Publications of the Navy Records Society Volume 26, No. 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 Excerpt: ...system, under which the purser received from the victualler a proportion in money. The king's allowance of victuals to each man for seven days was as follows: 7 lbs. of biscuit, 7 gallons of beer, 4 lbs. 1 MS. ' Pine;' cf. Cat. S. P. Dom. 1672, p. 194. 2 But George Legge did not become Lord Dartmouth until 1682. 3 Pepysian MSS. Miscellanies, iii. 723. of beef, 2 lbs. of pork, of a sized fish, i quart of pease, 6 ounces of butter, and 12 ounces of cheese.1 It was the custom of the purser to leave one-eighth part of the victuals on shore, and receive the value from the victualler in money, on the ground that the 'necessary money' allowed by the king 'to provide necessaries, viz. wood, candle, platters, cans, spoons, &c, for boiling the meat, and the seamen's use in eating thereof, is not sufficient to defray the cost and charges of the said necessaries.' In serving out their allowance to the men he would make an 'abatement ' of' one-eighth part less in weight and measure than the king allows' in the biscuit, beer, butter, cheese, and pease. The beef, pork, and fish, not being served out to the men by weight, were not susceptible of this treatment, but here the purser was able to recoup himself by the victuals of absentees when the ship was in harbour, and 'by men being sick on board before put ashore, who seldom then eat the sea-victuals.' Pyend argues that the excuse offered for this arrangement is inadequate, and it really enriches the victualler and purser at the king's expense. The king's allowance of 6d. per mensem for 'necessary money' is sufficient if properly managed. One of the reasons alleged for its insufficiency is the seamen's extravagance in wood and candles. In future let the necessary money pass through the hands of the captain, and...