How did ships preserve food?

Food Sailors had no way to keep their food fresh while on board ship. Dried or salted beef, pork, and fish were the sailor’s main foods. This meat was kept in large salt barrels in the ship’s hold. The sailors also brought live animals, such as pigs, chickens and goats, for fresh meat and milk.

How did sailing ships keep fresh water?

Larger ships carried barrels of fresh water in their ships’ stores. These were refilled with rainwater during the course of the voyage at almost every opportunity. By using a sailcloth catch system, they could divert water off the sails into the barrels.

What did medieval sailors eat?

The main rations were salt beef or pork, cheese, fish, ale and some form of ship’s biscuit. The quality of food deteriorated because of storage problems, lack of ventilation, and poor drainage. It was also affected by the presence of rats and other vermin on board.

How do ships get water?

How do ships obtain potable water? Freshwater may be obtained from shore mains supply or water barge. Alternatively, the majority of ships employ an evaporator system that uses distillation, or a pressurised filtering system which uses reverse osmosis to convert seawater into potable water.

How did pirate ships get water?

For pirates on the open sea, it was almost impossible to transport and maintain an adequate supply of fresh drinking water onboard. Because of this, many seamen drank grog, beer or ale as opposed to water. This water and alcohol combination is better known as grog.

What did they eat on medieval ships?

Although fresh food was common on board ship for shorter trips they also carried, and sometimes relied on, the preserved food they had: “salted beef, pork and fish, cheese, pease, butter and biscuit”[3] were all common foods.

How did sailors store food?

To preserve certain foods, such as meat and fish, they were dried, salted, smoked, or pickled. Sailors did not have cans so the meat/fish may have been packed in wood barrels or creates. Other foodstuffs would have been similarly stored for the trip. Food would often rot or became infested with weevils.