Summer 2018 – Ship Biscuit & Salted Beef Research Project

Previous attempts to gauge the nutritional value of shipboard diets were based on historical documentation instead of laboratory data. In this project, shipboard food was replicated using the exact ingredients and methods of preparation from the 17th century, including non-GMO ingredients, the exact species of plant or animal, and the same butchery methods and cuts of meat. Archaeological and historical data was used to replicate the salted pork and beef, ship biscuit, wine and beer, and other provisions aboard Warwick, an English race-built galleon that sank in 1619. Then, a trans-Atlantic voyage was simulated by storing the food in casks and keeping these in a ship’s hull for three months. Current work includes nutritional laboratory analysis and microbiological analysis of the food items.