It seems like the amount of fresh water you’d need for a crew of say 15 for months or even years would be massive. Food is more easily stocked but how did they deal with drinking water on long voyages?
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It’s also worth mentioning that it regularly rains at sea. It sounds funny, but it’s true. This wasn’t something you could rely on like islands and ports and things, but it did help lengthen the rations a fair bit.
They often drank beer instead, even children. Beer at the time had a lower alcohol content. Since beer is boiled during its manufacture and contained healthy bacteria, it was a much safer alternative to regular water. Beer also has higher nutrients and vitamins than regular water.
Nautical voyages also gave rise to punch, since higher proof alcohol keeps for long periods of time. Often the alcohol was not as refined (read: tasted horrible) so it was mixed with sugar and juices. There is an old rhyme for making punch from the 1600s that I still use to make punch today: “one part sour, two parts sweet, three parts strong, and four parts weak”.
In a practical recipe, that would be one part lemon juice, two parts simple syrup or juice, three parts alcohol (I like to mix Cava and vodka), and four parts seltzer. And add some citrus to keep the scurvy at bay.
It only took Colombus 36 days to sail across the Atlantic. Most of the time ships were just sailing back and forth from trading ports so they stayed close to the coast.
They never stayed out to sea the whole time. A 15 month voyage would involve several resupply stops, either at a nearby port or a beach.
They would also take advantage of rainfall, setting up collection points. But for the most part, water was the most limited resource on a sail age ship, every opportunity to replenish was taken advantage of. In a voyage of more than a month, some stop for water was planned.
You bring it along. In form of straight water, Mead, or beer. You ration it for per person per day. Yea that’s alot of beer for a months long voyage
They carried one month’s worth of barrels of drinkable water onboard and refilled them every time they reach land.
EDIT: beer, wine, or brandy were often mixed with the kegs of fresh water to keep the water from developing algae and making it palatable. In the 17th century, these beverages were replaced with Rum which brought forward the existence of [‘Grog’](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grog).
They used wooden barrels for almost every liquid, so the problem was that water after a while starts to create a layer of mold and algae inside the barrels, as it wasn’t distilled water of course. Usually it was one of the major limits of longer voyages, and one of the most important aspects to keep in mind for sailors. They used to stop along the way on the coasts, but that could help up until a certain point.
The best solution though, was alcohol and spirits. They prevented molding, it lasted forever, and it was cheap and usually easily produced everywhere.
This is one of the main reasons why it was in every ship, and why the general image of a pirate is a guy drinking rum! Also, it kept the morale high, so it really was perfect for long travels, where you wouldn’t see land for months at times.
I would actually like to hear about this problem from the point of view of polynesian sailors in double hulled waka. who didn’t have things such as barrels and sailed from eastern polynesia down to New zealand, up to Hawaii and across to Rapanui (Eaater Island).
i know on some routes they used giant turtles as a source of meat and water, they used to stack them alive on the decks and select one for the chop whenever it was needed. apparently the meat of the turtle rivalled or bettered that from calves, lamb, chicken and pork.
> The meat of a giant tortoise has variously been described as tasting superior to chicken, beef and pork whereas their fat is likened to tasting better than the [purest butter.](https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=k-T-PC6p0u4C&pg=PA98&dq=giant+tortoise+tasty&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiC6tyuq4rQAhWlLcAKHU72AEwQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=giant%20tortoise%20tasty&f=false)
[http://www.factfiend.com/tortoise-delicious-live/](http://www.factfiend.com/tortoise-delicious-live/)
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