Victualling and British History
Don’t you love that word? Victualling Supplying with food. And let’s supply some food for thought. N.A.M Rogers, in his magisterial history of the British Navy in the eighteenth century, The Command of the Ocean (Penguin 2005) traces how Britain between 1645 and 1815 came to control the world’s oceans. It’s hardly necessary to point out how this laid the groundwork for the expansion of the British Empire.
But how did the British Navy become so efficient? In the very last paragraph of his nearly-600 page book, he gives his answer. Yes, the officers and men were brave and professional. But what they had that other navies had not had was decent food that lasted long enough for extended expeditions at sea. “Only when ships could be kept at sea with healthy crews for long periods could the possibilities of naval power be fully exploited.” And this was thanks to the body that arranged food for the Navy, the Victualling Board.
Food first.
