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THE DISEASE
Scury is a collagen disease which results from dietary deficiencies. Some of the symptoms
of scurvy are gradual weakeining, pale skin, sunken eyes, tender gums, muscle pain, loss of teeth, internal bleeding, and
the opening of wounds such as sword cuts that healed many years before. Exhaustion, fainting, diarrhea, and lung and
kidney trouble followed. Eventually the sailor died.
| Scurvy |
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| Illustration from "Man-of-War" by Stephen Biesty (Dorling-Kindersley, NY, 1993). |
FIGHTING BACK!
The main reason for scurvy was from the lack of vitamin C. It was difficult to carry fruits
on ships and the obvious method preservation actually made the fruit lose their vitamin C. Do the lack of understanding
and the preservation methods, scurvy was a major problem. On British Ships during the 18th century, Lemons and limes
were used to counter scurvy. Hence the nickname, "limeys" given to the British sailors. However, limes and lemons
were rare in northern Europe and as I already said the preservation methods lost the essential vitamins.
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