Legislated Improvements in Merchant Mariners’ Diet as of June 1907

and certification of Cooks as of June 1908

Source: Merchant Shipping Act, 1906; General Public Statutes; Sixth Year of King Edward VII; 1906;

Chapter 48

Part III

Seamen’s Food

‘25.- (1) The master of every ship for which an agreement with the crew is required under the Merchant Shipping Acts shall, if the agreement is made after the first day of June nineteen hundred and seven, furnish provisions to every member of the crew (who does not furnish his own provisions), in accordance with the scale set out in the First Schedule to this Act, and for the purposes of section one hundred and ninety-nine of the principal Act (which provides for compensation in the case of short or bad provisions) every such member of the crew of the ship shall be deemed to have stipulated by his agreement for provisions in accordance with that scale...

27.- (1) After the thirtieth day of June nineteen hundred and eight, every British foreign-going ship of a thousand tons and upwards gross tonnage, going to sea from any place in the British Islands or on the continent of Europe between the River Elbe and Brest inclusive, shall be provided with and carry a duly certificated cook who is able to prove one month’s service at sea in some capacity.

(2) A cook shall not be deemed to be duly certificated within the meaning of this section unless he is the holder of a certificate of competency in cooking granted by the Board of Trade or by some school of cookery or some other institution approved for the purpose of that Board, or is the holder of certificates of discharge showing at least two years’ service as cook previously to the said thirtieth day of June nineteen hundred and eight.

(3) The cook shall be rated in the ship’s articles as ship’s cook, or in the case of ships of not more than two thousand ton gross tonnage, or ships in which the crew, or the majority of the crew, provide their own provisions, either as ship’s cook or as cook and steward.

(4) In the case of an emigrant ship, the ship’s cook shall be in addition to the cook required by section three hundred and four of the principal Act.

(5) If the requirements of this section are not complied with in the case of any ship, the master or owner of the ship shall, if there is no sufficient reason for the failure to comply with the requirements, for each offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds...’.

Scale of Provisions as shown in Ocean-going Merchantmen

subsequent to the passing of the above Act

‘Required by Section 25 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1906, to be allowed and served out to the crew during the voyage, except in cases in which the crew furnish their own provisions’.

Note. - The scale agreed upon is in addition to the Lime or Lemon Juice and Sugar, or other Anti-Scorbutics required by the Merchant Shipping Acts.

Water	4 quarts daily
Soft bread	1 lb. on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays
Biscuit	1 lb. on Mondays, Wednesdays, Friday and Saturdays
Salt beef	1/2 lb. on Sundays; 1 1/4 lbs. on Tuesdays and Saturdays
Salt Pork	1 lb. on Mondays and Thursdays
Preserved meat	3/4 lb. on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays
Fish	3/4 lb. on Fridays
Potatoes	6 lbs. weekly
Dried or compressed vegetables	1/2 lb. weekly
Peas split	2/3 pint weekly
Peas green	1/3 pint weekly
Calavances or haricot beans	1/2 pint weekly
Flour	1/2 lb. on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays
Rice	1/4 lb. on Mondays and Thursdays
Oatmeal	4 oz. on Tuesdays and Saturdays
Tea	1 3/4 oz. weekly
Coffee	4 oz. weekly
Sugar	1 1/4 lbs. weekly
Milk condensed	1/3 lbs. weekly
Butter	1/2 lb. weekly
Marmalade or jam	1 lb. weekly
Syrup or Molasses	1/2 lb. weekly
Suet	4 oz. weekly
Pickles	1/2 pint. weekly
Dried fruits	5 oz. weekly
Fine salt	2 oz. weekly
Mustard	1/4 oz. weekly
Pepper	1/4 oz. weekly
Curry powder	1/4 oz. weekly
Onions	3 oz. on Mondays

‘Conditions and Exceptions in Applying Scale

1. The issue of provisions for which a total weekly, and no daily, amount is given in the above scale shall be reasonably distributed throughout the week.

2. The issue of soft bread under the scale shall not be required -

a. in a ship of less than one thousand tons gross registered tonnage; or

b. if rough weather renders the making of the bread impracticable, or

c. in any ship until the date of the first agreement with the crew entered into after the first day of January nineteen hundred and eight, but where soft bread is not issued, an equivalent amount of biscuit shall be issued instead.

1. An equal quantity of fish, up to an amount not exceeding three-quarters of a pound in any one week, may be substituted for preserved meat under the above scale. The fish issued, whether under the scale or as a substitute, must be fresh fish, dried fish, or canned salmon or canned herrings.

2. Within the tropics, a pound and a half of preserved meat or three pounds of fresh meat may be substituted for two pounds of salt pork.

3. Fresh potatoes must be issued for at least the first eight weeks of the voyage in the case of every ship leaving a port within the home trade limits at any time between the last day of September and the first day of May, and at any other time when they can be procured at a reasonable cost.

When fresh potatoes are not so issued, an equal amount of yams, or vegetables preserved in tins, or an

equivalent amount of dried or compressed potatoes or dried or compressed vegetables, in the proportion of

one pound to six pounds of fresh potatoes, must be issued in their place.

4. Fresh vegetables, or vegetables preserved in tins, may at any time be substituted for dried or compressed vegetables in the proportion of half a pound of vegetables, or vegetables preserved in tins, to one ounce of dried or compressed vegetables.

5. A mixture of coffee and chicory containing not less than seventy-five per cent. of coffee may at any time be substituted for coffee in the proportion of five ounces of the mixture to four ounces of coffee.

6. The dried fruit issued under the above scale must be raisins, sultanas, currants, figs, or prunes.

7. The onions to be issued under the above scale must be fresh onions when in season; and, when fresh onions are not in season, an equal amount of onions or vegetables preserved in tins, or an equivalent amount of dried or compressed onions or vegetables in the proportion of one ounce to half a pound of fresh onions must be issued.

8. In port-

a. soft bread shall be issued in lieu of biscuit; and

b. when procurable at a reasonable cost, a pound and a half of fresh meat and half a pound of fresh vegetables shall be issued daily, and, when fresh meat and fresh vegetables are so issued, salt and preserved meats and dried or compressed vegetables need not be issued.

1. The stokehold hands are to receive sufficient oatmeal and one quart of water extra daily while under steam.

Substitutes and Equivalents - Not to be used without reasonable cause.

	To be considered equal
Fresh meat Salt meat Preserved meat	1 1/2 lb. 1 lb. 3/4 lb.
Coffee Cocoa Tea	3/4 oz. 1/2 oz. 1/2 oz.
Flour Biscuit Rice	1 lb. 1 lb. 1 lb.
Split peas Flour Calavances or haricot beans Rice	1/3 pint 3/4 lb 1/2 pint 3/4 lb
Marmalade Jam Butter	1 lb. 1 lb. 1/2 lb.
Mustard Curry powder

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