Food & Drink - Page 2 of 5

Henry's ships seldom undertook very long voyages and were not provisioned to do so; they needed resupplying regularly. There are numerous historical references from commanders pleading for victuals, especially supplies of beer - English troops had been known to go on strike when the beer ran out.

While some evidence of dietary deficiency has been found in the remains of the Mary Rose's crew, this was mostly associated with childhood diseases. Scurvy, that bane of long voyages was not in evidence on the Mary Rose, most of the young men who perished on the ship were young and healthy.

The crew's food was cooked in a "Kychen" in the hold. This structure consisted of four thousand bricks in the form of a firebox supporting two large cauldrons. The fire was fuelled by logs which were stored nearby. Most of the meat and fish would have been boiled in these cauldrons to provide a stew, although a small bronze tripod pot found in the hearth could have been used to prepare individual meals for officers. Smaller pots, a pair of bellows, a hand broom and two ash boxes were also found in this area.

The officers seemed to have dined and supped from pewter plates and tankards, while the majority of the crew ate and drank from wooden ones.

At least eighty-seven wooden bowls, fifty-eight dishes and one hundred and forty-four plates were recovered, many from barrels near the "Kychen". The men's drinking vessels were stave-built tankards, often lined with pitch to make them watertight. These tankards were private possessions and have been found in many parts of the ship.

The food was eaten with a general purpose knife; fifty-eight were recovered, ten still in their wooden sheaths. Some of the sheaths are elaborately carved. Eating utensils also included spoons, but very few of these were found.

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