[Sca-cooks] Citrus, Scurvy and The Royal Navy

[Jeff Gedney]

Venturing companies (and government "Navies" in time of war) had to pay restitution and/or pensions to widows and orphans of crewmen lost in legitimate action or accident, according to the various laws such as the Law of Oleron.

They did not have to pay for criminals killed for offense, deserters, muntineers, and victims of crew to crew violent crime aboard ship. 

They DID have to pay for the hospitalization or upkeep of men who were disabled and had to be placed in the care of whatever hospital facilies are nearest. 

How much these laws were complied with on a regular basis is unknown, but it is pretty clear that care and maintenance of sick men ashore and afloat was a significant expense. 

It is also clear that these expenses were often only partially paid and often only after a great deal of intercession and legal challenge. 
Naturally the worst sufferers were men who were not in the care of a "good" captain who believed that he was feudally responsible for those in his charge. Many captains and ssome admirals were beggared and some totally ruined in the days after the Armada, as the practice was that the crewmen had to be paid as soon as they set foot on land, and the promised payment to the ships owners and captains for their service was very slow in coming from the Admiralty. Consequently the men were forced to remain on board for several months, *in harbor*, eating rotten food and drinking foul water and sour beer. There was an epidemic through the fleet, and many captains were forced to set men ashore and make up their care and pay out of their personal funds.


Good book on the subject:
"Medicine and the Navy 1200-1900" by JJ Keevil (2 vols) 

also 
Enterprise of England the Spanish Armada 
by Roger Whiting 

The enterprise of England; an account of her emergence as an oceanic power. 
by Woodrooffe, Thomas 



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: "Phlip" <phlip at 99main.com>
Reply-To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date:  Wed, 9 Feb 2005 13:44:43 -0500

>
>Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...
>
>> So the other captains might have refused because (1) spending money for
>citrus would cut down on their profits for the voyage, and (2) it was
>experimental anyway whether scurvy would be cured by doing this.
>
>That's my thinking.
>
>> An off the wall thought (and a bit cold blooded, I admit) - what sort of
>incentives did the captains have to bring back a full crew?
>>
>> Cordelia Toser
>
>None, that I'm aware of- their concern was to maintain sufficient crew to
>get where they were going and back. A few missing bodies would mean fewer to
>pay at the end of the voyage, unless there was a set "crew" percentage.
>
>Saint Phlip,
>CoD
>
>"When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
> Blacksmith's credo.
>
> If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
>cat.
>
>Never a horse that cain't be rode,
>And never a rider who cain't be throwed....
>
>
>
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