Sailing Ship Provisions - Food and Drink

"There were those among us with itchy fingers..."

By Børge Solem

Passengers traveling by sailing ships were required to bring their own food. Provisions were often stored in a hold beneath the between-deck, and passengers had to go down each day to retrieve what they needed. On the emigrant vessel Laurvig, baggage was stacked on top of other cargo, sometimes making it difficult for passengers to access their provisions, especially when space in the cargo hold was limited.

On some ships, trunks and other loose items were stored in the center aisle. However, this could be dangerous in bad weather. There are accounts of passengers being injured by goods sliding back and forth across the deck. On the Atalanta in 1871, food chests and kegs of milk and beer were tied down in the center aisle. During a storm, all the passengers lay in their bunks, holding on tightly as the ship was rocked by waves.

One man from Rennesø had taken a keg of beer into his bunk. When a wave hurled the keg onto the deck, he jumped out after it. In an attempt to save the keg, he rode it as it rolled back and forth across the deck. This caused the ropes securing the items in the center aisle to loosen, and soon everything was sliding from side to side with the motion of the ship. Fortunately, the man managed to get himself and the keg back into the bunk before sustaining serious injury. Despite the seriousness of the situation, the incident left everyone laughing.

The following is a list of provisions printed by Det Norske Udvandringsselskap in Christiania (later Oslo) in the 1870s. These provisions were intended to be adequate for an adult for up to ten weeks:

The emigrants were advised to bring essential equipment, such as a water pail (sized according to family needs, approximately three quarts per person per day), a cooking pot, a coffee kettle, dishes, and eating utensils. They were responsible for preparing their own food in the ship's galleys, which were typically located on deck. Often, there were only one or two galleys shared among all the passengers. With several hundred people on board, the lines for cooking could become extremely long. There are accounts of ships where some passengers never managed to reach the stoves - it was often a matter of survival of the fittest.

Ole Ellingsen Strand, who crossed on the Christiane in 1851 at the age of 11, later wrote an account of the voyage. His vivid description of the kitchen and cooking conditions paints a lively picture of how difficult it could be:

"The kitchen where cooking was done for about 259 passengers was a wooden shanty, about 12 by 16 feet in size, built on deck near the middle of the ship. Along the back side of this shanty, a box or bin was built, about 4 feet wide and 1½ feet high, filled with sand. Fires were built on this bed of sand, and cooking was done there. Kettles were placed on small triangular iron frames with three short legs, which people would set anywhere they could squeeze out enough room. They then started their fires underneath. There was no chimney for the smoke to escape - just an opening in the roof the width of a board above the fire, where smoke could go if it wanted to. Most of the time, it didn't want to, as the wind kept it down."

"Early in the morning, you could see women coming up from below with a bundle of fine split wood in one hand and a small kettle or coffee pot in the other. They would head to the kitchen, eager to find a vacant spot on the sand large enough to set their kettle and build a fire. But if the weather was favorable, it wouldn't be long before every place in the kitchen was occupied, with a large crowd outside waiting for a vacancy - most of which were already spoken for. If you sat outside watching the kitchen door, you could, in the span of 18 minutes, see perhaps half a dozen women come out with aprons over their faces, wiping tears, coughing, and almost strangled by the smoke. They would stay outside just long enough to get fresh air and wipe the tears from their eyes before crowding back in again - only to find their fire or wood removed by someone else. Broad hints and sharp words would follow, but the loser could only wait for an opportunity to reclaim her fire when her neighbor stepped outside for air."

"These weren't the only adversities in the kitchen. Even during storms, someone would always try to cook. If it was too stormy for the women to be on deck, the men would often volunteer to steep tea, brew coffee, or make soup. They would build their fires, set their kettles on, and soon the cook shanty would be chock-full of men. Some were on their knees, some sitting flat on the floor, while others stood outside peering in. Then, imagine a large wave striking the vessel, almost setting it on end. In a wink, every kettle, coffee pot, and teapot was tipped over, spilling into the fire and hot ashes. Chaos followed as the men scrambled for the door, spilling out like bees from a hive. Some swore, others laughed, and some admitted they should have known better than to try cooking on such a stormy day. But within an hour, the shanty would be full again, and the whole performance repeated."

Daily rations of wood and water were included in the ticket price. Emigrants on sailing ships were entirely dependent on wind and weather. Bad weather could prolong the journey, sometimes significantly. On several occasions, emigrants ran out of food and water before reaching port. For example, on board the bark Fauna in 1868, the passengers' water supply dwindled to a single glass per person per day.

If they were lucky, they might encounter another ship willing to sell provisions - although the prices were often very high. In some cases, they anchored near land to resupply. The bark Napoleon once stopped at St. John's, Newfoundland, to avoid running out of food. Fortunately the banks off Newfoundland were rich with fish, which saved many emigrants from starvation.

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