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White Wings Vol I. Fifty Years Of Sail In The New Zealand Trade, 1850 TO 1900

Starvation Fare

Starvation Fare.

"At the end of 20 days we ran among a lot of icebergs. It was bitterly cold, the ship continued to ship plenty of water, and I don't know how the crew with their wretched quarters in the fo'c'sle were able to keep going, working the ship and pumping. When we started out from Wellington we had 50 sheep, 10 pigs and some poultry on board, but these were all lost during the first week out. The biscuits and flour were full of weevils, and the salt pork and beef, which had been put into barrels three years previously, were quite uneatable. There were no condensers in those days, and the water, which was carried in iron tanks, was the colour of coffee. The only good food on board was the oatmeal and we used to get porridge which was eaten with treacle.