British Royal Navy in the 18th century
——In the British Navy really rely on salted beef and hard biscuits?
Wen •
Since defeating the Spanish invincible fleet, the British Empire has gradually digged into the overlord of the ocean, and firmly controlled the trident symbolizing the sea power.And all of this is inseparable from the Royal Navy’s strong ships, but also the sailors who are fighting for blood. As the saying goes: people are eating as the sky, and the sailors who have undertake high -intensity combat tasks are eating every day.What do you do?
Perhaps it is caused by some articles that are not completely introduced. Many people have only one-sided cognition about the Royal Navy’s food in the British Royal Navy in the 18th and 19th centuries, and even said that it has become a joke, such as “unmestyling salted beef” “In fact, if you think about “difficult to swallow hard biscuits”, in fact, if you think about it, you will understand that the maritime war of the sailing battleship era is quite physical: the gunner needs to drag up the artillery of up to several tons into the cabin to complete the clearing clearThe loading of the bore and firing medicine and the shells, then launch the gun door aim at the shooting; the sailing hand needs to pull the heavy twisted plate, tamping the cable to adjust the speed, climb up and down between the sailing cable rope net, and complete the task of lift sails;The jumping helper of the side war must fight fiercely with the enemy on the enemy ship with the rain of the barrel.And these high -strength physical labor can be completed by those who can be tortured by a bad diet …
In fact, foods such as salted beef and hard biscuits mentioned earlier have always been standardized.Perhaps it is unexpected, but in fact, their price is higher than common food, because at that time, the long -term storage of food has always been a problem. This kind of food was only obtained by the ocean fleet. Usually, the logistics officer was more willing to be willing to be in timeFresh ingredients are purchased near the port of Paris to provide sailors. They are often cheaper and nutritious than the former.In other words, salted beef and hard biscuits only become the protagonist on the table when sailing/combat of ocean -ocean …
In fact, the British sailor is not bad, and it is even better than other countries.In the comic “The French Navy General Captured” on the comic “The Oli Arles”, the captured French commander Vilnerv watched the British sailor who was eating, “Oh, no wonder you play so well! You eat it!It’s so good, drink so well “” “even the enemy is amazed by the British sailor’s diet, it is natural to say whether it is dark food.Of course, it is inevitable that the victims’ deliberate shows and the defeats are complimented, but in general, there is still a reference significance.
Of course, the restrictions on the preservation time, even if there are special supply ships for distribution, can only enjoy fresh ingredients only near the fixed port or local fleets, and the ocean fleet is often accompanied by bacon biscuits.It is this strong contrast that the “notorious” of the bacon biscuits is far away.Of course, this also used the past to use some poor experience to contrast the welfare of the next navy without making corrections.
In fact, the British Naval Logistics Commission (Victualling Board) is quite strict for military food inspection standards such as salted beef. From the factory, to the board, to the cooking, the quality of the quality is naturally inspected.Not low.In 1804, the Ministry of Navy had ordered a group of naval food warehouses purchased from Russia’s wheat, dried peas and bacon to supplement the port of Malta.In the end, it was all returned. Such a strict test, naturally it is unlikely that the inferior salted beef was brought to the British sailor’s dining table …
As for the wide circulation, the so -called rumors of the so -called “1854 Crimean War, the British sailor eaten the rumors of the Napoleonic era”, which was actually impossible to happen at all -not to mention the British Mediterranean Fleet that performed combat missions at the time at that time, Most of the logistics supply is the nearest purchase. As early as the early 18th century, the Navy Logistics Committee had stipulated that the storage period of salt and biscuits was only 2 years.Nympho
In 1733, the “Related Regulations and Regulations and Systems of the Naval Unit of the King” issued by the Ministry of Navy, there is a clearly stipulated “His Majesty Staff Daily Food Quota”. According to calculations, each seafarer’s daily calorie is as high as 4500-5000 calories.It is equivalent to 1.5 times the daily intake of normal adults, which also explains why so many young boys who originally joined the Navy became strong and strong, and sufficient nutritional supply was indispensable …
Compared with the same period, children in the underlying workers’ class families obviously have not obtained such a rich and ample material supply, let alone the poor class of life.According to the article “Birth of Consumer Society: Commercialization of the British in the 18th Century” by British sociologist Neil McKen Derrick, the three meals of the three meals of a British Hank County Farm at the time were as follows:
Breakfast. Slip bread and cheese, the remaining bacon or egg left the day before
Lunch. Bread, cabbage or radish, a small amount of bitter beer
Afternoon tea. Add sugar tea
Dinner. Vegetable pea soup, potatoes, bread, bacon
This is a farm employee with relatively abundant food sources. Needless to say, the food of workers and poor foods is too bad. The same cheap bread and cheese became the protagonist on the table. Therefore, many people at the time chose to send their children into the Navy.To a certain extent, it is better than eating at home …
[Mentioning British cuisine, the first reaction of many people is Fish and Chips, but in fact, this representative food did not appear until the industrial revolution.Because the preservation period is short, even as an island country, before the developed Victorian era of train transportation, civilians in the British non -coastal areas are difficult to eat fresh fish, and most of the cases are still eating pickled fish.The cheap protein source of fish meat was popular in the United Kingdom until the 19th century.As a navy, it is easy to take enough protein and salt through sea fish …]
[One pound is equal to 457 grams, and one -time is 3.785 liters (this is the wine gallons, 5/6 of the 4.55 -liter of British gallons).
It can be seen that this recipe is quite rich and the quantity is sufficient.Of course, there are few hundred sailors on a boat, and many thousands. The consumption of supplies is also great. A third -class sail battleship of a 74 artillery will consume 20 tons of hard biscuits or heavy grains in one week.Half -ton salted beef or fresh meat, a quarter of tons of cheese and 4500 gallon beer …
However, these quotas are not necessarily the real recipes of sailors. In the British Navy’s rules and regulations, there is also a “Official Substitutes for Species of PROVISIONS”.In this explanation, the 1 -grade wine or semi -grained spirits can replace 1 gallon beer. 4 pounds of flour plus 1 pound of raisins can replace 1 pound of salted beef, 4 pounds of fresh beef or 3 pounds of fresh mutton can replace 4Pound salted beef, 1 pound of rice can replace 1 pounds of biscuits, 1 product off pea, 1 夸 oats or 1 pound of cheese, etc. The sailor can choose to replace the basic quota to other foods or money, and these basic food distribution is not yet among the distributionIncluding fresh fruits and fruits, if you add the food purchased by the sailor by yourself, the food on the table will be quite rich …
In many cases, if the conditions are allowed, in order to ensure the freshness of the meat, the logistical officer will bring the live cattle sheep to the boat.To the local fleet directly supplied live cattle live sheep, in March 1796, they ordered every warship that entered Hong Kong to receive two weeks of fresh meat, cabbage and onions …
In fact, the navy’s food has a lot to do with the location. After the third British and Dutch War broke out in 1762, the local fleet attacked. During the time of the Norr anchor, it could get fresh ingredients through a supply ship.The ship chief John Abel’s diary mentioned that the carrot, cabbage, Wujing and fresh meat from the supply ship, and the end of the 18th century, in order to perform the sea blockade of France, the large fleet had to have to have to have the big fleet.It is difficult to raise ingredients near the Gibraltar Strait, and it has to increase the proportion of bacon biscuits pea, etc. in the recipe, and they have become frequent customers on the table.To extreme, General George Anson of the Royal Navy in 1744 and more than 1,900 subordinates took six ships to sail around the world. After 4 years, only one “century long” returned with more than 200 people.During the trip, it was difficult for the seafarers to obtain vitamins through fresh fruits and vegetables, which caused terrible sepsis …
In fact, in order to avoid this non -combat reduction as much as possible, the Royal Navy has also made a lot of efforts. For example, the dragging net with the ship can be used to fish for fresh fish;This kind of cabbage gang that is only willing to eat by German guys; also, from 1756, a “convenient soup” provided by London retailer Dubisus to the Royal Navy. This kind of meat, vegetables and animalsAfter the internal organs and salt are mixed and boiled into a paste, and then the strange food with dehydration and drying into a square is considered by some doctors to be effective for scoring hemise. It only produced 897 tons in 1793. HoweverEven a bit of vitamins; but fortunately, the “On Scarlet Disease” published by the Navy Navy James Lind in 1753 proposed the theory of preventing scurvy through citrus and lemon.The preservation period is short, and the heating of the concentrated fruit juice on the copper pot on the boat will also make the vitamin oxidation failure. In addition, Dr. Linde himself also expressed unconfident in his theory. Therefore, in 1795Three -quarters of lemon juice are matched. Of course, before that, their drinking water also had sugar and lemon juice, but that was just to neutralize the odor in the deterioration of fresh water …
When it comes to the Royal Navy, it is inseparable from the Rim of the blood of Nelson.As an old opponent in the UK, the French seafarers can ensure moisture intake through the easy -to -preserve wine. Before the appearance of Rum, the British seafarers who can’t drink spirits (such as whiskey and Bailan Di) can only pray for themThe inferior beer in the barrel should not be sour so fast, but this situation has been changed after the emergence of the Rum. This kind of by -product of sugarcane juice -made by sugarcane juice, the cost of liquor fermented by the molasses is low, and it is because it is lower thanThe high degree is convenient for storage, so after occupying the Israel Island that is rich in sugarcane and lum, from 1687, the British Navy began for centuries of Rum Ration.The amount is enough to get drunk by an adult, and the drunk person not only cannot work properly, but will cause unnecessary trouble.Therefore, in 1756, the British Navy established the command issued by the General Edward Vernon on August 21, 1740 as a fixed system:At 6 pm, the rum wine that was divided into hands should be drunk at a ratio of 1/4.Diarrhea and other conditions occur.Because Fordn himself has the nickname of “Old Grog”, the sailors call this kind of Rum with the water “Groog”.The name of spirits …
At first, the freshwater storage on the ship was still a big problem. Even the clean fresh water that was taken from the upper reaches of the Thames and boiled it could not be stored for a long time. The freshwater installed in a barrel and other containers would deteriorate and stink, and even drifted green moss.EssenceDrinking this deterioration fresh water is likely to cause diarrhea or even dehydration, people are always looking for effective ways to extract fresh water from seawater.In 1762, Dr. Linde demonstrated the process of distillation and believed in the Royal Navy, hoping that they would put the distilled furnace onto the warship, but finally stopped due to too much fuel consumption and the extraction efficiency was too low.Eight years later, Charles Owen designed a new device that can extract nearly one hundred liters of fresh water from 300 liters of salt in one hour, and the British Congress rewarded him for two thousand pounds.By 1772, the Royal Navy requested that all warships must install a distilled furnace (Marine Distiller) to provide fresh water.In contrast, the crew and passengers on the merchant ship are worse. It was not until 1864 that British law asked the government to install a distilled furnace on the immigrant ship, but this law is still not suitable for private ships. This is also them and warships.One of the differences …
Compared with the sailor, the officers’ food is much more fine. They can often be divided into more and better fresh food. In addition, some of the boats also have eggs and poultry and milk sheep. The eggs and fresh milk are naturally indispensableThey.But in summary, the difference between the two is not too much …
All in all, most of the saying that the British Navy’s diet is poor, most of them are passed on by rumors. The source comes from sailors on the Shiyuanyang Merchant Ship. After all, the latter is not protected by the law, and the captains don’t care how they eat.How about it, as long as you maintain your life at the lowest cost.The author even doubts whether the expired hard biscuits and salted beef were acquired by the owners of these ship owners at a low price to provide sailors on the ocean merchant ships, which led to the prevalence of some statements today.But because of the lack of evidence, this was just a guess …
 Data quoted:
Royal Navy official website
http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk
The official website of the Royal Navy Association
http://www.rna-carmarthen.org.uk
Royal Navy Museum official website
http://www.royal-navalmuseum.org.uk
Royal Navy official website
http://www.hms- victory.com
British National Maritime Museum:
http://www.collections.rmg.co.uk
Battleship Forum:
http://www.zhanliejian.com
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