Ships and Food

Provisioning navies requires forethought. Soldiers, even as late as the German invasion of Russia in 1941, tended to live off the land; hence the success of a scorched earth strategy. Sailors, however, once embarked, might not make landfall until their return, with only a fishing line (or their comrades) as last resort. Ships stores consisted of dry goods (meal, rice, legumes, and hard tack), salt meats and fish, pickled vegetables, some butter and hard cheese (skim-milk Suffolk was once popular but was so hard as to be barely edible). All this was kept in often leaking barrels (a cooper was usually among the crew).