The Deadliest Enemy (I)

The award-winning cover of the book “Relação da Primeira Viagem em Torno do Mundo — António Pigafetta”, translated by Joana Lima, represents the number of crew members sailed and returned after Magellan’s voyage.

At first glance, one can be shocked by great number of people who perished during the voyage. However, knowing the conditions onboard during oceanic navigation, I’m surprised that even 18 people managed to come back. And I’m not thinking about the dangers of navigating unknown oceans or fighting in mysterious lands, I’m talking about the worst enemy of the age of discoveries: scurvy.

Scurvy, a disease caused by a serious ascorbic acid (vitamin C) deficiency, killed more sailors than the combination of other diseases, piracy, war, and shipwrecks. For centuries, it has scourged fleets from every country, influencing the course of history. Given the impossibility of preserving fresh food for more than a few weeks, eating fruits and vegetables was a rare event on ships, only possible when disembarking for refuel. Together with the poor diet that characterized the poorest segment of the population, from which many sailors came, this meant that early symptoms of scurvy manifested themselves in the crew within just a few weeks from departure. One of the first symptoms is weakness, so that many crew members started to find working very hard. They were therefore accused of being lazy and punished accordingly.

In a short time, tiredness and sore arms and legs gave way to more severe symptoms like bleeding gums, loosened teeth, bleeding from the skin, change in personality. For a long time, many cures were tried, like vitriol, vinegar and seawater, that were useless or even made the disease worse.

Page from the journal of Henry Walsh Mahon showing the effects of scurvy, from his time aboard HM Convict Ship Barrosa (1841/2)

The scarce hygiene largely contributed to exacerbate the situation, favouring infections, and further degrading the health and quality of life of travellers.

Surprisingly, knowledge of how to prevent and cure scurvy has been present in different times and places, but it was largely ignored for a long time… TBC! [Silvana Munzi]