[Sca-cooks] Scurvy in period (slightly OT)

[Jeff Gedney]

for what it's worth, the complete etext of Richard Hakluyt's "The PRINCIPAL NAVIGATIONS VOYAGES TRAFFIQUES & DISCOVERIES of the ENGLISH NATION Made by Sea or Overland to the Remote & Farthest Distant Quarters of the Earth at any time within the compasse of these 1600 Yeares" is available at the perseus Etext server at Tufts university. 
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/
(in the "Renaissance collection")
There are three works there by a Lancaster, and non make more than a passing mention of any fruits except in the manner of cataloging the produce of a certain region. 
The first edition of the book came out before the 1601 voyage, in 1596 so that voyage is not there.
John Davis was his Navigator as I recall, so a better book to consult would be: The Voyages and Works of John Davis, ed. by A. H. Markham (1880, repr. 1970). that a good book, I read it a while ago, and I dont remember all that much about fruit in it, but its worth checking out... I need to use interlibrary loan more...

In the works of the noted Barber surgeon, William Clowes, he makes mention of Scurvy grass and other fruits as well as a number of other less wholesome ingredients in his cure for scurvy, one of those ingredients was a diluted solution of the "water used in purifying gold" (sodium cyanide a prominent ingredient in that) as a component of a wash to be applied to the suppurating gums of the scorbutic patient.
the fact that Scurvy Grass was even called that in a commonplace usage indicated that it's effectivelness as a treatment was widely known before Clowes wrote his book.

It should also be noted that nearly all cases of scurvy in period was also coincident with severe anemia and edema in the lower extremities, indicating that scurvy was usually complicated by beri-beri, and probably several other vitamin deficiency "diseases". Clowes cure calles for a large number of ingredients, with several different classes of vegetables fruits and, fresh meat, and lots of almond paste.
Clowes thought that the rotted food and stinking waters which sailors were forced to endure was the cause of scurvey... in a way he was pretty close to the mark, but he mixed in so much of the regular vapor, and humoral theory that the real cause was hidden in a laundry list of causative factors.
In any case he was convinnced that the surest cure was Fresh food, rest, and regular excercise, though the "fresh food" was wrapped up in a very complicated prescription. 

Lemon juice's effect on scurvy was noted, but the cuae of its efficacy was often taken to be it's acidic and astringent quality, and many people, such as Sir John Hawkins, the noted Elizabethan Admiral and explorer, were convinced that a solution of "Oil of Vitriol", (essentially sulphuric acid), mixed with water and sugar, had the same effect.  (Lets not forget that these are people who had not the foggiest notion of what a vitamin is or how nutrition worked.)

You can find a facimile of several of Clowes books here:
http://www.st-mike.org/medicine/clowes.html

Capt Elias
-Renaissance Geek of the Cyber Seas

-------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather 
wood, divide the work, and give orders.  Instead, teach them
to yearn for the vast and endless sea. 
  - Antoine de Saint Exupery 




---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at worldnet.att.net>
Reply-To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date:  Tue, 8 Feb 2005 14:42:07 -0600

>According to Mark Anderson, it was an accidental controlled experiment. 
>http://www.riparia.org/scurvy_hx.htm
>
>I did a little further checking and found that this was the first voyage of 
>the East India company fleet.  Lancaster's logs from the voyage have 
>disappeared.  Further information of the voyage can be found in Samuel 
>Purchas' Hakluytus post-hummus, or Purchas his Pilgrims, 1625 and Sir 
>Clements Markham's
> The Voyages of Sir James Lancaster, Hakluyt Society, 1877.  The earlier 
>voyage of James Lancaster appears in Hakluyt's Voyages, but is not included 
>in the abridged edition I have.
>
>Anderson's article is interesting because it covers some of the 
>considerations of scurvy and the citrus treatment prior to Lind.
>
>Bear
>
>> So would you say from your reading that Capt. Lancaster knew that he had a 
>> scurvy cure with citrus or that he was trying to figure it out?  To my 
>> mind, if he didn't yet know what citrus would do, he was possibly 
>> endangering the crew on one ship only.
>>
>> Cordelia Toser
>>
>> James Prescott <prescotj at telusplanet.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Same voyage. Captain Lancaster, though in overall command of the
>> four ships, used the juices for his own crew only, which suggests
>> that it was not Company policy at the time of his voyage. It is
>> suggested that he was experimenting (in the event, at the expense
>> of the crews of the other three ships).
>>
>>
>> Thorvald
>>
>>
>> At 20:36 -0600 2005-02-07, Terry Decker wrote:
>>> This is coincident with the date and location for James Lancaster
>>> (of the East India Company) dosing his crew with citrus juice. My
>>> information says that was done just for his crew. This raises the
>>> question of whether the cure was generalized for the whole of the
>>> East India Company or whether your source generalized and isolated
>>> incident.
>>>
>>> Bear
>>>
>>>> Scurvy was also mentioned:
>>>>
>>>> The English East India Company is mentioned as gathering oranges
>>>> and lemons from Madagascar in 1601 which they turned into juice
>>>> specifically for use against scurvy.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thorvald
>>>
>>
>>
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