Based on “Feeding the Crew of the Mary Rose” a Third Thursday Talk at the Mary Rose Museum by Ro Collins, Janet Hillman and Simon Clabby, Costumed Interpreters.
It was Napolean Bonaparte who famously said "An Army Marches on its Stomach", and while Henry VIII would almost certainly not have approved of this empire-building French leader, he certainly appreciated the truth of these words.
A Tudor sailor, contrary to popular belief, would have had quite a good diet. Many of the skeletons on the Mary Rose appear to be healthy, and those who showed signs of malnutrition generally seem to have experienced it in childhood, before they began their roles aboard ship. Each sailor had a fairly generous daily ration, which consisted of;
1lb (0.45kg) of Beef (Boiled)
This would have been the wet weight, so after cooking it would have weighed slightly less. It is still a fairly hefty chunk of meat. Butchered beef bones were found on the Mary Rose in barrels, cut to a size that, with the meat still in place, weighed about a pound. Beef would be stored in both fresh and salted forms, the fresh being consumed first as it went off quicker. Admittedly, it wasn't such a problem in Henry's navy. Unlike today, or even in the time of Nelson, the Navy rarely went far. Rather than heading off to the Caribbean or India, you were generally going up and down ,or across, the English Channel, so there was plenty of opportunity for re-stocking your supplies.
The exception to this was on fish days, days of religious significance where the consuming of meat was banned. Then fresh fish could be caught and cooked in the same way, or salted for later consumption.
Oh, and the vegetarian option? There wasn't one.
1lb (0.45kg) of Ships Biscuit
This equates to about 8 biscuits, which were baked twice to make them rock-hard. This meant they lasted longer than ordinary bread, which could go mouldy within days. In the museum we have ships biscuits that were made over a year ago, which are technically still edible, though I wouldn't recommend it!
To eat these biscuits without breaking your teeth, it was necessary to soak them first, either in broth or beer. Speaking of beer...
1 Gallon (4.5 Litres) of Beer
Yes, that's a day! Admittedly, it wasn't as strong as modern beers, but it still had enough alcohol in it to leave you feeling slightly woozy if you drank your entire ration at once! The main reason beer was drunk is that it was safer to drink than water; there was no safe way of purifying water apart from the brewing process (and boiling, which was the favoured method in the Far East, but that didn't have the same 'pleasant' side-effects!) Beer also contained many vitamins and minerals that weren't available otherwise, so it was pretty much the Tudor equivilent of a health drink! Probably not the case today, though, I should add...
Seasonal Vegetables
When the Mary Rose sank in July 1545, carrots and cabbages were in season, so they would have made up at least part of the crews diet. As with the beef, these would have been boiled too, in fact they'd have been boiled at the same time in the same cauldron. Vegetarians would have starved onboard the Mary Rose!
Mary Rose 500
