scurvy

[ranhae]

sorry to bother you

[Omatako]

With today's availability of processed and canned foods some of which are superb quality and very nice to eat, with amazing shelf life, I reckon the only people who would get scurvy at sea are those that actually want to and work towards it.

And I reckon there's not too many of them.

[roline]

If you drink "Pussers painkillers" you will never have to worry about acquiring scurvy. It is caused by a vitamin "C" deficiency, which can be found in citrus fruits, blackcurrents, guava, kiwifruit, papaya, tomatoes strawberries are one of the best, carrots, peppers, broccoli cabbage, spinach and is added to some candies and sort drinks. If all you had was salted pork, hard tack and rum/water, you would miss out on most of your vitamins needs...

[mccary]

Back in the late 70s i worked as a photojournalist. One story I covered after I had been conoeing on the Potomac River just outside the Washington beltway. I discovered a man living on an island in the river only accessible by canoe.

A few days later, reporter and I went to meet this guy and learn his story. Seems he was living a very simple life, eating just peanut butter spread on homemade buckwheat pancakes made with boiled rain water. He had no vegetables and not other supplements; he was trying to learn if modern man could get scurvy. We met him after had had been living there for over 4 years, and still no scurvy.

As a side note, he was also working out PI manually to see if it ever did repeat (he believed it would but computers were part of a conspiracy to keep it secret). He was an interesting character that just might have needed some meds to nudge him back to the side of normal.fficeffice" />>>
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[arf145]

So, I assume you're kidding around, right? Sailors here have no more experience with scurvy than they do with walking the plank or being keelhauled.

[MoonSailer]

I read about a sailer who got scurvy. She had neglected her diet eating no fresh fruit or vegetables. Her gums started bleeding and she bruised very easily. Then she realised what was happening and she took vitamin C tablets and was soon well.

[tdw]

Originally Posted by ranhae

Hello,

This is my first thread. I am interested in scurvy.
Due to your sailing experience have you had scurvy? How do think about it? Was it bad for you? And how did you deal with it?

People may think it is cool when Jack 'Johnny Depp' Sparrow has scurvy. But you?



Regards,

(Link Removed by TDW)

Was it bad for you ? Sounds like lurve gone wrong !

Anywho..thanks for your interest and our advertising department will be in touch.

[LookingForCruiser]

Yarr, like all sailors on this board, I am constantly beset by the evils of scurvy. The rest of these bloody-gummed salty dogs are too embarrassed to admit they have this horrifying condition. They claim it's just a lack of flossing, but I know better!

Heed my words, landlubber! Recovering from a bout of consumption, the cabin boy did deliver to me a fine soup of fish entrails and barnacle shells. Little did I know that the first scurvy-ridden mate, who had always been jealous of me, had spit into my soup, and thus passed his scurvy on to me. In those days, we didn't know about your fancy "vitamins", and thus could pass it along like the common cold.

Eventually, after months adrift on Lake Champlaign, we were forced to eat the first mate. And the cabin boy. And some fava beans, with a bottle of Chianti. That seemed to clear up the scurvy nicely.

Yarr, be there any other 19th century ailments you need to know about? Let me tell you the tale of how I caught the gout from a wench in Wichita...