Did Fish Fuel the Colonization of North America?
Fish served on the dinner tables of Tudor England could have been caught more than 2,000 miles away off the coast of North America, research revealed yesterday.
DNA tests on the bones of cod provisions stored on Henry VIII’s doomed warship the Mary Rose reveal that some came from as far away as Canada.
Demand for fish from the growing urban population forced mariners to seek new supplies further afield – which in turn helped fuel the colonisation of Northern America, the Cambridge University study suggests.
The Mary Rose was the flagship of Henry VIII’s fleet when it sank in the Solent during a battle with an invading French fleet in 1545. Over 400 men went down with it, as well as a full store of provisions.
Its remains, which were raised in 1982, provide a time capsule of naval life during the Tudor England, including thousands of bones from dried or salted cod from casks and baskets.
Researchers examined 11 bones stored around the ship using stable isotope analysis, which reflects the diet and environmental conditions of the fish from its protein chemistry, and ancient DNA analysis.
When cross-referenced with each other and other historical records they provided reliable evidence about the waters where the cod was caught almost half a millennium ago.
SHIPS THAT RAN ON PRESERVED COD AND EIGHT PINTS OF BEER A DAY
If you were a Tudor sailor serving in the navy, you could expect a daily ration of preserved cod or meat, biscuit, two ounces of butter – as well as a gallon of beer.
The drink, the equivalent of eight pints, was served in preference to water – which became undrinkable when kept in casks for long periods away at sea.
Three times a week it helped wash down a quarter portion of cod, which could be over a foot long. The other four days it was drunk with meat.
The daily beer ration lasted well into the 17th century. But its tendency to go sour in warmer climates meant that as the British Empire expanded further it began to be replaced with rum.
Dr James Barrett said: ‘Cod was great value for money as a provision, particularly as space and durability were an issue on board a ship.’
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