Contents
What did the Pirates eat and drink? Food?
It wasn’t all about eating delicious turtle soup and getting drunk on rum.
Sometimes the food aboard ships, pirates or not, was bad. This was the way they ate and drank. Happy pirates after a good portion of food and a good portion of rum.
The merry and famous Jack Rackham and his companions, the female pirates, Anne Bonny and Mary Reed.
They combined freedom, fun and Piracy, but they were able to stop them because they were all drunk. Only the women and a few teetotalers stood up to their attackers. The rest could not move, because they were drunk as drunkards.
In the celebrations, they were so drunk that when they were attacked, almost the entire crew was drunk. Only the two women and some who could stand up, put up a fight. They could not defend themselves and were arrested.
No Tortoise and Rum soup
This pitiful diet was one of the major problems of the long sea voyages. Half-rotten meats, foul-smelling cookies, and half-rotten water were common on board the ships.
This is how they ate in a Sea of Pirates
Good drinking and other starving sailors
Curiosities about pirates, sailors and their food and drinks.
The Pirates’ Food was better
The other Seafarers of the time ate less and worse. The sometimes good food of the Pirates and the contrast with the Seafarers who could go hungry on the ships.
The Food of Pirates and sailors: Soup and turtle eggs, half-rotten meats, smelly cookies, and half-rotten water, Salted meat, Special cookies, Expensive and laborious to make, Insects in the cookies, Expelled weevils, Rock-hard cookies, Sometimes they ate even the rats, They ate even the leather, Pirates ate better than other sailors ….
Turtles come out of the water at dusk to lay their eggs on the beaches[/caption]The most appropriate time to catch turtles was when they came to the beaches to lay their eggs at dusk.
Seafarers and Pirates Drinks
A good binge was the beginning of his best party ever.
Meals and lots of rum, beer, wine, etc.
Rum, the typical drink
The typical drink of the Caribbean
Rum became the drink of pirates and sailors. Its fame in the Caribbean Sea has come down to us, but it was also very common in other areas.
A drink preferred by sailors due to the poor quality of wine and its low alcohol content. The scarcity of beer also made it popular.
Pirates and their many drunkenness some without any limit
Beer, they drank it sometimes
Scarce and with low alcohol content, it was not generally used on long voyages.
They preferred to carry barrels of rum or whisky with more alcohol in less space
Wine, officials and Mediterranean
The poor quality of the wines shipped with a lot of sediment made the sailors reject them. In addition, many were from Northern Europe and were accustomed to beverages with higher alcohol content.
However, the officers did appreciate the wine, since the wine shipped to them was of much better quality. Spanish wines were highly appreciated.
Useful as a disinfectant
Mixed with water
Unpleasant presence and taste
Seeking shelter in a bay could be the best alternative rather than facing a storm at sea[/caption].
Sailing the cold Alaskan seas
When the climate was cold and the waters were icy, as in Alaska, the chances of getting food were reduced.
After a month on the ship, the stored water would often go bad. And even if it didn’t, it tasted and looked quite disgusting. Hardly anyone dared to drink it alone.
For this reason, there were those who filtered it with a handkerchief, in order to remove the green and sometimes viscous substances that invaded it.
This made it customary to mix it with strong drinks such as rum.
Farm animals raised in the wild
Abandoned and wild servants
On some islands, e.g., the island of Hispaniola, where a Royal Order forced the inhabitants to regroup and abandon an area of the island. In these territories, animals that had escaped or were abandoned were left free in the countryside.
In these areas that had been abandoned by the Spaniards, farm animals could be found moving freely from one place to another.
These animals had been bred and raised wild, such as sheep, goats, pigs, hens, rabbits, etc.
Abandoned animals
The Spanish and other Europeans, in their many attempts to colonize new territories, left many animals abandoned when the colonies failed.
These were raised on their own in the prairies and forests of the islands: cows, pigs, chickens, rabbits, etc.
Having chickens meant that fresh meat and eggs were available at any time. This made the pirates’ diet more varied.
Chickens used to be carried on ships to ensure fresh eggs and meat[/caption].
Meat and chicken eggs for pirates and seafarers
Chicken eggs made the food on ships more varied.
Pirates after chickens
Animals abandoned by Spaniards
Farm animals on the island and sometimes on the boats. Being able to eat fresh meat and make some eggs was worthwhile, feeding and caring for the birds.
Birds provided a more varied diet for sailors and pirates.
Chickens were one of the most appreciated farm animals since they allowed them to have fresh eggs and thus vary their diet a little. The cook and his assistant were in charge of watching over the pantry and taking care of the birds. They fed them and made sure that they were kept alive and healthy.
In this way, when needed, they collected their eggs and sometimes cooked them, although at other times they would eat them half-raw.
Sailors generally tried to bring chickens and other farm animals to fight hunger or for a change.
Birds and seafarers
Chickens were one of the most appreciated farm animals since they allowed them to have fresh eggs and thus vary their diet a little. The cook and his assistant were in charge of watching over the pantry and taking care of the birds. They fed them and made sure that they were kept alive and healthy.
In this way, when needed, they collected their eggs and sometimes cooked them, although at other times they would eat them half-raw.
Pirates, turtles and fish
Turtles were easily captured
Sometimes it was easy to feed, because of the ease of obtaining food. This happened with the turtles, you just had to know their habits and wait for the right moment. There were islands that were true paradises, where the animals had no fear of man.
Pirates and sailors one of these islands was a treasure. They could easily get meat because they were animals without fear of man and lots of eggs.
Animals without fear of man
The pirates’ food
America had a multitude of species of land animals, birds and fish. Being so sparsely populated, there were areas where wild animals were not accustomed to dealing with man and therefore were not afraid of him.
When pirates reached islands or uninhabited areas, they could encounter birds or other animals that passed by them without any fear.
Sometimes they hunted them using simple sticks or stones. It was very easy for a pirate expedition to get food on an island.
Crowds of fish alongside the boats
It was very easy to fish
In some seas it was not uncommon for multitudes of fish of different types to surround the ships as they sailed.
All kinds of fish and even sharks accompanied the boats, following them. Occasionally they would even land on the deck.
The easiest solution was fishing.
Turtle meat and eggs
Pirate turtle soup
One solution to get food was to look for them on islands where turtles nested. On the islands where the turtles went to lay their eggs, they were very easy to capture.
The pirates would wait until dusk and when the turtles appeared, they would turn them over by resting them on their shells. This prevented them from escaping as they were unable to turn around on their own.
Later, they were loaded into the ship’s holds and kept alive to provide fresh food.
Their fresh eggs were very appetizing to them.
Salted meat for preservation
Only in this way could they be preserved.
The method of preserving meat at the time was to salt it.
This meant using a lot of water for desalination and produced a lot of thirst.
Rats, hunger and disease
Rats useful for Marines and Pirates
Rats were fed by taking advantage of leftovers on ships[/caption].
Rats used to live on the lower decks of ships.
Curiously, seafarers who dared to eat rats did not get scurvy.
If hungry, delicious rats
The situation of sailors and pirates was sometimes so desperate that many of them did not hesitate to eat rats.
There were pirates who hunted them and ate them well seasoned. Many were very clear that they would eat anything rather than go hungry.
Rats: Food and effective defense against Scurvy
Antidote against scurvy
When sailing for months, fresh food, such as fruits and vegetables, ran out. Soon the dreaded disease scurvy appeared, leaving the men without strength.
The origin of the disease was not known until the beginning of the 19th century. In the meantime, the military doctors who traveled in the great ships of the line of sometimes 100 cannons made discoveries.
It was detected that the food on the ships was very poor in Vitamin C (Ascorbate). Curiously, the sailors who ate rats did not catch the terrible scurvy.
To combat scurvy
Citrus and Rats Against Disease
Rats also lived in the most hidden places of the ships[/caption].
The rat, despite eating the waste, generates an acid that immunizes against scurvy.
On some ships, rats were a blessing as a source of food and against scurvy.
The great discovery was to recognize that rats generated in their organism the so-called ascorbic acid.
When sailors and pirates ate rats, what they really did was to ingest this component. The human being always needs it, since his body does not synthesize it.
Therefore, it takes it from the outside through food. This increases the amount of this component in the blood and prevents scurvy disease.
In the maritime wars, more people died from this type of disease than from the fighting.
During the Seven Years’ War between England, Spain and France alone there were thousands of deaths from this cause. The British navy acknowledged that nearly 100,000 of its sailors died of disease compared to less than 2,000 casualties in the fighting.
Hungry for pirates and cookies
Forced to eat some pretty disgusting cookies
If they ran out of food on the ship, the situation could become desperate.
If this was not the case and they could not find fresh food, they had to resort to some rather disgusting dry cookies in which worms used to nest. This forced them to shake them to make them fall and wet them if there was enough water.
They were so disgusted by the very sight of them that they tried to eat them in the dark so as not to see the disgusting weevils inside.
Bread cookies, on the boat
They were produced in the port and lasted for months.
The best way to carry bread was by means of bread cookies, which were prepared in the ports. For this reason, they were bought in advance, and some could have been made many months before. If they were provisions of the royal navy, they could be from years ago.
The costly manufacture of cookies
A long process with many operators.
To manufacture them, they required a long process involving many people.
At that time, the hygiene was terrible, and the result was half-contaminated bread cookies at the end of the baking process.
Cookie with insects, usual
While the cookies were being made.
As the flour dough was uncovered to make the cookies, they were very vulnerable.
Some insects nested in them, leaving their eggs in the dough.
They expelled weevils.
Knock them against the wood before eating them.
To eat the cookies without bugs, they would bang them against the wood of the boat, so that they would fall to the ground.
Hard as rocks, get them wet
They caused stiffness from chewing so much.
Chewing such a hard food made the jaw muscles fatigued, creating stiffness in the mouth.
They even ate the rats if there were
In times of famine they were boiled.
Desperate from hunger, they were forced to chase the ship’s rats.
Once cooked and if possible seasoned with spices, it seemed to them a great delicacy.
They ate the leather, soaking it
The last alternative in the face of death.
They softened the leather, which they could get by tearing bags, clothes, and belts. They soaked them in water for a long time to soften them. They removed hair and rudeness. And they cooked them after breaking them into small pieces.
The pirates ate their fill
They ate better if there was food, they celebrated real banquets, without limit.
Twice a day minimum Many seafarers became pirates for better living conditions. A seafarer usually ate once a day at best.
Among the pirates, eating twice a day without limit, and with plenty to drink, made them privileged, given the prevailing hunger of the time.
